Should Bitcoin investors worry about flat inflows to the spot BTC ETFs?

Spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds saw a total of $872 million in net outflows between April 3 and April 10, causing traders to wonder if overall interest in Bitcoin is fading. The strong selling pressure began on April 3, as global trade tensions increased and fears of an economic recession grew. This trend is especially concerning after two days of spot Bitcoin ETF net flows below $2 million on April 11 and April 14.

Bitcoin’s price has remained relatively stable near $83,000 for the past five weeks, which further suggests weak interest from both buyers and sellers. On one hand, this lack of volatility could show that Bitcoin is becoming a more mature asset class. For example, several S&P 500 companies have dropped 40% or more from their all-time highs, while Bitcoin’s largest drawdown in 2025 was a healthier 32%.

However, Bitcoin’s performance has disappointed those who believed in the “digital gold” narrative. Gold has gained 23% so far in 2025, reaching an all-time high of $3,245 on April 11. Even though Bitcoin outperformed the S&P 500 by 4% over the past 30 days, some investors worry that its appeal is fading, as it is currently uncorrelated with other assets and not acting as a reliable store of value.

Average Bitcoin ETF volume surpasses $2 billion per day

When looking at the spot Bitcoin ETF market—especially compared to gold—Bitcoin has some advantages. On April 14, spot Bitcoin ETFs had a combined trading volume of $2.24 billion, which is 18% below the 30-day average of $2.75 billion. So, it would not be accurate to say that investor interest in these products has disappeared.

While Bitcoin ETF volumes are lower than the $54 billion per day traded by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), they are not far behind gold ETFs at $5.3 billion and are ahead of US Treasurys ETFs at $2.1 billion. This is impressive, considering that spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US only launched in January 2024, while gold ETFs have been trading for over 20 years and have $137 billion in assets under management.

Even when including the Grayscale GBTC Trust, which surpassed 200,000 shares traded per day in 2017 before it was converted to an ETF, Bitcoin investment products are still less than eight years old. Currently, spot Bitcoin ETFs hold about $94.6 billion in assets under management, which is more than the market capitalization of well-known companies such as British American Tobacco, UBS, ICE, BNP Paribas, Cigna, Sumitomo Mitsui and several others.

Related: Bitcoin shows growing strength during market downturn — Wintermute

To see how spot Bitcoin ETFs have become established in the industry, one can look at the top holders of these products. These include well-known names like Brevan Howard, D.E. Shaw, Apollo Management, Mubadala Investment, and the State of Wisconsin Investment. From pension funds to some of the world’s largest independent asset managers, Bitcoin ETFs provide an alternative to traditional assets, regardless of short-term price movements.

As the asset class grows and more products like futures and options are listed, Bitcoin may eventually be included in global indexes, whether in the commodities or currencies category. This could lead passive funds to invest, increasing both price potential and trading volume. Therefore, the current lack of strong net inflows or outflows is not unusual and should not be seen as a sign of weakness.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.