After nearly a week of consecutive losses, U.S.-listed Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are showing signs of recovery. On August 21, the nine Ethereum ETFs collectively recorded $288 million in net inflows, breaking a four-day streak of outflows and restoring some investor confidence.
BlackRock Dominates the Turnaround
According to data from SoSoValue, BlackRock’s ETHA ETF was the clear leader, attracting $233 million of the total inflows. This far exceeded other issuers, with Fidelity’s FETH adding a more modest $29 million, while remaining issuers collectively brought in $6–7 million each. The scale of BlackRock’s inflows suggests strong institutional appetite beginning to return, even as ETH’s price struggles.
ETH Price Action Remains Under Pressure
At the time of reporting, Ethereum (ETH) trades at $4,238, down about 0.72% in the past 24 hours. Despite a recent pullback, ETH is still up 15% this month, although it has lost nearly 8% this week alone after failing to sustain momentum above $4,700.
Analysts suggest that the price dip itself may have sparked renewed ETF inflows, as institutional investors view the current weakness as a buying opportunity. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s growing role in tokenization, DeFi, and real-world asset adoption, along with nearly $17 billion held in ETH-based treasuries, continues to strengthen the long-term investment case.
Bitcoin ETFs See Extended Outflows
In contrast, Bitcoin ETFs remain under pressure. On the same day that Ethereum products drew heavy inflows, Bitcoin ETFs saw $194 million in net outflows, marking their fifth consecutive day of withdrawals.
So far this week, Bitcoin ETFs have lost nearly $1.2 billion, with the bulk of outflows concentrated among major issuers including BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Ark 21Shares, and Franklin Templeton. The other seven ETFs recorded little to no trading activity.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $113,216, down roughly 5% this week and about 8.8% below its recent high of $124,128.
Investor Sentiment Shifting
The diverging flows between Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs highlight a potential short-term rotation of institutional interest. Instead of treating BTC and ETH as perfectly correlated bets, money managers seem increasingly willing to tilt exposure toward Ethereum when its network fundamentals or relative valuation appear stronger.
Driving this shift are:
- Ethereum’s broader utility in decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, and on-chain tokenization.
- Staking rewards, which add an additional yield component absent in Bitcoin.
- Short-term profit-taking in Bitcoin after its strong rally earlier this year.
Ethereum ETFs are staging a comeback, with inflows strongly led by BlackRock. Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs are facing sustained investor withdrawals. This divergence could signal a growing willingness among institutions to differentiate between the two assets, rather than treat them as interchangeable parts of the same crypto trade.