U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs see outflows for a sixth straight session. On November 2, net outflows totaled $140 million. Almost all of it came from BlackRock funds.
What these funds are. A spot ETF trades on an exchange like a regular stock while holding the asset itself. By buying it, an investor gets exposure to ETH without a wallet or keys.
Why this matters to a trader. Flows into such funds show what big money is doing. Six days of outflows in a row is a sustained backdrop, not a one-off trade.
Who was selling and who was buying?
The main outflow is at BlackRock. The iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) fund from the world's largest asset manager lost $138 million. Its staking product ETHB gave up another $4.6 million.
- +$3.15 million - the only inflow of the day, Morgan Stanley bank's MSSE fund, $48.24 million cumulative
- Zero flow - Grayscale, Fidelity, Bitwise, VanEck, Franklin, 21Shares and Invesco
- 98.6% of the total withdrawn amount - BlackRock products
How much is that?
Ethereum ETFs hold $13.183 billion. That's 4.8% of ETH's market cap. Cumulative inflow since launch is $12.148 billion, of which ETHA alone raised $11.73 billion.
The $140 million outflow is just over 1% of assets. As a share, it's heavier than a comparable outflow from Bitcoin funds.
Key point: the streak follows a record month. In October, $1.61 billion was pulled from Ethereum funds - the most in the history of these products. ETHA alone shed 580,145 ETH in a month, worth roughly $1.3 billion.
Why did the selling start?
It coincided with the Binance hack. On October 29, the exchange was hacked for $6.3 billion. That same week, money was also leaving Bitcoin funds.
The cause isn't clear yet. There are two possibilities:
- A temporary reduction in risk. Large investors are cutting positions until the situation becomes clearer.
- Rotation out of ETH. Money is moving from Ethereum into other assets.
What's next?
The outflow is across the entire crypto market. In the same session, Bitcoin funds gave up $398.6 million. The main outflow went through BlackRock's IBIT, with Fidelity's FBTC the exception, taking in $6.68 million.
- about $539 million - total outflow across crypto funds for the day
- $2,250 - the level ETH was holding at the time of publication
- A turnaround in flows - requires either a macro catalyst or buying returning to ETHA
Macro catalysts are easy to track in the economic calendar.
Have you traded this ETH slide?
Six days in one direction is exactly the backdrop a position is built around. The whole question is size. On a deposit of a couple thousand, a correctly traded ETH slide produces an amount that's invisible in a monthly total. In prop trading, the account is provided by the firm: a paid evaluation under its rules, then its capital in your terminal and an agreed percentage of the result. It's easier to understand the mechanics now than during the next streak of outflows.