Bitcoin ETFs Lose $635.6 Million, but the Week Stays Positive

U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds lost a net $635.6 million on Oct. 22, but the headline withdrawal did not erase the week’s earlier demand. Farside Investors’ daily fund data show that the products still finished the Oct. 19-23 week with a net inflow of $301.2 million.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for $254.1 million of the Oct. 22 withdrawals. Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund lost $217.5 million, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF lost $109.4 million, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF lost $27.4 million and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust lost $29.5 million. A $2.3 million inflow into MSBT was the only positive entry in Farside’s table that day.

The size and timing of the reversal matter. The same group of funds had attracted $1.0747 billion over the previous three sessions, including $526.7 million on Oct. 19 and $524.8 million on Oct. 21. The Oct. 22 redemptions therefore removed about 59% of those three days of inflows, based on BTI’s calculation from Farside data. Another $137.9 million left the funds on Oct. 23, reducing the full week’s net gain to $301.2 million.

That pattern is more informative than treating either the large inflow days or the large outflow day as a lasting trend. Demand was strong enough to keep the week positive, yet two consecutive sessions of redemptions show that investors were quick to reverse part of the move. The concentration also matters: IBIT and FBTC together accounted for $471.6 million, or roughly 74%, of the Oct. 22 outflow.

CryptoProwl reported Bitcoin near $81,800 on Oct. 23, down about 5% for October, while technology shares also sold off. Those moves are consistent with a broader reduction in risk, but the available fund-flow data do not establish why investors redeemed ETF shares. The causal explanation should remain tentative.

The longer record provides another check on scale. Farside’s table shows cumulative net inflows of about $57.25 billion since U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading in January 2024. The Oct. 22 withdrawal equaled about 1.1% of that cumulative total. It was still a sharp daily reversal, and it exceeded every daily outflow after June 25, when the funds lost $691.7 million.

For Bitcoin investors, the next useful signal is not a single day but whether redemptions persist and turn the weekly balance negative. The Oct. 23 data moved in that direction without getting there. A sustained run of outflows would provide stronger evidence that ETF demand has weakened; for now, the record shows a volatile but still positive week.