The honeymoon is over for US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. After three straight weeks of robust inflows, the category hemorrhaged $462.7 million during the four-session stretch from September 8 to September 11, according to data from Farside Investors. The abrupt reversal stands in stark contrast to Ether funds, which pulled in $196.9 million over the same window.
Redemptions hit every single trading day of the holiday-shortened week. The bleeding started immediately after Labor Day, with $166.8 million walking out the door across Tuesday and Wednesday. But the real damage came on Thursday, when investors yanked $282.7 million in a single session—the heaviest daily outflow the funds have suffered since July, per SoSoValue data. Friday's exit slowed to a trickle at $13.2 million, but the negative streak had already stretched to four consecutive days.
The pain was not evenly distributed. ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) absorbed the brunt of the selling, losing $234.2 million for the week. Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) followed with $129.1 million in redemptions. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) shed $52.5 million, while Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund gave up $50.7 million. Morgan Stanley's fund bucked the trend, attracting roughly $19.6 million in fresh capital.
Note: Figures cover the four-session week ending September 11, 2026, per Farside Investors data.
Despite the ugly week, the damage is relative. Spot Bitcoin ETFs still command roughly $97.58 billion in net assets, equivalent to about 6.28% of Bitcoin's total market value. Cumulative inflows since the products launched in January 2024 slipped to $55.15 billion, down from $55.62 billion a week earlier. And the month of September remains in positive territory, with approximately $307.3 million in net inflows through Friday.
The reversal interrupts what had been an exceptionally strong run. August delivered $3.52 billion in net inflows—the best month of 2026—after July produced only $172 million. Bitcoin itself rallied roughly 25% over those four weeks. The prior week alone, from August 31 to September 4, had seen $986.7 million flow into the funds, including a single-day haul of $730.8 million on September 3.
Ether Funds Ride a Friday Surge
While Bitcoin investors headed for the exits, their Ether counterparts were just getting warmed up. US spot Ether ETFs recorded $196.9 million in net inflows over the identical four sessions, extending their own winning streak to four consecutive weeks.
The path to that positive total was anything but smooth. Tuesday saw $24.3 million flow out, Wednesday brought $34.7 million back in, and Thursday reversed again with $29.9 million in redemptions. Then came Friday, when the category exploded with $216.4 million in net inflows—more than wiping out the earlier losses.
BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) was the undisputed engine of that surge, pulling in $148.8 million on Friday alone. The 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF added another $29.1 million the same day. The late-week burst suggests institutional demand for Ether exposure remains potent even as Bitcoin products face a bout of profit-taking.
Solana and XRP funds also stayed in the black, drawing $10.3 million and $18.98 million respectively, indicating the rotation was not a broad flight from crypto but rather a reallocation within it.
Fed Decision Looms
The timing of the Bitcoin outflows is difficult to ignore. The Federal Reserve's next policy meeting runs September 15-16, and futures markets are pricing in an 87% probability of a quarter-point rate increase. Analyst Ted Pillows warned that Bitcoin's weekly candle looked poor, and he said sellers would seize control if the week closed anywhere near its lows.
The policy backdrop adds another layer of tension. At the Fed's July 29 meeting, the committee held rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75%, but three officials—Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie K. Logan—dissented in favor of a quarter-point hike. That hawkish minority could gain influence if inflation data continues to run hot.
Bitcoin traded around $77,900 on Monday, still struggling to reclaim the psychologically important $80,000 level. The Fear & Greed Index sat at 57, firmly in Greed territory, suggesting broad market sentiment remains constructive even as ETF investors hit pause.
The week's divergence between Bitcoin and Ether products raises a question that will dominate flow-watching in the sessions ahead: whether this is a temporary rotation within crypto or the start of a more sustained shift in institutional preference. Ether's four-week inflow streak and the concentrated Friday buying suggest the latter cannot be ruled out. But Bitcoin's still-positive September flows—$307.3 million and counting—argue that the bull case for the original cryptocurrency is far from broken.