Bitcoin funds log third inflow day as Fed holds rates

U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded products recorded $137.3 million of estimated net inflows on October 28, extending their positive run to three trading sessions as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.

The two developments matter together because regulated bitcoin funds operate inside the same dollar funding environment shaped by monetary policy. They do not, however, establish a causal relationship: Farside Investors reports flows for the full U.S. securities session, while the Federal Open Market Committee released its decision at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Farside’s daily table shows that the products attracted $110.3 million on October 26, $176 million on October 27 and $137.3 million on October 28. Coinburn calculates a three-session total of $423.6 million from those rounded entries.

BlackRock supplied nearly all of Wednesday’s intake

BlackRock’s IBIT recorded $136 million of net inflows on October 28, while Bitwise’s BITB added $1.3 million. Farside displayed zero for each of the other 10 products in its table.

That concentration limits the interpretation of the aggregate result. The positive total documents net creations across the fund complex, but it does not demonstrate broad buying across issuers. IBIT accounted for approximately 99.1% of the day’s net inflow, a Coinburn calculation using Farside’s rounded figures.

The three positive sessions also followed two withdrawal days. The products lost $635.6 million on October 22 and another $137.9 million on October 23. Across the five completed trading sessions from October 22 through October 28, Farside’s rounded daily totals produce a net outflow of $349.9 million.

Consequently, the latest streak represents a partial recovery rather than a complete reversal of the preceding withdrawals. Daily flow estimates measure net creations and redemptions, not exchange trading volume, individual investor purchases or the exact quantity of bitcoin traded by authorized participants. Farside says its table is generated automatically and may contain inaccuracies.

The Fed paused after September’s increase

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10–2 on October 28 to maintain the federal-funds target range at 3.75%–4.00%. Its statement said economic activity was expanding strongly and inflation remained elevated.

Governors Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of raising the range by one-quarter percentage point. The decision therefore preserved the rate set in September rather than signaling that tighter policy was no longer under consideration.

Reuters reported shortly after the announcement that the two-year Treasury yield was 4.776%, up 3.9 basis points on the day, while the 10-year yield was 5.047%, up 5 basis points. Those were Reuters observations following the decision, not official closing levels. The Associated Press later reported that both yields initially moved higher before reversing some of that reaction as traders reduced expectations for future increases.

U.S. equities finished with modest gains. AP’s closing-market report placed the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite each up between 0.2% and 0.3% during the October 28 session. That provides a broader risk-market backdrop but does not identify what motivated bitcoin-fund subscriptions.

The clocks and conclusions remain limited

The fund figures cover completed U.S. trading days, while bitcoin itself trades continuously across global venues. Farside’s October 28 row also combines activity before and after the 2 p.m. policy release. Without intraday creation records, investor identities or authorized-participant execution data, the available evidence cannot determine whether the Fed decision encouraged, discouraged or had no effect on the day’s subscriptions.

The defensible conclusion is narrower: bitcoin products accumulated $423.6 million over three sessions, but still showed a $349.9 million net withdrawal over the five-session window beginning October 22. At the same time, the Fed paused with inflation elevated and two policymakers seeking another increase. Subsequent fund data and economic releases will determine whether the three-day recovery persists under that policy backdrop.