Bitcoin spot ETFs took in $731 million on September 3, their biggest single day since January 14, while XRP funds saw weekly inflows drop 83%. The gap looks like money rotating out of XRP and into Bitcoin, but the underlying flow data doesn't back that up yet.
Bitcoin spot ETFs took in $731 million on September 3, their biggest day since January 14, according to SoSoValue. In the same stretch, XRP spot ETFs pulled in $19 million in the week to September 5, down 83% from $110.5 million the week before.
Those two numbers point in opposite directions, but the price action tells a different story. Bitcoin trades at $79,812 as of September 6, against an XRP price of $1.41. XRP is up 39% over the past month against Bitcoin's 23%.
What the Bitcoin ETF flow data shows
The September 3 inflow capped three straight weeks of net inflows totaling $3.8 billion, the strongest three-week run of 2026. However, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) accounted for $454 million of that single day, more than 60% of the total, with ARK's ARKB adding $138 million and Fidelity's FBTC $74 million.
Despite the streak, Bitcoin spot ETFs are still about $1 billion negative for the year. The next day, the funds took in just $174.6 million, less than a quarter of the September 3 total, and the Bitcoin price fell to $79,700 anyway.
Ether and XRP funds slow but don't reverse
Ether spot ETFs took in $218.4 million in the week to September 5 against $824.4 million the week before, a 74% drop that matched XRP's decline. Both funds are still positive for the year, Ether by about $863 million and XRP by about $515 million since January 1.
Meanwhile, the XRP price climbed 4% in the seven days to September 6, and Ether rose 30% in the 30 days to September 6. In other words, the coins whose funds took in the least money are also the coins that outran Bitcoin over the month.
Why a slowdown isn't an outflow
A slower rate of inflows is still an inflow, and none of the money in XRP or Ether funds actually left. Most crypto buying happens on exchanges and never touches an ETF, so fund inflows can drop even when buyers simply shift where they trade rather than what they hold.
A rotation would require XRP and Ether ETFs to post net outflow days more than once, and it would require Bitcoin spot ETFs to turn positive for the year. Neither has happened: the funds have taken in $55.6 billion since launch and hold $101.3 billion in assets, but remain negative for 2026.
The flow data probably isn't showing a rotation, since Bitcoin's inflow was driven mostly by one fund while XRP and Ether kept taking in money, just at a slower pace. Until XRP or Ether funds post an outflow week, the data shows two coins still gaining assets, not losing them.
Source: 24/7 Wall St.
Trading involves risk.