Spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in October 2026: flows, assets and who is buying
US spot bitcoin ETFs held about 103 billion dollars on 26 October 2026, while ether funds held about 14 billion and lost more than 1 billion dollars in October. The numbers and the buyers.
Nearly three years after their launch, US spot bitcoin ETFs are one of the main ways investors gain exposure to bitcoin. On 26 October 2026 they had total net assets of about 103 billion dollars and cumulative net inflows of about 57.3 billion dollars since trading began on 11 January 2024, according to TFTC, which compiles SoSoValue and issuer data. Spot ether ETFs are much smaller: their total net assets were 14.07 billion dollars on 26 October, about 4.99% of ether's market value, with cumulative net inflows of 12.63 billion dollars, according to SoSoValue data reported by TokenPost on 27 October.
Bitcoin funds: a choppy month. Between 1 and 26 October 2026 US spot bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of about 202 million dollars, according to Cointelegraph, citing SoSoValue. Daily figures compiled by TFTC show how uneven the month was: 487.1 million dollars left the funds on 7 October and 635.5 million dollars on 22 October, while 526.6 million dollars came in on 19 October and 528.4 million dollars on 21 October. On 26 October the funds took in 110.3 million dollars, all of it in BlackRock's IBIT. Bitcoin traded at about 79,595 dollars when Cointelegraph published on 27 October, down 2.6% over seven days.
One fund dominates. IBIT had cumulative net inflows of about 66.2 billion dollars on 26 October, according to TFTC, more than the 57.3 billion dollars of the whole category. The gap comes from Grayscale's GBTC, converted from an older trust, which has recorded cumulative net outflows of about 28.0 billion dollars. Fidelity's FBTC followed with about 10.3 billion dollars, then Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust with 2.9 billion, Bitwise's BITB with 2.0 billion, ARK and 21Shares' ARKB with 1.1 billion and VanEck's HODL with 1.0 billion. Morgan Stanley's own fund, MSBT, had gathered about 806 million dollars.
Ether funds: the weakest month of the year. US spot ether ETFs recorded net outflows of 1.08 billion dollars in October up to 20 October, the largest monthly outflow of 2026, after inflows of about 832 million dollars in September, according to SoSoValue data reported by Cryptopolitan on 21 October. Total net assets fell from 14.98 billion dollars on 20 October to 14.07 billion dollars on 26 October. On 26 October alone the funds lost 88.58 million dollars: BlackRock's ETHA recorded outflows of 104.71 million dollars, while Fidelity's FETH took in 16.13 million dollars. ETHA held 7.45 billion dollars, more than half of the category. Ether traded at about 2,348 dollars on 27 October, according to CoinGecko.
Who buys. The clearest picture comes from 13F filings, the quarterly reports that US managers with more than 100 million dollars in listed securities must file. An analysis of second quarter 2026 filings, reported by Crypto Briefing on 19 August 2026, found that institutional holdings of US spot bitcoin ETFs rose by about 7.5% in the quarter, from 498,389 to 535,723 bitcoin, even as the price fell by about 14.2%. Total ETF holdings fell by 6.6% to 1,211,322 bitcoin. The institutional share therefore reached a record 44.2%, up from 38.4% at the end of March.
Banks were among the buyers. According to the same analysis, Morgan Stanley's holdings of IBIT rose by about 23% to around 16.5 million shares, and JPMorgan's from about 8.3 million to 10.4 million shares. Hedge funds and trading firms were also active. The rest of the ETF shares, around 56%, sit with individuals and smaller advisers who do not file 13F reports.
How to read the data. 13F reports arrive about 45 days after the end of each quarter and show only long positions, so a fund that holds ETF shares may be hedged elsewhere, for example with futures. Daily flows show shares created or redeemed by the large dealers that serve the funds, which is a good indication of demand but not a direct count of who is buying.
What it means. ETFs have brought bitcoin and ether into ordinary brokerage accounts, and their flows have become one of the most watched gauges of demand. In October that gauge pointed both ways for bitcoin and clearly down for ether. An ETF holder owns fund shares, not coins: the shares cannot be moved on a blockchain or used to pay.
Holders of the coins themselves have other uses for them. Unicorn Club, the members-only club of Unicorn Private, accepts BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC (ERC-20) for its club deals in pre-IPO companies. Our guide on how to invest in pre-IPO companies with crypto, linked among the sources, explains how it works.
This article is general information and not a personal recommendation. Investing involves the risk of losing capital.
Sources
- TFTC, US spot Bitcoin ETF daily flows and cumulative flows by fund, 26 October 2026
- Cointelegraph, Bitcoin ETFs claw back 110 million dollars after 774 million exit, 27 October 2026
- TokenPost, spot Ethereum ETFs return to outflows (SoSoValue data), 27 October 2026
- Cryptopolitan, Ether ETFs lose 1.08 billion dollars in October (SoSoValue data), 21 October 2026
- Crypto Briefing, institutional holdings of Bitcoin ETFs in Q2 2026 13F filings, 19 August 2026
- CoinGecko, Bitcoin and Ether prices, 27 October 2026
- Unicorn Club, guide: how to invest in pre-IPO companies with crypto