ETFs Pull In $854M While BTC Plays Hard to Get 📈

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed $853.54 million in net inflows during the week ended Aug. 7, the largest weekly total since mid-April and a sharp reversal from the $61.5 million net outflow recorded the week prior, according to data from SoSoValue. BlackRock's IBIT captured the bulk of the activity with $693 million in inflows, while cumulative net inflows since the ETFs' launch now stand at $52.18 billion. Spot Ethereum ETFs drew $244 million over the same period, equivalent on a market-cap-adjusted basis to roughly $1.25 billion in BTC inflows. The funds ended the week managing $79.5 billion in assets, about 6.1% of Bitcoin's market capitalization.

Momentum eased into the close. Daily inflows slipped from $128.7 million on Thursday to $98.9 million on Friday, a sign the buying streak was moderating rather than accelerating. Still, the week marked the first sustained inflow stretch after an eight-week run of outflows that bled through June and early July, and it pushed year-to-date outflows down to roughly $4.5 billion.

Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, attributed the rebound to a combination of portfolio rebalancing and basis trading rather than a wholesale return of institutional conviction. "It shows that after the AI craze briefly entered a pullback period, institutional funds have started buying Bitcoin again," Sun told Decrypt. He pointed to weakening U.S. employment data as a more important catalyst than the ETF flows themselves. Friday's jobs report showed employers cut 23,000 positions in July, well below forecasts for a 95,000 gain, with unemployment ticking down to 4.1%. CME FedWatch odds of a September rate hike fell to 40% on Friday from 55% earlier in the week, then edged back up to 46% on Monday.

CoinShares head of research James Butterfill struck a warmer note. "Our view remains that the cycle lows are probably now behind us," he wrote in a Friday update, while cautioning that "this does not imply an immediate return to strong upside." Butterfill cited three consecutive weeks of whale accumulation following roughly $40 billion of whale selling since October 2025, alongside $1.05 billion of inflows into digital asset investment products globally last week, the fifth straight positive week for the broader measure. He expects Bitcoin to trade range-bound for two to three months, potentially toward $80,000.

Sun was more circumspect. The week's inflows are "not enough to support a trend reversal," he said, noting that hike odds have not disappeared and long-dated Treasury yields remain elevated. He identified the $60,000 to $61,000 range as support Bitcoin has repeatedly tested. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas floated a different explanation, noting that IBIT and FBTC have taken in money every day since the Coldcard exploit began draining BTC from wallets. Bitcoin traded at around $65,100 on Monday morning, up 0.4% on the day according to CoinGecko data, with the 50-day moving average still below the 200-day in a technical death cross. The July U.S. CPI print, due Aug. 12, is the next key variable that could shift both the rate path and the ETF flow trajectory.