Bitcoin ETFs End October in the Red as Ether ETFs Suffer Record $1.61 Billion Monthly Outflows
Key Takeaways
- •Friday's $643 million in withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin ETFs snapped four consecutive days of inflows and left October with $515 million in net outflows, the funds' first negative month since June.
- •BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust recorded the largest single-day outflow at $234 million, followed by Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund with $201 million.
- •The selling pressure came after Bitcoin slid to $77,000 on Thursday and Binance confirmed that hackers stole approximately $6.3 billion in crypto assets.
- •US spot Ether ETFs posted a record $1.61 billion in October net outflows, surpassing the prior monthly high of $1.42 billion and leaving them with roughly $45 million in net outflows for the year.
- •OneKey CEO Yishi warned that IBIT could face security threats similar to the Binance hack because the fund relies heavily on Coinbase to hold its Bitcoin reserves.
Investors pulled $643 million from US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Friday, pushing October's net flows into negative territory as crypto markets grappled with volatility following a $6.3 billion hack on Binance, Cointelegraph reported.
Friday's withdrawals snapped four consecutive days of inflows, leaving the funds with $515 million in net outflows for October — their first negative month since June — according to SoSoValue. Despite the down month, spot Bitcoin ETFs have still attracted approximately $361 million in net inflows for the year through October. Daily flow figures for the funds are published each trading day and are widely read as a gauge of demand, since ETF shares are issued or retired as money moves in and out; the coming weeks' tallies will show whether October's pullback carried into November.
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led Friday's outflows with $234 million, followed by Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) with $201 million, per Farside Investors data.
The wave of redemptions came after Bitcoin slid to $77,000 on Thursday. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, confirmed on Friday that hackers had stolen approximately $6.3 billion in crypto assets. Also on Friday, Yishi, founder and CEO of hardware wallet maker OneKey, warned in a post on X that IBIT could face similar security threats because the fund relies heavily on Coinbase to hold its Bitcoin. Spot Bitcoin ETFs hold their reserves with designated custodians rather than leaving key management to individual investors, a structure that keeps the shares tradable through standard brokerage accounts.
Ether funds fared worse over the month. Investors withdrew a net $156 million from US spot Ether (ETH) ETFs on Friday, bringing October's net outflows to a record $1.61 billion. The previous monthly high was $1.42 billion in November 2025. October's redemptions also erased the Ether funds' net inflows for 2026, leaving them with roughly $45 million in net outflows for the year.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading in the United States in January 2024 after winning approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, with spot Ether ETFs following in July of the same year, opening a regulated channel that lets traditional brokerage investors gain exposure to the tokens without buying them on crypto exchanges.
