american bitcoin Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are on track to break a five-week streak of net outflows with their strongest performance since mid-January.
The funds posted net inflows of $1.1 billion on three consecutive days, according to SoSoValue data, leaving them about $815 million ahead after accounting for Monday’s net outflow, the most since adding $1.4 billion in the week ending Jan. 16.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for more than half of the three-day flow, raising approximately $652 million. On Wednesday, Grayscale’s GBTC, which has the highest fee among funds, posted its biggest single-day inflow since moving from a trust structure to an ETF.
The renewed inflows suggest that US demand is returning, a conclusion reinforced by the fact that the Coinbase Premium index turned positive after 40 days in negative territory. The index tracks the price difference between bitcoin on Coinbase (COIN), which can be accessed by businesses in the world’s largest economy, and the broader global market. It is widely used as an indicator of US institutional flows and sentiment.
Data from Checkonchain shows that total bitcoin holdings in US spot ETFs rose to 1.29 million BTC, putting assets under management (AUM) less than 10% below its October peak.
This comes despite the bitcoin spot price remaining 45% below its October record. The largest cryptocurrency has continued to consolidate around the mid-$60,000 range this week.
Meanwhile, open interest on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has continued to decline, falling to 107,780 BTC, according to data from Glassnode. Because the CME allows institutions to simultaneously take a long position in spot bitcoin and a short position in futures (a strategy known as a basis trade), the decline in futures can be considered to indicate that ETF inflows are clearly long positions.
