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ETF Cumulative Money Flow

Cumulative net USD flow into all Bitcoin ETFs

PropertyValue
CategoryETF Analytics
UnitUSD
Resolution1d
AssetsBTC
TierBasic
API EndpointGET /v1/etf/aggregate
Fieldcumulative_money_flow

Overview​

ETF Cumulative Money Flow is the running total, in US dollars, of net investor money that has flowed into all Bitcoin ETFs and ETPs tracked by Blocklens (United States, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Australia). Unlike Total AUM, which moves with the BTC price even when nothing flows, it changes only when money enters or leaves the funds.

The series combines exact data and an estimate, and it matters which part is which:

  • US spot ETFs — exact. From each fund's first trading day (11 January 2024, later for funds launched later) every day adds the fund's creations minus redemptions valued at its NAV: the same numbers as US Spot ETF Daily Net Flow (USD).
  • Everything else — estimate. Non-US ETPs report NAV in local currency and no comparable creation and redemption figures, and GBTC was a closed-end trust before 11 January 2024. For them each day's flow is estimated as the change in the fund's BTC holdings times that day's BTC price. Holdings at the start of a fund's history are counted as an inflow on that day, and sponsor fees paid in BTC count as outflows.

US spot ETFs hold most of the BTC in ETFs, so most of the series is exact; the estimated part is the difference to US Spot ETF Cumulative Money Flow.

Formula​

CMFt=∑d≤t(∑f∈EdFlowf,d+Pd∑f∉Ed(Bf,d−Bf,d−))\text{CMF}_{t} = \sum_{d \le t} \left( \sum_{f \in E_d} \text{Flow}_{f,d} + P_d \sum_{f \notin E_d} \left( B_{f,d} - B_{f,d^{-}} \right) \right)

  • EdE_d — funds with an exact USD flow on day dd (US spot ETFs from their first trading day)
  • Flowf,d\text{Flow}_{f,d} — creations minus redemptions of fund ff on day dd, valued at its NAV
  • Bf,dB_{f,d} — BTC held by fund ff on day dd, Bf,d−B_{f,d^{-}} — its previous reported holdings, PdP_d — the BTC price of day dd (days without a price contribute zero)

Until October 2026 the US spot funds were estimated the same way as the rest; they now use the actual creations and redemptions.

Interpretation​

  • Rising: net new money is entering Bitcoin ETFs worldwide; the steeper the rise, the stronger the inflows.
  • Flat: inflows and outflows are balanced in dollar terms.
  • Falling: net withdrawals — investors are taking money out of the funds.
  • Exact versus estimated part: read the gap to the US spot series as an approximation; it covers the non-US ETPs and GBTC's trust years.
  • Divergence from AUM: if AUM rises while cumulative flow is flat, the increase comes from the BTC price, not from new money.

Use Cases​

  • Global ETF demand: one dollar figure for the net capital committed to Bitcoin through exchange-traded products.
  • US versus rest of the world: compare with US Spot ETF Cumulative Money Flow to see how much of the demand comes from outside the US spot funds.
  • Market cycle analysis: the shape of the curve shows when institutions add or withdraw capital across bull and bear phases.
  • Long history: the estimated part reaches back to 2013 through GBTC's trust years, before the US spot ETFs existed.

API Usage​

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.blocklens.co/v1/etf/aggregate?start_date=2024-01-01&end_date=2024-12-31&limit=365"