Bitcoin ETF outflows dominated US spot crypto fund flows on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2026, with eleven spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds shedding a combined $244 million, according to data tracked by CoinDesk. The single-day pullback deepened an already brutal October for risk assets, but it told only half of the story: spot XRP ETFs were the lone crypto fund category to print net inflows on the day, offering a notable counterpoint to the broader deleveraging now reshaping digital-asset markets.
Bitcoin ETF outflows: Spot Bitcoin ETFs Shed $244M in a Single Session
The aggregate $244 million exit from US spot Bitcoin ETFs marked one of the heavier redemption days of the month, with the bulk of the damage concentrated among the largest issuers. Traders attributed the selling to a combination of profit-taking after September’s push toward $90,000 and a defensive reallocation as macro volatility spiked. The pattern aligns with prior episodes in which institutional desks trimmed BTC exposure into leverage unwinds, then redeployed once funding rates normalized.
Zcash-tracking funds extended a multi-day run of October outflows, underlining that the rotation was not limited to the majors. Even so, year-to-date net creations across the spot Bitcoin ETF complex remain comfortably positive, and average daily volumes have held above $3 billion through the first week of October, per Bloomberg and Farside Investors data referenced by CoinDesk.
Bitcoin ETF outflows: XRP ETFs Stand Alone as the Day’s Only Green Category
While Bitcoin and ether products bled, spot XRP ETFs were the only crypto fund group in the green on Thursday, drawing fresh capital from investors positioning for an anticipated resolution in the long-running Securities and Exchange Commission case. Multiple issuers, including Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ and Bitwise’s XRPC, reported net inflows that bucked the broader risk-off tone across the ETF complex.
Analysts at CoinDesk noted that the divergence highlights how token-specific catalysts can override sector-wide macro flows, particularly when regulated US products offer the cleanest access to a single asset. The XRP ETF cohort has now strung together several sessions of positive creations, contrasting sharply with the steady redemption pressure seen across BTC and ETH vehicles since early October.
Bitcoin ETF outflows: A $1B+ Liquidation Cascade Resets the Leverage Map
The ETF outflows arrived against an even more violent backdrop in derivatives markets. Bitcoin, which had slid below $80,000 intraday, clawed back above $83,000 after a liquidation cascade that vaporized more than $1 billion of leveraged positions across centralized and on-chain venues. Ether traders bore a disproportionate share of the pain: $356 million of ETH liquidations were forced, a figure that works out to roughly six times bitcoin’s liquidation rate when adjusted for market capitalization.
The largest single wipeout was a $19.98 million ETH-USD short position on Hyperliquid, captured on-chain and circulated by analytics account Lookonchain. Such outsized prints underscore how concentrated perpetual futures positioning had become ahead of the move, and how thin liquidity on individual venues can amplify a directional flush once margined longs or shorts begin to topple.
Funding Rates and Long/Short Ratios Still Skew Long
Despite the carnage, aggregate crypto funding rates remain positive at roughly 5% annualized, and the global long/short ratio sits at 1.85, indicating that leverage on the books is still tilted toward longs. In plain terms, the market has absorbed a meaningful reset, but it has not capitulated. Open interest on bitcoin perpetuals is down only modestly from pre-cascade levels, while ether open interest has compressed more sharply, consistent with the heavier liquidation footprint on the second-largest asset.
Options markets tell a similar story: 30-day implied volatility for both BTC and ETH has expanded, but put-call skew has steepened only at the front of the curve, suggesting traders are hedging near-term tail risk rather than expecting a sustained drawdown. Together, the funding, positioning, and volatility data suggest that the worst of the forced selling is likely behind the market, even as macro headlines and seasonal flows continue to inject noise.
What the Divergence Means for Allocators
For portfolio managers, Thursday’s tape offered a clean case study in cross-asset dispersion. Bitcoin ETF outflows showed that even the most liquid crypto vehicles are not immune to macro deleveraging, while the resilience of XRP funds reinforced the value of catalyst-driven, single-asset exposure during periods of sector-wide stress. Ether’s outsized liquidation rate relative to bitcoin, meanwhile, is a reminder that smaller-cap majors can carry higher implied leverage risk per dollar of market cap.
Looking ahead, allocators are likely to monitor three signals: whether spot BTC ETF flows stabilize or extend the multi-day redemption streak, whether XRP ETF creations hold up as the regulatory backdrop evolves, and whether funding rates compress toward neutral or remain stubbornly long-biased. With bitcoin back above $83,000 and leverage still stacked on the long side, the path of least resistance into next week’s trade hinges on whether forced sellers have been fully flushed or merely delayed.
Bitcoin ETF outflows of this magnitude, layered on top of a billion-dollar derivatives cascade, will keep risk managers focused on positioning data even as XRP funds quietly continue to attract capital against the prevailing tide.
Bitcoin ETF outflows of this magnitude, layered on top of a billion-dollar derivatives cleanse, have historically marked transitional points in cycle structure rather than definitive tops. Prior episodes of sustained four- and five-day redemption streaks in 2024 often resolved with sideways consolidation lasting several weeks before flows rotated back to net positive, once over-leveraged longs had been cleared from the order book. The current configuration differs in one notable respect: XRP products are absorbing capital at the same time BTC vehicles are bleeding, suggesting the rotation is intra-crypto rather than a wholesale exit from the asset class. Should the leading BTC funds print even a single day of net inflows next week, technical analysts say it would likely neutralize much of the bearish positioning that the past session reinforced.
Liquidity providers are also watching the basis trade between spot ETFs and CME futures, which has narrowed meaningfully alongside the price decline. A re-widening of that basis would signal that institutional hedgers are returning with fresh inventory rather than simply standing aside, complementing any stabilization in headline Bitcoin ETF outflows with a more constructive underlying tone for the broader crypto complex.
Source: CoinDesk