Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) holders are back in profit as the cryptocurrency extends its latest surge, with the price barreling toward $87,000.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, posting on X on Monday, wrote that the morning rally in New York pushed the average investor above the estimated ETF cost basis of $81,72 for the first time since January. The cost basis — the estimated average price at which ETF investors bought their shares — serves as a benchmark for whether the typical fund holder is sitting on gains, and its recapture means the average ETF position has returned to profit after months underwater.

Bitcoin shot above $86,000 even after the Clarity Act, a key piece of crypto legislation, was blocked last week and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. The cryptocurrency was recently trading close to $86,772 after reaching as high as $86,837 earlier in the day. The bill's fate in Congress and the Fed's policy path remain unresolved threads for market watchers.

JUST IN: $87,000 Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Vgl0wCA7uY — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 21, 2026

Despite the rally, bitcoin now sits more than 30% below the all-time high of $126,080 it set last year.

U.S. Bitcoin ETFs — managed by the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, and Morgan Stanley — last week received net positive flows of more than $6 million. Investors jumped back into buying shares of the products on Thursday and Friday, pouring nearly $593 million into the vehicles, according to Farside Investors data. Flows into the funds are closely tracked as a gauge of traditional investor demand for bitcoin.

The rebound traces back to August, when bitcoin began rallying after the Treasury Department said it would at least double the size of its long-dated bond buybacks. The cryptocurrency then posted its best week since 2023.

Bitcoin notched an all-time high in October, but the run ended later that month after the biggest liquidation event in crypto history saw more than $19 billion in bets closed. The coin continued to slide as the Federal Reserve made clear it was in no hurry to lower interest rates, while investors increasingly threw money at artificial intelligence-related stocks.

Bitcoin has since shrugged off the Fed's pivot to hawkishness, with investors piling back into the so-called debasement trade — a strategy that favors assets such as bitcoin, which proponents view as hedges against the erosion of fiat currencies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved Bitcoin ETFs to trade in the U.S. in 2024, and the funds went on to enjoy the most successful launch in the history of the investment vehicle. Investors who had previously been deterred from buying bitcoin by the complexities of cold storage and private keys can now buy exchange-traded shares that track the cryptocurrency's price.

The ETFs — managed by other top Wall Street fund managers — currently hold a total of $98.8 billion in assets, according to Coinglass data.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Mathew Di Salvo.