Bitcoin ETFs Take In $286 Million in Two Days While Ether Funds Bleed Ahead of the Fed
Spot bitcoin funds reversed a $774 million two-day exit with fresh inflows, yet October is still slightly negative, ether funds have lost $1.32 billion this month and the coin sits near $81,000.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026/2 min read
Money came back into bitcoin funds this week, but not enough to rescue October. US spot bitcoin ETFs took in about $286 million of net inflows on Monday and Tuesday, roughly $110 million on the first day and $176 million on the second, TokenPost reported. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $151.5 million of Tuesday's total.
It followed an ugly end to last week. The funds had lost nearly $774 million on Thursday and Friday, and the coin dropped below $80,000 over the weekend as $810 million in positions were liquidated, as we reported on Monday. Bitcoin was back near $81,300 on Wednesday morning, with the Federal Reserve's decision due later in the day.
How much have bitcoin and ether ETFs flowed this month?
The two-day recovery leaves bitcoin ETFs down about $26 million for October, though still up roughly $850 million for the year, according to TokenPost. That is a close-to-flat month after a violent one.
Ether funds tell a different story. They shed about $149 million across Monday and Tuesday and about $1.32 billion for October as a whole. Analytics Insight, citing SoSoValue data, put Tuesday's bitcoin inflow at about $176 million and Tuesday's ether outflow at about $60.2 million, which matches TokenPost on the bitcoin side.
What is bitcoin's price doing before the Fed?
Not much. TokenPost had bitcoin at about $81,297 at 7:53 a.m. in New York on Wednesday, below both its nine-day average of $81,416 and its 21-day average of $81,905, and said it stayed under $82,000. Analytics Insight reported a range of roughly $79,416 to $81,159 in daily trading and a price near $80,800, without saying exactly when the readings were taken, so treat the levels as approximate.
One datapoint leaned positive. Analytics Insight, citing Santiment, said about 14,942 BTC left exchanges on a net basis, the largest daily outflow in five weeks. Coins moving off exchanges are often read as holders choosing to keep rather than sell, though it is not a forecast. TokenPost's technical read was similarly mixed: a relative strength index of 45.52 sits in neutral territory, neither oversold nor stretched, which fits a market waiting for a catalyst.
What does the Fed's decision mean for crypto?
Markets expect the Fed to hold its target range at 3.75 to 4.00 percent after a quarter-point increase in September, TokenPost said, and traders are watching Chair Kevin Warsh's remarks on inflation and the December outlook. A hold is the base case, so the tone of the press conference is the risk.
For bitcoin, the picture is a range with little room to either side. A hawkish signal on December would test the weekend's lows near $80,000, while a calmer message could let the ETF inflows do more work. Wednesday's flow data, published after the decision, will show which way buyers lean.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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