Review: "Crypto ETF Early Signs of Reducing Positions: The 'Silent Retreat' Before the Crash" In this sudden crash of the crypto market, retail investors often find themselves "waking up to a world turned upside down" (myself included), while the movements of institutions are often buried in the data. Looking back at the ETF fund flows from mid-September to early October, it is clear that some products had already shown signs of continuous capital outflows—perhaps the calm before the storm was the moment institutions were quietly reducing their positions. 🧩 1. Overall Trend: Outflows Begin to Concentrate Before October From the summary table, it can be seen that the overall market experienced significant negative inflows in October: 🔻 Total outflow of approximately $80.2 million, covering multiple ETFs primarily based on $ETH and $BTC. Notably: Mainstream spot ETFs like ETHA, CETH, and FBTC all showed significant capital outflows at the beginning of October. ETHA experienced consecutive large outflows on September 26, September 25, and September 23, indicating that capital had begun to "de-leverage" before the crash in October. 2. Representative ETFs with Early Withdrawals 1️⃣ ETHA (Ethereum Spot ETF) September 18: Inflow +$974.4M September 23: Outflow -$276.7M September 25 to September 26: Consecutive outflows -$114.8M and -$300.4M 👉 This indicates that large institutions gradually withdrew funds in late September, followed by a rapid decline in ETH prices at the beginning of October. 2️⃣ FBTC (Bitcoin ETF) Significant fluctuations from mid to late September: September 19 -$6.2M → September 29 +$202.2M → September 26 again -$74.4M. 🧠 This shows a typical "reduce positions then re-enter" rhythm, with institutions primarily engaging in short-term arbitrage. 3️⃣ ETHW / BRRR / FETH Significant outflows were observed on September 19, September 23, and September 25. FETH had a net outflow of -$158.1M on September 25, becoming one of the largest outflowing Ethereum ETFs in a single day. 🧩 ETFs related to the ETH ecosystem are clearly the hardest hit in terms of position reduction. 4️⃣ CHINAAMC (Bitcoin ETF under Bank of China International) September 19 -$1.47M → September 23 -$6.02M → September 25 -$42.9M 🇨🇳 Asian institutional funds also chose to contract before the crash, indicating a unified risk awareness. 3. Relatively Resilient Defensive ETFs Despite the overall trend of capital outflows, some products still attracted funds against the trend: EZET (Ethereum Zero Volatility ETF) total +$71.5M ETHV, HARVEST, BTCW, etc., recorded positive inflows multiple times 💬 This indicates that some defensive or strategy-based ETFs became safe havens before the crash. The common characteristics of these products are: low volatility, diversified portfolios, and strong dynamic position adjustment mechanisms. In extreme market conditions, these types of ETFs can lock in profits or reduce exposure risks more quickly. 4. Interpretation of Institutional Behavior: Risk Hedging and Early Precautions Comprehensive data suggests: Funds concentrated on withdrawing from ETH-related ETFs between September 23 and 26; BTC-related ETFs saw a brief inflow at the end of September, but outflows resumed at the beginning of October; By October 9-10, there were no significant signs of increased holdings, indicating that institutions had basically completed their position reductions. 🧩 In other words, ETFs like ETHA, FETH, and FBTC showed signs of reducing positions "7-10 days before" the crash. This is entirely consistent with the pattern in traditional financial markets where "ETF flows lead market trends"—ETFs are a thermometer for capital, and price reactions are merely a delayed result. 🔔 5. Conclusion: Crashes Never Happen Suddenly From the end of September to the beginning of October, the fund curve of Crypto ETFs tells us: Crashes are never sudden events, but rather the result of gradually withdrawing liquidity. The retreat of institutions is always quiet. When they start to "not buy," the countdown to the market collapse has already begun. #CryptoETF #MarketCrash #BTC #ETH