Bitcoin ETF investors head for the exit, and it's the biggest rush in months

Just 24 hours after analysts said big inflows into spot ETFs are required to lift bitcoin BTC$82,380.01 meaningfully above $87,000, a level that has limited gains lately, data shows sentiment went in the opposite direction.

On Wednesday, the U.S. spot ETFs registered net outflows of $487.1 million, the most since June 25, according to data source SoSoValue.

Flows have turned choppy recently. After about $2.65 billion of net inflows in September, October is down $165.6 million so far. The past six sessions have swung between small inflows and outflows.

Wednesday's outflow was unusually large, some 2.1 standard deviations below the average daily flow of the past 90 days, which has been roughly $92 million in inflows, according to data analyzed by CoinDesk. In a normal distribution, roughly 95% of observations fall within two standard deviations of the mean. A larger move represents a rare or unusually large event.

So far this year, the funds have taken in a net $717 million, which is only a thin cushion over zero, especially after the cumulative net flow bottomed at an outflow of $5.76 billion in July. Net inflow since the funds began trading in January 2024 stands at $57.33 billion.