Spot Bitcoin ETFs set lifetime flow record at $40.3B as price recovers

BlackRock's IBIT dominated 92% of the net flows from April 7 to May 8, favored by the "beta with a side of Bitcoin" pattern.

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

Spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) traded in the US reached a new all-time high of $40.3 billion in lifetime flows on May 8, according to Bloomberg data.

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said lifetime net flows are the most critical metric related to ETFs to watch. He explained that this metric is “very hard to grow” and represents the “pure truth.”

Balchunas assessed:

“Impressive they were able to make it to new high water mark so soon after the world was supposed to end. Byproduct of barely anyone leaving, left only a tiny hole to dig out of.”

After hitting its lowest year-to-date price of $74,441.20 on April 7, Bitcoin gradually recovered above $103,000 by May 8.

The ETF flows tracked BTC’s price performance, with nearly $4.8 billion in net flows added between April 7 and May 8, according to Farside Investors data. This number represents over 10% of their lifetime flows.

Notably, only eight out of 23 trading days since BTC started its upward trajectory registered outflows, totaling $1 billion.

IBIT dominates

BlackRock’s IBIT registered over $4.4 billion in net flows, nearly 92% of the period’s net flows. Balchunas highlighted on May 5 that this is due to a pattern called “beta with a side of Bitcoin,” favoring IBIT. On the same day, IBIT was the eighth-largest ETF by year-to-date flows.

As of May 8, IBIT had $44.3 billion in net flows, nearly four times that of Fidelity’s FBTC, the second-largest spot Bitcoin ETF by net flows.

FBTC registered the second-largest net flows since Bitcoin started its recovery, with $192.4 million added. Notably, this is just 4.4% of all the flows added to IBIT.

According to a recent Glassnode report, along with improving retail sentiment, the strong inflows seen since April 7 suggest stronger tailwinds supporting the Bitcoin market.

The new all-time high in lifetime flows of spot Bitcoin ETFs amid an uncertain market reiterates the surging demand from institutional and traditional investors.

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