Bitcoin will hit $72K despite $21B ETF inflows

Spot Bitcoin ETF inflows can have a delayed effect on the BTC price, which takes a couple of days to materialize, according to market analysts.

The Bitcoin price has yet to cross the $70,000 mark despite last week’s record milestone for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

On Oct. 17, the US-based spot Bitcoin
BTC
$102,260
ETFs crossed $20 billion in total net flows, just 10 months after their debut. This same milestone took gold ETFs nearly five years to achieve.

BTC rose to an almost three-month high of $69,487 on Oct. 21, before pulling back to trade at $68,570 as of 8:25 am UTC, according to Cointelegraph data.

The sluggish price action may be due to the delayed effect of ETF inflows, which can take a few days to impact the spot BTC price, according to Bitfinex analysts.

The ask-heavy order book suggests that crypto traders are using ETF flows as exit liquidity for their trades, the analysts told Cointelegraph:

“Usually, this means that large ETF inflows have a muted impact for a few days and then the market reverses lower once the aggression from spot market buyers fades.

We need sustained spot market interest to push price out of the current range-bound price action.”
Positive ETF inflows could help the Bitcoin price reach an all-time high.

By Feb. 15, just one month after they launched, United States-based spot BTC ETFs accounted for about 75% of new investment in the cryptocurrency, which had surpassed the $50,000 mark at the time.

BlackRock ETF tops inflows with $1.17 billion
Bitcoin ETFs have had limited immediate impact on the price, with several days often passing before inflows generate bullish momentum, Bitfinex analysts said:

“Despite the significant inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, particularly into the BlackRock and Fidelity funds, the price impact has been muted on several instances on days when net inflows exceeded $500 million worth of BTC.”
During the past week, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF brought in over $1.17 billion worth of Bitcoin, noted onchain intelligence firm Lookonchain in an Oct. 21 X post.

Bitifnex analysts explained that a percentage of last week’s ETF inflows could also be part of a delta-neutral trading strategy, another reason their price impact might be muted.

Bitcoin nudges bullish weekly candle close
In an optimistic signal for price action, Bitcoin managed to perform a green weekly close above the psychological mark of $69,000.

This could set Bitcoin up for a rally to retest the reaccumulation range of above $71,000 for the first time since June 2024, wrote crypto analyst Rekt Capital in an Oct. 20 X post, accompanied by the chart below.

Bitcoin could also see more positive ETF inflows bolstered by the first Bitcoin ETF options in the US, which the Securities and Exchange Commission approved on Oct. 18.