Bitcoin ETFs Record $870M Inflows as BTC Flirts With Lifetime Highs

• U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw over $870 million in net inflows on Tuesday, with BlackRock’s IBIT leading at $629 million.

• This surge in investments coincided with bitcoin’s price nearing its all-time high, fueled by pre-election market volatility expectations.

Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed in the U.S. recorded over $870 million in net inflows on Tuesday, the third-highest such figures since the products first went live in January.

BlackRock’s IBIT logged over $629 million in inflows, SoSoValue data shows, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $133 million, Bitwise’s BITB at $52 million, Grayscale’s mini bitcoin trust (BTC) at $29 million, VanEck’s HODL at $16 million and Ark’s ARKB at $12 million.

Grayscale’s bitcoin trust (GBTC) was the only ETF recording net outflows at $17 million. Total trading volumes crossed $4.75 billion — the highest since March — with IBIT accounting for $3.3 billion alone.

The ETF demand came as bitcoin fell just shy of its lifetime highs late Tuesday, boosted ahead of next week’s U.S. elections that traders largely consider a harbinger of volatility in the near term. Some target an $80,000 price level in November regardless of a Democrat or Republican win, with options bets for that price range seeing a surge in demand last week.

BTC jumped 3% Tuesday, extending seven day gains to 7.7% and leading a market move higher.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas expects bigger inflow figures in the coming days on investor “FOMO,” or Fear Of Missing Out on a trade.

“$IBIT traded $3.3b today, biggest number in 6mo, which is a bit odd bc btc was up 4% (typically ETF volume spikes in a downturn/crisis),” Balchunas said on X. “Occasionally tho volume can spike if there a FOMO-ing frenzy (a la $ARKK in 2020). Given the surge in price past few days, my guess is this is latter, which means look for (more) big inflows this week.”