Bitcoin ETF flows turn positive after US$4.6 bil rebound
Flows into US-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds have swung positive for the year as a recovery in the largest cryptocurrency revives investor demand.
The cohort has taken in about US$320 million (RM1.3 billion) on a net basis in 2026, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors have poured roughly US$4.6 billion into the funds since Aug 19, when the US Treasury said it would increase buybacks of long-dated bonds, reversing outflows accumulated earlier in the year.
Bitcoin has rallied about 35% in that period to above US$86,000, finally breaking out of a slump that had kept it mostly below US$80,000 since February. The token was trading around US$85,900 early Wednesday morning in New York.
Digital assets have also climbed back to US$3 trillion in total market value for the first time since January, according to CoinGecko data.
The rally has been accompanied by a pickup in leverage. Open interest in perpetual futures across cryptocurrencies has climbed to about US$160 billion, the highest since late October last year, according to Coinglass data.
The renewed ETF demand marks a shift from earlier in the year, when persistent redemptions weighed on the funds while bitcoin was under pressure.
The average holder of US spot bitcoin ETFs “is now comfortably back in unrealised profit”, according to Chris Weston, head of research at the brokerage Pepperstone. He estimated the average cost of bitcoin held by the funds at US$82,000.
“Having endured a meaningful drawdown, I don’t necessarily see the move back above aggregate break-even as an obvious trigger to take profit,” he wrote in a note.
Paul Howard, senior director at the trading firm Wincent, said the rally has caught many by surprise, with attention largely on developments in artificial intelligence this year.
“The move increasingly looks sustainable, with ETF flows providing support around the US$80,000 to US$85,000 range,” he said. “The strength of the move brings the widely discussed US$100,000 year-end bitcoin target increasingly into range.”
Source: Theedgemalaysia