US spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $433 million in net inflows on Friday, their second consecutive day of fresh money, led by Fidelity’s FBTC with $310.7 million as bitcoin climbed past $81,000 for the first time in more than a week. BlackRock’s IBIT added $108.4 million on the same session, according to Farside and SoSoValue data published Saturday.
The inflows mark a sharp reversal from early September, when the twelve US spot funds bled money for most of a week. On September 16 alone the group saw roughly $296 million of net outflows, with Morgan Stanley’s MSBT the only fund taking in cash. The turn began Thursday with $159.5 million of net inflows, and Friday’s session more than doubled that. Between September 8 and 14 the products had shed approximately $334 million, according to Glassnode, after attracting nearly $1 billion during the first days of the month.
The buying coincided with bitcoin’s rebound through $80,000 and then $81,000, a move traders attribute to a mix of short liquidations and genuine spot demand. Roughly $190 million in bitcoin short positions were liquidated as price crossed $80,000 on Friday, but ETF flows suggest the rally is not squeeze-driven alone. Futures open interest has rebuilt alongside price, leaving leverage elevated and the market sensitive to a pullback.
Where the money went
Fidelity’s FBTC was the standout, and the number is notable because the fund has been on the wrong side of flows for much of 2026. FBTC is down $1.84 billion year to date per Farside, and its $310.7 million day is its largest in months. BlackRock’s IBIT, the dominant fund with about $64.1 billion in cumulative inflows since January 2024, continues to set the pace over longer horizons despite smaller daily figures this week. VanEck’s HODL was among the funds on the other side, shedding roughly $7.6 million on Thursday.
Morgan Stanley’s MSBT deserves a mention for consistency rather than size. The bank’s bitcoin trust has now recorded inflows on 20 consecutive trading days, totaling $51.5 million, with no single day of net outflows in September. It is one of only a few bitcoin ETFs this month that can say that. The fund bought 51.58 BTC worth about $4 million through Coinbase Prime earlier this month, part of a two-week accumulation of more than 640 BTC.
Aggregate net assets across the spot funds stood near $102.5 billion after Friday, about 6.29 percent of bitcoin’s total market capitalization. Cumulative net inflows since the products launched in January 2024 sit above $55 billion, with the total for the year still negative after a bruising first half. Daily trading value across the funds reached $2.81 billion on Friday.
Altcoin funds tell a different story
The flows have not been uniform across crypto products. Ether ETFs saw $366 million of outflows over two sessions this week even as on-chain data showed whales staking ETH and draining exchange balances to multi-year lows. XRP funds also remained under pressure through Thursday. Meanwhile Grayscale’s young Zcash ETF absorbed $46.6 million on Friday, its second-largest day since launching in August, and announced a 3-for-1 share split after taking in more than $233 million since debut.
The split picture suggests institutions are not simply de-risking from crypto. They are rotating. Bitcoin and selected niche products are taking flows that came out of ether and XRP vehicles, and the SEC’s innovation exemption for tokenized stocks, issued Thursday, has added a fresh narrative for infrastructure-linked assets. Of the 125 largest non-stablecoin tokens, 111 rose on Friday, a breadth reading that includes DeFi and tokenization plays such as Uniswap and Arbitrum.
Macro backdrop
The rally is playing out against a hawkish turn from the Federal Reserve, which raised rates 25 basis points on Wednesday, its first hike in three years, citing energy-driven inflation. The Bank of Japan followed with its own increase Thursday. Higher rates normally pressure risk assets, yet bitcoin reclaimed $80,000 within 48 hours of the Fed decision and altcoins led the advance, with NEAR up roughly 30 percent and Solana near $112. Ether traded around $2,490.
The macro picture is complicated by geopolitics. Oil briefly traded above $100 a barrel this week after an attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, and the Senate passed a Russia sanctions bill signed into law by President Trump on Friday that authorizes tariffs of up to 100 percent on the largest importers of Russian energy. Both keep inflation risk alive and cap how dovish markets can expect policy to get.
Options traders are not fully sold either. Open interest and positioning cluster heavily around the $80,000 to $83,000 zone, and implied volatility has stayed subdued despite the breakout, a pattern that CryptoSlate analysts read as skepticism about a clean move above resistance. Bitcoin needs to hold ETF demand through early next week and clear roughly $82,300 on a closing basis for the breakout to be confirmed. On the downside, the $78,500 area, defended repeatedly this month, is the line that would signal the range is intact.
For now, the flow data gives the bulls their strongest argument since early September: when price and ETF creations rise together, as they did Friday, the rally has real buyers behind it rather than only liquidation mechanics. The question for next week is whether Fidelity’s clients keep buying at these levels or whether the two-day streak ends where most rallies in this range have stalled.