In a dramatic shift from the preceding week’s bearish momentum, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a massive net inflow of 562.62 million dollars on Monday, February 2, 2026. This resurgence of capital effectively snapped a punishing five-day streak of net outflows that had seen over 1.7 billion dollars exit the digital asset investment space. According to data from NS3.AI and SoSoValue, the turnaround was driven by a concentrated surge in demand for the “Big Two” providers, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) accounting for the vast majority of the day’s buy-side activity. This influx suggests that while the broader retail market remains gripped by “extreme fear,” a subset of institutional opportunistic buyers is beginning to view the sub-eighty-thousand-dollar range as a viable “value zone” for long-term accumulation, providing a much-needed liquidity buffer against the recent cascade of liquidations.
A Tale of Two Assets as Ethereum ETFs Struggle Amidst Bitcoin’s Recovery
Despite the positive momentum in the Bitcoin sector, the broader crypto ETF landscape remained deeply fragmented on Monday. While Bitcoin funds enjoyed a half-billion-dollar injection, spot Ethereum ETFs continued to face significant headwind, recording a net outflow of approximately 252.9 million dollars for the session. The selling was most pronounced in BlackRock’s ETHA and Fidelity’s FETH, as investors continue to rotate out of the second-largest cryptocurrency due to concerns over its underperformance relative to Bitcoin and the massive paper losses held by major ETH treasury firms. This “violent divergence” in flows indicates that institutional appetite is currently restricted to the “orange coin,” with many managers viewing Ethereum as a more volatile and less certain bet in the current high-rate environment. This trend is being further exacerbated by a lack of fresh catalysts in the smart-contract space, leaving Ethereum to behave more like a laggard than a leader in the early February recovery attempt.
Global Flow Dynamics and the Emerging Resistance to the “Bear Cycle” Narrative
The regional breakdown of yesterday’s flows reveals a market that is increasingly centered on U.S. institutional activity. While European-listed crypto ETPs recorded only marginal activity—with a modest 13.3 million Euro inflow into Bitcoin-linked products—the sheer scale of the U.S. rebound has temporarily halted the narrative of an impending “multi-year bear cycle.” Analysts at Bernstein and JPMorgan noted that while the technical picture remains challenged, the “buy-the-dip” behavior from ETF participants suggests that the institutional floor may be higher than previously anticipated. However, the market remains wary of “air pockets” in liquidity, as the 562 million dollar inflow was not enough to trigger a sustained price breakout above eighty-five thousand dollars. As the week progresses, the focus for ETF watchers will be on whether Monday’s rebound represents a true “inflection point” or merely a temporary pause in a broader structural deleveraging process that continues to weigh on the global digital asset ecosystem.
