Bitcoin stalls below $70K despite $20B ETF inflow milestone
2024-10-21

The Bitcoin price remains unable 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) 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 a nearly 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:
Positive ETF inflows could help the Bitcoin price reach a new 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 explained:
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 for their price impact to 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 re-accumulation range of above $71,000 for the first time since June 2024, wrote popular 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 were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 18.