What’s being called steady institutional BTC buying mostly came from two FOMO windows.
The 21Shares Q3 report: U.S. spot ETFs bought a net 79,800 BTC, worth about $6.2 billion—almost twice the 41,300 BTC mined that quarter. Sounds impressive. But break it down, and the periods of August 17–27 and September 21–25 alone accounted for 91% of the quarter’s inflows. It wasn’t a steady trickle; it came in bursts.
Even more striking is the other side of the equation: long-term holders’ balances fell by 248,000 BTC over the same period, worth about $17.4 billion—nearly three times the ETF purchases. By Glassnode’s definition, these are coins that haven’t moved for more than 155 days. That doesn’t mean they were all dumped, but the supply-squeeze narrative is getting hard to square with the facts.
Treasury companies have cooled off too: they bought $7.1 billion in Q2, but only about $1 billion in Q3. This Thursday, ETFs saw another roughly $430 million in outflows. They rushed in during a window, and they can leave just as fast. Don’t mistake quarterly totals for conviction.
#BTC #ETF
The 21Shares Q3 report: U.S. spot ETFs bought a net 79,800 BTC, worth about $6.2 billion—almost twice the 41,300 BTC mined that quarter. Sounds impressive. But break it down, and the periods of August 17–27 and September 21–25 alone accounted for 91% of the quarter’s inflows. It wasn’t a steady trickle; it came in bursts.
Even more striking is the other side of the equation: long-term holders’ balances fell by 248,000 BTC over the same period, worth about $17.4 billion—nearly three times the ETF purchases. By Glassnode’s definition, these are coins that haven’t moved for more than 155 days. That doesn’t mean they were all dumped, but the supply-squeeze narrative is getting hard to square with the facts.
Treasury companies have cooled off too: they bought $7.1 billion in Q2, but only about $1 billion in Q3. This Thursday, ETFs saw another roughly $430 million in outflows. They rushed in during a window, and they can leave just as fast. Don’t mistake quarterly totals for conviction.
#BTC #ETF
