Bitcoin ETFs noticed a surge in buying and selling exercise on Friday and Monday, with mixed volumes reaching $9.7 billion and $6.7 billion as tariff headlines rattled threat markets.
BlackRock’s IBIT alone dealt with over $6.9 billion on Oct. 10 (its second-highest day ever), as buyers repositioned across the day’s worth volatility.
Bitcoin ETF quantity surge
This dramatic uptick in buying and selling quantity, far surpassing typical day by day averages of $2-3 billion, indicators a frenzy of shopping for and promoting reasonably than easy accumulation.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have turn into a go-to automobile for institutional and retail buyers in search of publicity to BTC with out direct custody hassles. However why the explosion now? The perpetrator lies in an ideal storm of macroeconomic shocks, particularly escalating tariff threats from US policymakers.
On Oct. 10, headlines about potential 60% tariffs on Chinese language imports despatched shockwaves by way of world threat property, amplifying fears of commerce wars and inflation spikes.
Being a hedge towards fiat debasement and a high-beta threat asset, Bitcoin plunged almost 18% intraday from $122,600 to $102,546, its sharpest drop in months.
This volatility created ripe alternatives (and requirements) for buying and selling. Buyers rushed to ETFs to execute speedy trades: long-term fund holders trimmed positions to lock in good points from BTC’s summer time rally above $125,000, whereas opportunistic merchants piled in on the dip, betting on a rebound.
Brief-term speculators amplified the chaos, with leveraged performs on platforms like CME futures spilling over into ETF liquidity.
The outcome? Turnover skyrocketed as shares modified fingers a number of instances. In contrast to calmer intervals, the place ETF volumes mirror regular inflows, this spike appears like pure adrenaline: merchants utilizing the low-fee, regulated construction of merchandise like IBIT (0.25% expense ratio) as a frictionless on-ramp to BTC volatility.
Nonetheless, the spike in quantity previously two buying and selling days is in stark distinction with ETF inflows. Farside information confirmed that on Oct. 10, internet outflows have been simply -$5.7 million, whereas volumes hit $9.67 billion. Internet exercise remained subdued even on Oct. 13, with volumes at $6.67 billion.
This hole illustrates a key distinction: buying and selling quantity gauges gross exercise (whole shares traded), typically inflated by back-and-forth churn throughout swings, whereas internet inflows measure true capital addition after redemptions. In unstable instances, the previous surges as merchants react, however the latter lags except sentiment shifts durably bullish.
This sample isn’t new however has intensified post-ETF launch.
In March 2025’s bull run, volumes and inflows synced at $15-20 billion days, fueled by pension funds allocating anew. Tariff fears, nonetheless, evoke 2022’s macro rout, the place BTC volumes spiked 5x with out internet good points.
By Monday, Oct. 13, as mud settled and BTC rebounded to $115,250 (up 2.3%), volumes eased, suggesting exhaustion. IBIT nonetheless dominated at $4.72 billion, however the frenzy waned as markets digested the information.
Outflows jumped to $326.4 million on Oct.13 as a result of the mud had settled, and warning took over. Bitcoin rebounded barely to $115,250 (up 2.3% from the Oct. 10 shut), letting some buyers money out good points.
Weekend crypto liquidations topped $20 billion, fueling broader concern of commerce wars and inflation. Establishments de-risked by pulling cash out forward of extra headlines, at the same time as buying and selling quantity dropped to $6.7 billion. Briefly, the preliminary chaos hid balanced flows; the calm after let sellers dominate.
Within the coming weeks, persistent tariff rhetoric might maintain elevated volumes, pressuring the $111,000 Bitcoin worth at press time. If commerce tensions escalate, count on extra “flight to volatility” trades, doubtlessly pushing ETF turnover towards $10 billion routinely.
But, with out corresponding inflows above $750 million day by day, sustained worth upside could hinge on broader macro aid.
