In brief
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen inflows of $2.8 billion across eight consecutive trading sessions.
- Daily inflows have retreated from a peak of $606 million on August 20 to $232 million on Wednesday.
- HashKey's Tim Sun told Decrypt the streak matters more than any single day, though its shrinking size points to weakening buying pressure.
Bitcoin traded around $79,520 on Thursday, up 1.1% over the past day after touching an intraday high of $80,475, according to CoinGecko data, as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs extended a run that has drawn $2.8 billion across eight consecutive trading sessions.
BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $2.02 billion of the run, or 72% of the total, Farside Investors data shows. Grayscale's GBTC was a net loser over the same stretch, shedding $50.4 million on Wednesday alone.
That divergence has defined the category since launch, with cumulative net inflows standing at $54.7 billion. IBIT has drawn $63.1 billion while GBTC has bled $27.6 billion over that period.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted that gold and Bitcoin funds had drawn a combined $7 billion over the past week, calling it "by far a record for a 5-day period" and attributing the surge to a debasement trade pulling attention from AI. He noted IBIT's year-to-date flows have turned positive after a long spell in the red.
DEBASER: Gold and Bitcoin ETFs have combined for +$7b in flows in past week, by far a record for a 5-day period as debasement trade steals spotlight from AI. GLD, IBIT leading, in Top 10 for week. Also notable $IBIT YTD flows are now positive, completely dug out of sizable hole. pic.twitter.com/q3LmPxnzfi
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 26, 2026
Stephen Wundke, strategy and revenue director at Algoz Technologies, said weekly trading volume topped $90 billion, roughly double the average, with Bitcoin accounting for just under $40 billion of it. Weekly ETF inflows of nearly $2 billion matched the previous 30 days combined, he said, adding that, “If August can hang on to these inflows it will be the best month since October 2025.”
What the streak signals
Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, cautioned against reading too much into any single day. Tracking flows against prices since 2024 shows a positive long-term correlation with a coefficient below 0.5, he told Decrypt, working out to roughly a 0.4% move for every $100 million of net inflow.
"Using single-day ETF flows alone to predict the next trading day's Bitcoin price yields very limited predictive power," Sun said, describing flows as a trend-confirmation indicator instead of a leading one.
Streaks are the exception. Sustained inflows beyond five consecutive days signal “sustained spot demand,” Sun said, and the current run follows a heavy correction in the $60,000 to $70,000 range. "Capital from ETF channels shows a significantly higher acceptance of the current price range, and market consensus on a temporary bottom is strengthening," he said.
The daily figures bear out his warning about momentum. Inflows peaked at $606.3 million on August 20 and have not topped $340 million in any session since, with Wednesday's $232.2 million the smallest of those. New money is still arriving while the marginal strength of the buying weakens, Sun said, which fits a market that has moved past $80,000 into territory holding both trapped positions and profit-taking. He put the resistance zone near $85,000.
Sun's test from here is whether prices can stall or dip slightly while inflows continue, which would show new capital absorbing the selling. Thursday's slip back below $80,000 offers an early read, though the day's flow figures are not yet in. Wundke set his own marker lower, saying a hold above $72,000 would "give investors confidence" that pullbacks are buying opportunities.