Share this article
Ether ETFs Register $393M in Inflows This Month as Crypto Investors Turn Their Back on Bitcoin
Investors pivot to ether ETFs as Ethereum's impending Pectra upgrade is expected to bode well for cryptocurrency.
Updated Feb 18, 2025, 6:28 a.m. Published Feb 18, 2025, 6:05 a.m.
What to know:
- Ether spot ETFs have seen a net inflow of $393 million this month, per Farside Investors.
- Bitcoin ETFs have seen net outflows of $376 million.
- The impending Pectra upgrade could lift ether prices.
- "ETH has a solid foundation for a resurgence," said Nick Forster, of Derive.xyz.
If you believed that ether's early-month price crash to $2,000 on some exchanges would drive investors away, think again. Activity in the U.S.-listed spot ETFs indicates that traders have strongly pivoted to ether from bitcoin .
This month, the nine ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed in the U.S. have recorded a cumulative net inflow of $393 million, according to data from Farside Investors. This figure is also seven times larger than the inflows seen in January, as reported by Glassnode. Notably, these funds experienced outflows on only two trading days.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
In contrast, the 11 bitcoin ETFs have faced a net outflow of $376 million this month. Sentiment has been so weak that these funds have recorded inflows on just four trading days.
The pivot to ETH is driven by carry trading, which involves purchasing spot ETFs and shorting ETH CME futures simultaneously. Plus, some of the inflows into ETFs could be outright bullish directional plays.
However, investors' pivot to ether has not yet translated into higher prices for cryptocurrency.
ETH, which powers Ethereum's smart contract blockchain, has primarily traded between $2,600 and $2,800 since the Feb. 3 crash. Bitcoin too has been locked in a narrow range below $100,000 amid volatile price action in memecoins.
Still, some observers expect ether price gains on the back of Ethereum's impending Pectra upgrade, which is said to optimize both the execution and consensus layers of Ethereum and help it compete against rival Layer 1s such as Solana.
"ETH has a solid foundation for a resurgence. The Pectra upgrade, scheduled for April 8 for example, is bringing network improvements, faster transactions, and better staking mechanics," Nick Forster, founder of the decentralized options platform Derive.xyz said in an email.
Forster explained that Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin's push for a 10x increase in the L1 gas limit points to improved application development and security. Further, the ETH Foundation's recent $120 million allocation to DeFi projects is signaling a renewed focus on adoption and institutional interest through ETHrealize. Led by Vivek Raman, ETHrealize aims to integrate traditional financial institutions into the blockchain world.
"There's now a 30% chance ETH will hit above $3K by the end of the quarter, up from 28% last week," Forster added.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb
The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.
What to know:
- Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
- The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
- Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.
Top Stories
