Ether funds have lost about 955 million dollars in October, more than any other month this year, as bitcoin funds post a second straight week of outflows

What happened

The money is still leaving United States crypto funds, but it is leaving more slowly, and for the first time the larger leak is in the smaller product. Spot bitcoin and ether exchange traded funds recorded a combined 549 million dollars of net outflows in the week of October 12 to 16, according to SoSoValue data reported by Cointelegraph. Bitcoin funds accounted for about 229 million dollars of that total and ether funds for about 320 million dollars. It was a second consecutive week of net withdrawals for the bitcoin products and a third for the ether products.

The weekly pattern inside the totals was uneven rather than a steady exit. Both groups took in money on Tuesday, October 13, when bitcoin funds attracted 175.7 million dollars and ether funds 24.8 million dollars, according to daily figures compiled from Farside Investors data. Wednesday, October 14 was the week's worst session for both: bitcoin funds lost 261.4 million dollars, with the largest single fund withdrawals recorded at two of the biggest issuers' products, and ether funds lost 129.5 million dollars, nearly all of it from the largest ether fund. Bitcoin funds added a small 5.1 million dollar inflow on Thursday. Ether funds ended the week with three straight days of outflows, finishing with a 69.7 million dollar withdrawal on Friday that came entirely from that same largest ether product.

October's cumulative figure is what makes ether's month stand out. Spot ether ETFs have recorded roughly 955 million dollars of net outflows so far in October, more than in any other month this year, with about a third of the month still to run. The smaller altcoin funds pointed the same way last week: Solana ETFs recorded about 26 million dollars of net withdrawals, Zcash funds about 19 million dollars and Hyperliquid funds about 18 million dollars, while XRP and BNB funds saw smaller outflows of 1.8 million dollars and 285,000 dollars. Across the five tracked groups of bitcoin, ether, Solana, Zcash and Hyperliquid funds, the week's combined net outflow was 610.7 million dollars.

Two pieces of context keep the numbers in proportion. First, the pace of selling slowed sharply from the week before, when the bitcoin and ether funds together lost 1.22 billion dollars. Bitcoin withdrawals fell about 66 percent, from 678.9 million dollars to 228.4 million dollars on the Farside based tally, and ether withdrawals eased from 542.2 million dollars to 320.1 million dollars. Second, both categories remain net positive for 2026 as a whole: bitcoin ETFs have attracted roughly 259 million dollars of net inflows year to date and ether ETFs about 610 million dollars, according to SoSoValue. The asset base is also intact. As of October 16, bitcoin ETF net assets stood at 104.29 billion dollars and ether ETF net assets at 14.95 billion dollars. Prices moved with the flows but did not break: ether fell about 5 percent over seven days to around 2,433 dollars, while bitcoin dipped 1.3 percent to 82,783 dollars at the time of the Cointelegraph report.

Why it matters

The crossover is the story. Ether funds hold about one seventh of the assets in bitcoin funds, 14.95 billion dollars against 104.29 billion dollars, yet they lost more money in absolute terms last week and have lost close to a billion dollars in a single month. Measured against its own asset base, ether's October withdrawal is a materially larger redemption event than anything bitcoin funds have experienced this autumn. Whatever is driving holders out of regulated crypto exposure, whether it is the inflation shock that hit markets in mid October, profit taking after ether's earlier run, or a rotation within portfolios, it is landing hardest on the second largest product rather than spreading evenly.

The shape of the selling also matters for how it should be read. This was not a panic week. Outflows halved or better compared with the prior week, the two largest groups both took in money on Tuesday, and Friday's ether outflow came from a single fund rather than across the complex. Concentrated, decelerating redemptions look more like a limited number of large holders adjusting positions than like a broad loss of confidence in the product category. That distinction is exactly what flow data can and cannot show: the figures record shares created and redeemed, not the reasons of the holders behind them, and a week in which one fund accounts for an entire category's Friday outflow is a week in which a handful of decisions move the headline number.

There is also a sequencing point for the wider market. ETF flows have become the most visible daily gauge of institutional demand for crypto exposure, and October has now delivered three straight negative weeks for ether and two for bitcoin while prices, after the mid month inflation selloff, have stabilized rather than continuing to fall. Monday's package elsewhere on this site records bitcoin climbing back toward 83,000 dollars even as the flow figures were published. A market that absorbs a near billion dollar month of ether fund redemptions without a disorderly price break is behaving differently from one in which redemptions and spot selling chase each other down, and that difference is the measurable content of this week's data.

What to watch

Watch whether ether's October total crosses 1 billion dollars, and how quickly. At 955 million dollars with two trading weeks left in the month, the mark will likely be passed; the informative figure is the weekly pace. A fourth week materially below 320 million dollars would confirm deceleration, while a reacceleration toward the prior week's 542 million dollars would change the reading from adjustment to exit.

Watch the concentration. Friday's ether outflow came entirely from one fund, and Wednesday's bitcoin outflow was dominated by two. If the next week's redemptions spread across issuers, the holder base doing the selling is broadening; if they stay concentrated, the story remains a small number of large positions being unwound.

Watch the smaller categories for confirmation. Solana funds posted their worst week on record at about 25.5 million dollars of outflows, and XRP funds, covered in today's briefs, recorded their first negative week after 13 straight weeks of inflows. If the altcoin funds stabilize while ether keeps bleeding, the pressure is ether specific. If everything stays negative together, it is category wide, and the year to date cushions, 259 million dollars for bitcoin and 610 million dollars for ether, become the next thresholds to watch.