Bitcoin ETFs Rollercoaster, TradFi ETFs 2026 “Unusual High” $46B

Bitcoin ETFs Rollercoaster, TradFi ETFs 2026 "Unusual High" $46B

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Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have had a shaky start to 2026, with investors’ appetites fluctuating wildly even as money flows into traditional ETFs at an unusual pace.

U.S.-listed bitcoin (BTC) ETFs posted $753 million in inflows on Tuesday after a four-day losing streak, according to data from Farside Investors.

By 2026, the Bitcoin ETF had generated a total of $660 million in net income as demand for the currency fluctuated.

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Bitcoin ETF flows, in millions of dollars, Source: Farside Investors

On the other hand, traditional ETFs had an “unusual start to the year,” drawing $46 billion in the first six days of 2026, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

Binance

“ETFs took in $46b in the first 6 days of the year, an unusually high start to the year, at a pace of $158b for the month, 4x the norm,” the analyst wrote in a Monday X post.

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Source: Eric Balchunas

The difference is that ETF investors are actively deploying capital, but prefer to allocate funds tied to traditional investments rather than crypto ETFs, which have a higher risk profile.

Demand for Bitcoin ETFs has declined over the past six months, with monthly net inflows falling from $6 billion in July 2025 to $1.09 billion in December outflows, according to SoSoValue.

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Bitcoin ETF Earnings, Monthly, All Time Chart. Source: SosoValue

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Looking at other crypto funds, Spot Ether (ETH) took in $130 million on Tuesday, bringing total revenue to $240 million so far in 2026, according to Farside Investors.

Spot Solana (SOL) ETFs have continued their unbroken winning streak with $67 million in net positive returns since the start of the year.

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Bitcoin treasury firms have stepped in to fill the demand gap.

While the lack of interest in ETFs is a worrying sign for Bitcoin’s value, blockchain data suggests that Bitcoin treasury companies are stepping in to fill this gap with stable monthly deposits.

Corporate digital asset treasuries (DATs) added a net 260,000 bitcoins over the past six months, outpacing the roughly 82,000 coins mined over the same period.

This equates to monthly corporate investments of around 260,000 BTC, worth roughly $25 billion, according to crypt analytics platform Glassnode.

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Source: Glassnode

In contrast to public treasuries, the industry’s leading traders tracked as “smart money” were still betting on Bitcoin’s fall, with $122 million in net short positions, according to crypto information platform Nansen.

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Smart money traders, permanent positions on the Hyperliquid exchange. Source: Nansen

However, the group was short on declines in most top cryptocurrencies except Ether, XRP (XRP), memecoin launchpad Pump.fun (PUMP) token and Zcash (ZEC).

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