Why Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs just scooped up $1.5bn and what happens next

Risk appetite appears to be back.

Investors started the week by throwing $865 million at Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds in the US.

After weeks of lacklustre flows, $697 million hit the Bitcoin funds while $168 million was pumped into their Ethereum counterparts, according to Farside Investors data.

This came after Friday, the first trading day of the year, when investors put over $471 million into the US Bitcoin vehicle and $174.5 million into the US Ethereum vehicle, respectively.

That brings the combined total over the two days to more than $1.5 billion.

2026 starts with a bang

Crypto markets didn’t deliver for investors in the last quarter of 2025, amid investor fatigue and a shock October sell-off, which led Bitcoin to finish the year down roughly 20% between October 1 and December 31.

Bitcoin was recently trading at $93,419 after rising nearly 7% over the past week, while Ethereum has jumped more than 8% to trade close to $3,222.

The poor performance in the year‘s end came amid sweeping regulations to integrate digital assets with traditional finance in the US.

President Donald Trump entered the White House in January and immediately issued a barrage of industry-friendly executive orders, and eventually signed a landmark stablecoin bill into law last summer.

So what comes next?

Challenging previous highs

Dilin Wu, research analyst at forex broker Pepperstone, said in a Monday note shared with DL News that if there are no major market shocks this year, Bitcoin could continue its upward trajectory.

“In a relatively optimistic scenario — stable ETF inflows, sustained marginal easing of macro policy, and no new regulatory shocks — Bitcoin could challenge previous highs and even achieve moderate new peaks,” wrote Wu.

“But these gains are likely to be gradual, with frequent pullbacks, rather than the rapid, one-sided surges seen in past cycles.”

How are US Ethereum ETFs holding up? They're doing okay considering the price performance of ETH but they've seen 18% of their flows leave. They've now seen around $2.8 billion in outflows since their peak of $15 billion right before the 10/10 liquidations. pic.twitter.com/SrKGHYHeK7
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 5, 2026

She added that in 2025, Bitcoin started to find its feet as a “legitimate asset” as bigger, serious investors started buying the cryptocurrency while whales sold.

“Behind the muted price swings lies a market evolving from emotion-driven trading to structured pricing, setting the stage for the trading logic of 2026,” wrote Wu.

At the same time, Bitcoin options buyers are positioning themselves for the top cryptocurrency to skyrocket to $100,000 by the end of January.