What a spot bitcoin ETF “flow” is and how it happens: new shares are created or redeemed in blocks, and the fund buys or gives up bitcoin. With BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest, as the worked example: its net flows and bitcoin held for every month since it launched.
Data as of · IBIT flows for trade dates Jan 11, 2024 to Oct 9, 2026, from BlackRock’s daily NAV, shares outstanding and holdings files · bitcoin prices as BlackRock values the trust’s holdings
| Month | Net flow (USD) | Change in BTC held | BTC held, month end | BTC price, month end | BTC price change | Inflow / outflow days | Flow and price moved | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2024 (from Jan 11) | ▲ +$2,787.2M | +65,972 | 66,200 | $43,463 | ▼ −5.2% | 14 / 0 | Opposite | 2024 |
| Feb 2024 | ▲ +$4,969.2M | +95,066 | 161,266 | $62,201 | ▲ +43.1% | 20 / 0 | Same | 2024 |
| Mar 2024 | ▲ +$6,201.5M | +90,746 | 252,011 | $70,762 | ▲ +13.8% | 20 / 0 | Same | 2024 |
| Apr 2024 | ▲ +$1,520.5M | +22,451 | 274,462 | $59,949 | ▼ −15.3% | 17 / 0 | Opposite | 2024 |
| May 2024 | ▲ +$1,172.8M | +17,101 | 291,563 | $67,488 | ▲ +12.6% | 15 / 1 | Same | 2024 |
| Jun 2024 | ▲ +$1,073.7M | +15,415 | 306,979 | $60,330 | ▼ −10.6% | 10 / 0 | Opposite | 2024 |
| Jul 2024 | ▲ +$2,303.5M | +35,999 | 342,978 | $65,853 | ▲ +9.2% | 19 / 0 | Same | 2024 |
| Aug 2024 | ▲ +$888.9M | +14,531 | 357,509 | $58,934 | ▼ −10.5% | 15 / 1 | Opposite | 2024 |
| Sep 2024 | ▲ +$577.9M | +8,939 | 366,448 | $63,411 | ▲ +7.6% | 7 / 1 | Same | 2024 |
| Oct 2024 | ▲ +$4,640.6M | +67,265 | 433,713 | $70,410 | ▲ +11.0% | 19 / 2 | Same | 2024 |
| Nov 2024 | ▲ +$5,602.0M | +63,141 | 496,854 | $97,483 | ▲ +38.5% | 14 / 2 | Same | 2024 |
| Dec 2024 | ▲ +$5,510.6M | +55,064 | 551,918 | $93,730 | ▼ −3.8% | 15 / 4 | Opposite | 2024 |
| Jan 2025 | ▲ +$3,231.2M | +30,956 | 582,874 | $101,907 | ▲ +8.7% | 15 / 5 | Same | 2025 |
| Feb 2025 | ▼ −$775.8M | −9,738 | 573,136 | $84,040 | ▼ −17.5% | 9 / 7 | Same | 2025 |
| Mar 2025 | ▲ +$257.0M | +2,902 | 576,038 | $83,428 | ▼ −0.7% | 11 / 7 | Opposite | 2025 |
| Apr 2025 | ▲ +$2,693.7M | +28,012 | 604,049 | $94,044 | ▲ +12.7% | 13 / 3 | Same | 2025 |
| May 2025 | ▲ +$5,914.8M | +56,793 | 660,842 | $105,554 | ▲ +12.2% | 19 / 1 | Same | 2025 |
| Jun 2025 | ▲ +$3,851.8M | +36,033 | 696,875 | $107,629 | ▲ +2.0% | 17 / 2 | Same | 2025 |
| Jul 2025 | ▲ +$5,178.4M | +44,181 | 741,055 | $118,307 | ▲ +9.9% | 18 / 0 | Same | 2025 |
| Aug 2025 | ▲ +$707.1M | +5,755 | 746,811 | $108,445 | ▼ −8.3% | 12 / 7 | Opposite | 2025 |
| Sep 2025 | ▲ +$2,664.7M | +23,200 | 770,011 | $113,165 | ▲ +4.4% | 16 / 3 | Same | 2025 |
| Oct 2025 | ▲ +$3,931.1M | +31,438 | 801,449 | $108,764 | ▼ −3.9% | 15 / 8 | Opposite | 2025 |
| Nov 2025 | ▼ −$2,336.0M | −24,974 | 776,475 | $90,966 | ▼ −16.4% | 5 / 12 | Same | 2025 |
| Dec 2025 | ▼ −$473.8M | −5,683 | 770,792 | $87,553 | ▼ −3.8% | 10 / 11 | Same | 2025 |
| Jan 2026 | ▼ −$136.6M | −3,426 | 767,365 | $82,998 | ▼ −5.2% | 8 / 12 | Same | 2026 |
| Feb 2026 | ▼ −$150.3M | −2,934 | 764,432 | $65,491 | ▼ −21.1% | 8 / 11 | Same | 2026 |
| Mar 2026 | ▲ +$1,398.5M | +19,313 | 783,744 | $66,663 | ▲ +1.8% | 13 / 9 | Same | 2026 |
| Apr 2026 | ▲ +$2,013.3M | +26,582 | 810,327 | $76,465 | ▲ +14.7% | 15 / 5 | Same | 2026 |
| May 2026 | ▼ −$1,410.9M | −19,252 | 791,075 | $73,714 | ▼ −3.6% | 5 / 15 | Same | 2026 |
| Jun 2026 | ▼ −$3,553.2M | −56,814 | 734,261 | $58,280 | ▼ −20.9% | 5 / 16 | Same | 2026 |
| Jul 2026 | ▲ +$227.6M | +2,857 | 737,118 | $62,652 | ▲ +7.5% | 12 / 9 | Same | 2026 |
| Aug 2026 | ▲ +$3,089.7M | +42,721 | 779,840 | $78,567 | ▲ +25.4% | 16 / 5 | Same | 2026 |
| Sep 2026 | ▲ +$1,807.8M | +21,194 | 801,033 | $84,092 | ▲ +7.0% | 14 / 7 | Same | 2026 |
| Oct 2026 (to Oct 9) | ▲ +$354.7M | +3,992 | 805,025 | $82,848 | ▼ −1.5% | 5 / 2 | Opposite | 2026 |
Net flow (USD) = the sum of each trade date’s change in IBIT’s shares outstanding × that day’s NAV per share. BlackRock reports shares created or redeemed on a trade date in the next day’s shares-outstanding figure, so each change is dated back to the day it traded.1 Change in BTC held = bitcoin held at the month’s last trading day minus the month before (for January 2024, minus the 227.9 BTC of seed capital held on Jan 10); it also falls slightly when the trust sells bitcoin to pay its sponsor fee. BTC price = the trust’s bitcoin market value ÷ bitcoin held in BlackRock’s holdings file that day. Inflow / outflow days = trading days with net creations / net redemptions; the rest had no change. Flow and price moved = whether the month’s net flow and bitcoin’s price change had the same sign. Past moves are shown as observed facts, not as a forecast.
A spot bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) holds actual bitcoin, not futures. IBIT is a trust whose shares have traded on Nasdaq since January 11, 2024; its bitcoin is kept by a custodian, Coinbase Custody, and its net asset value (NAV) is calculated each business day using the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate – New York Variant.2 It held 805,025 BTC on October 9, 2026.1 For every US spot bitcoin ETF’s holdings, see the largest spot bitcoin ETFs.
When investors buy and sell IBIT shares with each other on Nasdaq, the trust’s bitcoin doesn’t change. It changes only when shares are created or redeemed. The trust issues and redeems shares only in blocks of 40,000 (a “Basket”), and only with Authorized Participants: registered broker-dealers with an agreement with the sponsor. They deliver cash or bitcoin for new Baskets and receive bitcoin or cash when they redeem them.2 A creation is an inflow: the trust takes in bitcoin. A redemption is an outflow: bitcoin leaves. That daily change is what reports of ETF “flows” measure.
The spot bitcoin ETFs approved in January 2024 could only create and redeem shares for cash, so the fund itself bought or sold the bitcoin. On July 29, 2025 the SEC approved orders allowing creations and redemptions “in kind”, with bitcoin handed over directly, “consistent with other commodity-based ETPs”.3 IBIT’s amended registration took effect on July 31, 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, $3.29 billion of the $4.29 billion of bitcoin it took in for new shares came in kind, and $3.85 billion of the $7.24 billion it paid out for redeemed shares went out in kind.2
Issuers don’t publish a daily “flow” number. Trackers derive it, as this table does, from the change in shares outstanding times NAV per share, and because each day’s creations show up in the next day’s share count, figures for a given day can differ between trackers.1 The sponsor’s fee also nudges bitcoin held down with no redemptions: it accrues daily at 0.25% a year of NAV and can be paid in dollars or in bitcoin, and in the second quarter of 2026 the trust sold 525 BTC to pay expenses.2 For IBIT’s biggest single days, see the largest single-day flows into and out of IBIT.
IBIT took in $13.96 billion in its first three months, more than a fifth of its lifetime total. March 2024 is still its biggest month: +$6,201.5M and 90,746 BTC, with net creations on all 20 trading days. February 2024 also had no outflow day. Bitcoin rose 13.8% in March, to $70,762 at the month’s last trading day.1
IBIT had net outflows in 7 of its 34 months, all from February 2025 on. The largest was June 2026: −$3,553.2M, with redemptions on 16 of 21 trading days and 56,814 BTC leaving the trust, as bitcoin fell 20.9% to $58,280. From November 2025 to February 2026 it had four outflow months in a row, −$3,096.7M in all, while bitcoin fell from $108,764 to $65,491 (−39.8%).1
In 25 of the 34 months, IBIT’s net flow and bitcoin’s price moved in the same direction; in 9 they moved in opposite directions.1 Across 689 trading days from January 11, 2024 to October 9, 2026, net flows totalled +$65.73 billion. The table shows how the two moved over the same months. It doesn’t show which drove the other, and flows are only one of many things that moved bitcoin in that time.
For information only. Not financial advice. See the terms of use.