Bitcoin ETFs take nearly $1B as average holder returns to profit

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $998.95 million on Monday, according to SoSoValue. The inflow came one week after the funds recorded their smallest weekly net inflow across 141 weeks of trading. The funds ended the week to September 18 just $6.2 million ahead. BlackRock's IBIT received $381.37 million. Ark and 21Shares' ARKB received $289.12 million. Fidelity's FBTC received $238.84 million. Morgan Stanley's MSBT added $61.67 million, and Bitwise's BITB added $21.56 million. Grayscale's two funds received single-digit millions each. VanEck's HODL and Valkyrie's BRRR recorded no inflows. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas said Monday's total was the biggest single-day haul since last October. Bitcoin rose above an estimated ETF cost basis of $81,722 per coin, putting the average holder of a U.S. spot Bitcoin fund back in profit for the first time since January, according to James Seyffart. Bitcoin was trading near $85,900 at the time, about 5% above that level. David Wachsman, president of Hawkeye Digital, said holders sitting on losses often sell when they first have an opportunity to break even. He said this year's demand had therefore needed to absorb that potential selling supply. Wachsman said it should become clearer whether institutions want more Bitcoin exposure or were only following the previous rally now that the average buyer is profitable. The funds traded about $4.5 billion, which Seyffart said was not especially high given the size of Bitcoin's move. The figure was slightly below the $4.6 billion traded on Friday. Balchunas said the volume was elevated compared with stock and gold ETFs and that IBIT was at or near the top 10 by volume. Balchunas also cautioned that flows recorded for one session largely reflect the previous session. He said Monday's total probably captured Friday's buying, leaving the response to Monday's move still to appear. Cumulative net inflows since launch stood at $56.16 billion. The funds held $110.14 billion, equal to 6.30% of Bitcoin's market capitalization. Vikas Gupta, Bybit's country manager for India, said Bitcoin's recovery toward the $86,000 to $87,000 range was supported by renewed institutional demand, stronger spot ETF inflows and evolving U.S. regulatory developments. Gupta said the market had held up despite what he described as the Federal Reserve's rate hike and the failure of the Clarity Act, suggesting that sentiment was responding to more than monetary policy.