US spot bitcoin ETFs lost a net $635.49 million on Thursday 22 October, according to SoSoValue data reported by Bloomingbit, the first outflow after three days that had brought in about $1.07 billion. BlackRock’s IBIT gave back $254.05 million and Fidelity’s FBTC $217.46 million. The selling came on the day the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.60%, its worst session since early June. Bitcoin did not break, though: on Coinbase it has stayed between $81,004 and $81,920 since the US close at 20:00 UTC, and traded near $81,600 at 04:29 UTC on Friday, down 1.35% over 24 hours, according to Coindaro’s market data.
So the bitcoin price today sits just under the level that matters most to the ETF crowd. Yesterday evening the open question was whether buyers who had poured in all week would hold on once bitcoin slipped under their average entry price. Thursday’s flow data says they did not: the week’s buyers sold.
Our evening piece set out how bitcoin lost $84,000 before Wall Street opened and went under the estimated ETF cost basis near $81,500 at 16:50 UTC, hour by hour. That timeline and the cost-basis method are in our analysis of Thursday’s US session; this report picks up from the close.
ETF funds turn sellers: $635 million out on Thursday
Five of the twelve US spot bitcoin funds reported outflows on 22 October, according to SoSoValue. IBIT and FBTC together accounted for $471.5 million, about 74% of the total. ARK and 21Shares’ ARKB lost $109.43 million. Morgan Stanley’s MSBT was the only fund with an inflow, a modest $2.33 million, and six funds, including Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust and VanEck’s HODL, reported no flow at all.
| Fund | Net flow, 22 Oct (US$ million) |
|---|---|
| BlackRock IBIT | -254.05 |
| Fidelity FBTC | -217.46 |
| ARK/21Shares ARKB | -109.43 |
| Grayscale GBTC | -29.53 |
| Bitwise BITB | -27.35 |
| Morgan Stanley MSBT | +2.33 |
| Six other funds | 0 |
| Total | -635.49 |
Source: SoSoValue via Bloomingbit, published 23 October at 6:03 AM Korean time (21:03 UTC on 22 October). Crypto Briefing and ChainCatcher reported the same total and the same IBIT figure. Farside Investors, the other reference tracker, could not be read when this piece was written; a revision when its row appears is possible.
Set against the week, the reversal is sharp. Funds took in $526.7 million on Monday 19 October, $23.2 million on Tuesday and $524.8 million on Wednesday. Thursday’s outflow erased about 59% of that three-day total in a single session (Coindaro’s arithmetic). Since launch, cumulative net inflows stand at $57.32 billion, SoSoValue’s figures show, and IBIT alone $66.24 billion.
Why does a single day matter? Because the flow had been the main argument for the bounce. A spot bitcoin ETF buys or sells actual coins when shares are created or redeemed, so net redemptions usually mean coins leaving fund custody. Glassnode puts the average cost of ETF buyers near $81,500, an estimate rather than a fund disclosure. With bitcoin under that line all evening, the average ETF holder was sitting on a small loss, and part of them chose to leave.
The ether ETF flow for Thursday had not been published by the main trackers at the time of writing.
Wall Street close: the Nasdaq’s worst day since June on AI-financing doubts
The trigger came from tech. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 694.00 points, or 2.60%, at 26,008.86 on Thursday, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 lost 1.21% to 7,663.43, while the Dow Jones finished almost flat, up 0.02% at 52,867.98, as money moved into defensive names. The Philadelphia semiconductor index fell 6.7%, its biggest daily drop since 23 June.
Meta was the centre of it. The stock lost 7.0% although its results beat forecasts: Reuters noted the company’s first cash outflow in more than a decade, driven by AI spending, and a plan to issue non-voting shares through a two-for-one split to raise money for that build-out. Tesla fell 3.1% despite positive free cash flow and a cut to its 2026 spending plans. Among chipmakers, AMD dropped 8.1%, Micron 6.26% and Nvidia 4.4%, according to The Block.
Rick Maeda, an analyst at Laevitas, told The Block that crypto is “trading as a high-beta tech position” and added: “The main driver was AI financing, in particular in regards to Meta.” In plain terms, bitcoin moved like a leveraged bet on the same tech stocks, not like a hedge against them.
| Market, Thursday 22 Oct close | Move | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq Composite | -2.60% | 26,008.86 |
| S&P 500 | -1.21% | 7,663.43 |
| Dow Jones | +0.02% | 52,867.98 |
| Philadelphia semiconductor index | -6.7% | n/a |
| Brent crude (settlement) | +4% | $113.17 |
| WTI crude, December | +$2.32 | $99.47 |
| US 10-year Treasury yield | about -19 bp | about 4.95% |
Sources: Reuters via Yahoo Finance (indices, published 20:47 UTC), Reuters and oilprice.com summaries (oil), Reuters via Yahoo Singapore (yield, 00:53 UTC on 23 October).
Two other markets moved hard. Brent crude settled about 4% higher at $113.17 a barrel, its highest close since 4 May, after Houthi drone strikes on Saudi targets, including one near the Shaybah oil field reported by The National. And Treasury yields fell: the 10-year lost about 19 basis points to around 4.95%, its largest one-day drop since March 2023, according to Reuters. Bitcoin got no lift from that bond rally.
Asia on Friday: Seoul and Tokyo fall again, Hong Kong holds
The chip sell-off reached Asian markets at the open, then faded through the morning. At about 01:35 UTC the Nikkei 225 was down 1.8%, the Kospi 2.1% and the Hang Seng up 0.4%, according to the ABC News (Australia) markets blog. By 03:55 UTC the losses had narrowed to 1.3% for the Nikkei and 1.1% for the Kospi, while Hong Kong was up 0.6%. The Block, at 02:21 UTC, had the Kospi down 2.3% and the Nikkei down 1.6%.
The tech-heavy Kosdaq in Seoul was hit harder, down 3.5% in investingLive’s Asia wrap, which also had the Shanghai Composite 1.3% lower. Tokyo and Seoul close at 06:30 UTC and Hong Kong at 08:00 UTC, so these are intraday figures, not closes.
Japan added its own data point. Core consumer prices rose 2.1% from a year earlier in September, up from 1.7% in August and above the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for the first time in nine months, investingLive reported; the measure that also strips out fuel rose 2.4%, above the 2.3% forecast. The yen strengthened to 156.07 per dollar, its strongest since 18 September, CoinDesk reported, before sliding back toward 157. The BoJ, whose policy rate is 1.25%, meets on 29 and 30 October according to its published schedule, and many analysts expect a hike to 1.50% in December, according to investingLive.
For bitcoin this matters through the yen. A stronger yen and higher Japanese rates make it costlier to borrow in yen to buy riskier assets abroad, a trade that has amplified past sell-offs. Nothing of that kind showed up overnight: bitcoin’s range stayed narrow while the yen moved. Thursday’s Asian session is covered in yesterday’s Asia morning report.
Gold, the other asset that traded against the tech sell-off, fell below $4,000 an ounce for the first time since July, touching $3,986 according to CoinDesk, then recovered to about $4,020. At 03:55 UTC it was near $4,015, the ABC blog showed.
Bitcoin price today: a flat night between $81,000 and $81,900
The overnight tape is calmer than the headlines. On Coinbase, the evening low was $80,905 in the 18:00 UTC hour on Thursday, above the day’s low of $80,879 at 16:50 UTC. After the US close the price never went below $81,004 (00:00 UTC hour on Friday) and topped out at $81,920 in the 03:00 UTC hour. The rebound from $81,130 to $81,890 inside the 02:00 UTC hour was the only real move of the night, and it happened as Asian stocks pared losses.
| Coinbase BTC-USD, hour (UTC) | Low | High | Close |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Oct 18:00 | $80,905 | $81,315 | $81,266 |
| 22 Oct 20:00 (US close) | $81,065 | $81,396 | $81,165 |
| 23 Oct 00:00 | $81,004 | $81,460 | $81,343 |
| 23 Oct 02:00 | $81,130 | $81,890 | $81,850 |
| 23 Oct 03:00 | $81,586 | $81,920 | $81,769 |
| 23 Oct 04:00 (open candle, at 04:51) | $81,530 | $81,780 | $81,555 |
Ether followed the same path. It traded near $2,397 at 04:29 UTC, down 1.73% over 24 hours, after a high of $2,414 in the 02:00 UTC hour on Coinbase. Total crypto market value stood at $2.75 trillion, bitcoin’s share at 59.5%, and the Fear and Greed index at 50, neutral, in Coindaro’s 04:29 UTC snapshot.
Leverage took most of the damage on Thursday. CoinGlass data cited by The Block showed $440.9 million of positions liquidated over 24 hours to 01:30 UTC, $397 million of them longs; CoinDesk counted $435 million, including $385 million of longs. That is roughly 90% on the long side, but the total was close to the $431 million CoinDesk had counted at 10:50 UTC on Thursday, so no second wave of forced selling came overnight. Our glossary explains how a liquidation works.
Among larger coins, Zcash was the weakest, down 7.7% over 24 hours to 01:30 UTC, according to The Block, which put XRP down 3.8%. The biggest moves in Coindaro’s list, in small caps such as GRX (-43%) or HOODINU (+136%), have no identified news cause.
What traders watch: $80,000, ETF flows and oil
Dan Khus of LVRG Research summed up the checklist to The Block: “Traders are now watching whether $80,000 holds as support, the persistence of ETF flows,” along with further swings in stocks and oil. All three were tested on Thursday.
The ETF test is the one to follow day by day. A second outflow on Friday would turn one bad session into a trend; a return to inflows would suggest Thursday was a reaction to the Nasdaq, not a change of mind. SoSoValue and Farside usually publish the day’s numbers after the US close, in the evening in Europe.
Today’s agenda: flash PMIs at 13:45 UTC, Michigan at 14:00 UTC
Friday has no CPI and no jobs report, but two US releases can move rate expectations, according to Investing.com’s weekly calendar. Times are in UTC; US clocks stay on summer time until 1 November, so they are four hours ahead of New York.
- 13:45 UTC: S&P Global flash purchasing managers’ indexes for October. Consensus is 55.5 for manufacturing (55.9 in September) and 58.0 for services (58.8).
- 14:00 UTC: University of Michigan final reading of one-year inflation expectations, expected at 4.7%, unchanged.
- Wednesday 28 October, 18:00 UTC: Federal Reserve decision after the 27-28 October meeting, with Chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference at 18:30 UTC.
- Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October: Bank of Japan meeting, with the policy statement and the summary of its quarterly Outlook Report on 30 October.
The Fed is in its quiet period before the meeting, so no speeches are scheduled. A hold is expected on 28 October: in a Reuters poll taken 16-20 October, 94 of 100 economists saw no change, and all 100 expected a hike in December. CME FedWatch put the chance of a December hike at about 82.8% on 20 October, a Mitrade preview showed.
Hotter PMIs or higher inflation expectations would support the December hike that markets already price; weaker readings would weaken it. For the link between rates, inflation and what crypto does or does not protect against, see our guide to inflation and purchasing power.
What is still unknown
Farside’s figure for Thursday has not been confirmed, and CoinDesk cited a different preliminary SoSoValue number, so the outflow total could be revised. The ether ETF flow for 22 October is missing. Closing levels in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong arrive after 06:30 and 08:00 UTC. Bitcoin was testing its 50-day moving average in the Asian morning, CoinDesk said, without giving the level.
The next checkpoint is 13:45 UTC. Until then, bitcoin is trading under the ETF cost basis with the fund buyers of the past week now net sellers.