Ethereum Sees $81.6 Million Outflow from ETFs... 'Stumbling' Alone Amid Virtual Asset Rebound

▲ Ethereum (ETH)/ChatGPT generated image

An outflow of $81.6 million from Ethereum (ETH) investment products has once again highlighted the risk-off trend in the virtual asset fund market.

BeInCrypto reported on May 5 (local time), citing a CoinShares report, that Ethereum funds experienced a net outflow of $81.6 million last week. This marks an end to a trend of average net inflows exceeding $190 million over the past three weeks. While overall digital asset investment products continued to see net inflows for five consecutive weeks, the number of cryptocurrencies recording positive inflows decreased from nine to four in the previous week.

Overall, digital asset funds saw a net inflow of $117.8 million last week. However, this was the smallest amount among recent net inflow trends. Assets under management (AUM) remained stable at approximately $155 billion, similar to the previous week. The flow during the week was highly volatile. From Monday to Thursday, $619 million exited investment products, but a single day's inflow of $737 million on Friday reversed the trend, leading to a weekly net inflow.

Bitcoin (BTC) funds, unlike Ethereum, absorbed $192.1 million. The year-to-date cumulative net inflow increased to $4.2 billion. However, the weekly inflow amount did not meet the average of approximately $1 billion recorded over the previous three weeks. Short Bitcoin products, which bet on a decline in Bitcoin, also saw an inflow of $6 million.

Regionally, capital inflows into the U.S. weakened significantly. After recording $1.1 billion in the previous week, the U.S. saw only $47.5 million in inflows last week. In contrast, Germany recorded $43.8 million and Canada $16 million, showing relatively robust investment demand in Europe and some overseas markets.

However, signs of institutional demand picking up again emerged towards the weekend. BeInCrypto, citing SoSoValue data, reported that $532 million flowed into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and $61.3 million into Ethereum spot ETFs on May 4. While Ethereum funds recorded a net outflow on a weekly basis, single-day ETF demand recovered.

Tom Lee of Fundstrat cited progress in the U.S. crypto market structure bill (CLARITY), tokenization, and AI trends as a dual tailwind for Ethereum, evaluating that 'crypto spring' has begun. BeInCrypto noted that Ethereum's weekly net outflow and the recovery of weekend ETF demand are creating mixed signals, suggesting that this week's capital flows will be a test of the sustainability of institutional demand.

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