US spot bitcoin and ether ETFs have recorded $986.3 million in combined net outflows this month, with ether funds posting an eighth consecutive session of withdrawals on Thursday.
Bitcoin ETFs lost $244.1 million on Thursday, according to Farside Investors data. That followed $484.9 million in withdrawals on Wednesday, the largest daily outflow since June 25. Ether ETFs shed another $72.5 million the same day, extending a losing streak that began on Sept. 29 and has drained about $641.3 million from the funds.
Monthly totals now stand at $407.4 million for bitcoin products and $578.9 million for ether products. Combined, the two groups have shed $986.3 million in October, closing in on the $1 billion mark with three weeks of trading still ahead.
Only one bitcoin fund took in money on Thursday. The Franklin Bitcoin ETF, ticker EZBC, was the sole product with a net inflow during the session. On the ether side, BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for about $71.1 million of the outflows and Grayscale’s ETHE added another $6.1 million. Smaller withdrawals showed up at VanEck’s ETHV and 21Shares’ TETH. Fidelity’s FETH bucked the trend with a $5.5 million inflow, and Morgan Stanley’s MSSE took in about $1.3 million.
The ether streak has been heavy but uneven. Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 produced the largest single-day withdrawals, $201.9 million and $160.9 million. Thursday’s $72.5 million print is smaller, yet it extends the run rather than breaks it.
Prices slide with the flows
The withdrawal streak has landed on a soft market. Bitcoin fell to $80,427 on Thursday, its lowest in three weeks, before recovering to trade near $82,500, according to CoinGecko. Ether dropped to about $2,406 before stabilizing near $2,500, roughly 4 percent below its level two days earlier. Solana fell 4.3 percent and BNB dropped 3.5 percent, so the selling reached across major tokens.
The decline forced a wave of liquidations across derivatives markets. CoinGlass data put total crypto liquidations between $1.12 billion and $1.19 billion for the 24 hours ending early Friday, with long positions absorbing more than $1 billion of the damage. Ether traders were wiped out at roughly six times the rate of bitcoin traders, as CoinDesk reported. Ether liquidations ran between $318 million and $356 million against bitcoin’s $273 million to $298 million in the same windows. The largest single order was an ether position on Hyperliquid worth about $19.98 million.
The six-to-one ratio says more about positioning than prices. Ether carried a heavier load of leveraged longs going into the drop, so a 2.6 percent daily move was enough to trigger a chain of margin calls. Each forced sale pushed the price lower and set off the next round.
The selling was not crypto-specific. Equities fell the same session as AI-linked shares digested a report that OpenAI’s annualized revenue stood near $50 billion, short of the $70 billion figure circulating a month earlier. The crypto Fear and Greed Index slipped to 56, still neutral territory, which fits the picture of a sharp but contained shakeout rather than a panic.
A sharp turn from a strong quarter
The outflows reverse what had been the best quarter of the year. US spot ETFs took in $6.34 billion in the third quarter, the strongest three-month stretch of 2026, and year-to-date net inflows stood near $1.25 billion before the October slide. Total net assets across the funds are about $107 billion.
Since launch in January 2024, the US spot funds have absorbed $57.3 billion in cumulative net inflows. Even after the October slide, that stock of institutional money remains in place, which is why flow watchers treat outflow streaks as sentiment signals rather than structural exits.
Several pressures hit at once. Fed minutes released this week flagged possible rate hikes, a shift from the easing expectations that carried markets through the summer. The US government also moved about $1 billion in bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, with no sale confirmed, and the dollar index firmed to 102.25. Each of these alone might have passed without much damage. Landing together, in the same week the EtherETF streak hit eight days, they made the pullback hard to trade against.
Daily flows show how quickly sentiment flipped after a positive start to the month:
| Date | Bitcoin ETF net flow |
|---|---|
| Oct. 1 | +$102.7M |
| Oct. 2 | +$189.8M |
| Oct. 5 | -$89.9M |
| Oct. 6 | +$118.9M |
| Oct. 7 | -$487.1M |
| Oct. 8 | -$244.1M |
What happens next
Glassnode struck a cautious note in its weekly report. The analytics firm said a pickup in spot trading volume and ETF buying would be needed to confirm that bitcoin’s recent breakout had real support behind it. For now, fund flows point the other way.
Friday’s early data offered no relief. Figures published at midday showed bitcoin funds shedding another 3,412 BTC and ether funds 38,576 ETH, with seven-day outflows of 6,747 BTC and 206,680 ETH.
For ether, traders are watching two levels. A hold above $2,500 would put the overnight low behind the session. A close under $2,406 would reopen the downside and likely force another round of long liquidations. On the bitcoin side, $80,500 is the level desks treat as the line between a routine pullback and a deeper correction.
Prediction market Kalshi put the odds of bitcoin holding above $80,500 at 64 percent. Analysts at several firms called the OpenAI revenue gap an accounting difference rather than a demand signal, and the sudden equities dip that followed may prove to be the same kind of overreaction. But flows do not wait for that judgment. A return to net inflows on Friday would signal buyers stepping in at these levels. A second consecutive day of heavy withdrawals would deepen the bearish case, and the week’s remaining sessions will settle which one it is.