Flows are the money moving into and out of funds, and they are the cleanest public read on what investors are actually doing rather than saying. The Investment Company Institute publishes a weekly estimate for all US long-term mutual funds and ETFs; the spot bitcoin ETFs report daily. This page carries the latest figures and explains what they do and do not tell you.
Sources: www.ici.org/research/stats/combined_flows. Not yet shown here: US spot bitcoin ETF net flow, daily. Figures are copied from each publisher as printed; MarketIntelLabs computes only the change since the prior reading.
Every Wednesday the Investment Company Institute publishes estimated flows for the week ended the prior Wednesday, combining long-term mutual funds and ETFs and splitting them into equity (domestic and world), hybrid, bond (taxable and municipal) and commodity. The number is an estimate from a sample of funds covering most of industry assets and is revised in the following release.
Bond funds have taken steady inflows for most of the past decade as the population ages; domestic equity mutual funds have bled to ETFs for just as long. The informative part is the deviation from that pattern: a week of equity outflows during a rally, or bond inflows accelerating when yields fall.
The US spot bitcoin ETFs that launched in January 2024 publish creations and redemptions daily, and Farside Investors tabulates the net flow by fund each evening. Because the funds must buy or sell bitcoin to match flows, the daily total is a direct read on institutional and advisor demand for the asset, which is why it moves the price discussion the next morning.
Large single-day flows are often one allocator rebalancing rather than a change in sentiment. The running weekly and monthly totals, and the share coming from the largest fund, say more than any single day.
Flows measure net purchases of fund shares, not returns and not positioning in the underlying market. Money leaving a fund may be going to a cheaper fund in the same category. And flows follow performance with a lag more often than they lead it, so a strong inflow week is usually a report on the month before.
Weekly on Wednesdays, for the week ended the previous Wednesday, and a monthly report with more detail about three weeks after month end.
Each issuer reports daily creations and redemptions. Farside Investors compiles them into one table by fund with a daily total, which is the figure most reports quote.
Not reliably. Flows tend to follow returns. For the bitcoin ETFs the link is tighter because the funds must trade the underlying, but even there a single large day is usually one allocator moving.
Two straight heavy bitcoin ETF outflow days (-$398.6M Monday after -$643.3M Friday) flipped the 2026 YTD net from "barely green" to roughly flat-to-negative, with AUM slipping below $100B, as the sector heads into the midterm vote.
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The market shrugged off the largest exchange hack on record and pushed bitcoin back above $78,500. The institutional flow tape did not shrug: spot bitcoin ETFs booked a $643.3M one-day outflow, the biggest in a month, and ether funds extended their losing streak. Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections carry the next swing.
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Bitcoin reclaimed $80,000 while US spot ETF flows turned net negative for October, as BlackRock's IBIT absorbed inflows and FBTC, ARKB and GBTC bled. What the bifurcation means ahead of the Fed.
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BlackRock reported more bitcoin and more IBIT shares on October 23 than on September 30, despite a late pullback. Here is what a daily flow actually measures.
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U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged their heaviest two-session outflow of the month, $773.5M, reversing three days of inflows and helping push BTC under $80,000 into the Fed. The week still closed positive on IBIT, and Wednesday's tone sets the next move.
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Gold broke below $4,000 for the first time since mid-July, then reclaimed it. ETF flows vs long liquidation decide if $4,000 holds or a run at $3,942 comes.
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U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs snapped a five-session, $997.4M inflow run with a $635M Oct 22 exodus, the largest single-day pull since June. IBIT carried 87.7% of the inflows and gave back $254M. The ~$57-58B cumulative base held; bitcoin traded near $81,800 ahead of the Oct 28 Fed decision.
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FINMA approved Switzerland's first retail spot bitcoin ETF as US spot bitcoin ETFs logged a third straight inflow day. Why macro rates still govern crypto.
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Ether trades near $2,403 as spot ETFs post about $1.08 billion in October outflows, the largest monthly exodus since November 2025, erasing September's roughly $832 million inflow and leaving year-to-date net inflows near $485 million as ETH lags bitcoin.
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US spot bitcoin ETFs added +$524.8 million on Oct 21, their third straight inflow session (Oct 19: +$526.7m, Oct 20: +$23.2m), led by BlackRock's IBIT at +$235.0 million. Here is what the flow data signal, and where bitcoin sits under a 5.15% 10-year.
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Spot bitcoin ETFs flipped back to inflows, +$526.7M on Oct 19 and +$23.2M on Oct 20, after a mid-October outflow run. The turn shows the structural ETF buyer re-emerges at lower prices, but a 5.12% 10-year yield and an 18-month-high dollar still cap bitcoin near $82,600.
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Roughly 140 comment submissions pressed the SEC to rework its proposed crypto framework before the Oct 20 close, from Hyperliquid's airdrop questions to SIFMA and AIMA's custody concerns. Bitcoin sat near $82,563 even as ETF inflows stayed positive, the signal that matters for positioning.
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Spot bitcoin ETFs posted a third straight weekly outflow, about $228.6M for Oct 12-16. The bounce is perp-led, not spot-led. What the FOMC means for flows.
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