Bitcoin Back Above $77K After Defending $75K Zone in a $746M ETF Outflow Week

Bitcoin ended a turbulent week back above $77,000, having defended the $75,000 to $76,000 zone through two shocks that hit crypto at once: the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point rate hike on September 16, its first increase since 2023, and a roughly $746 million two-day outflow from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs on September 15 and 16, per Farside data. The sell pressure unwound much of a seven-day inflow streak, yet the price held its ground and clawed higher.

The defense of the $75,000 to $76,000 zone was the week's defining move. Bitcoin slipped toward that support as the Fed's hawkish repricing and the ETF outflows hit together, then rebounded, reclaiming its 9-day moving average near $76,837 and trading to roughly $77,400 by September 18. Farside pegged the two-day outflow at about $746 million, split between $450.4 million on September 15 and $295.9 million on September 16, the lightest such stretch since June. That the price recovered while institutions were net sellers speaks to the resilience of the current bid.

Ether never found the same footing. Ether ETFs bled again in September, adding an outflow of about $86 million on September 17 to more than $1 billion in early-month losses, and ether traded near $2,482, the low end of its 52-week range. The regulatory backdrop stayed two-sided, with a Senate bill on market structure stalled while a rival tax-certainty measure advanced in the House, but the week's price action was driven chiefly by flows and Fed policy rather than legislation.

Outlook: the near-term picture is one of caution on risk with the support zone proven, and the key question is whether Friday's settled ETF flow prints confirm the outflows were a blip rather than the start of a trend.

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