Data statistics for the morning of January 23, Eastern Eight Time, show that on January 22, Eastern Time, the Ethereum spot ETF in the U.S. recorded net outflows for the third consecutive trading day, with a total net outflow of approximately $41.9772 million for the day, continuing the trend of capital withdrawal seen in the previous two days. On the same trading day, the Bitcoin spot ETF in the U.S. also recorded a net outflow of approximately $32.1081 million, indicating a simultaneous cooling of the two major crypto ETFs. Against this backdrop of outflows, the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH) recorded a net inflow of approximately $9.7107 million, creating a stark contrast. This set of capital flow data raises a question for the market: why is capital significantly warming up in other assets and new financial instruments while withdrawing massively from crypto ETFs?

Nearly $100 million withdrawn in three days: Ethereum's short-term attractiveness plummets

● Continuous withdrawals: According to SoSoValue data, on January 22, Eastern Time, the Ethereum spot ETF had a net outflow of approximately $41.9772 million, marking the third consecutive day of net outflows. The cumulative three-day outflow indicates a continuous "tens of millions daily average outflow," creating psychological pressure on potential funds still on the sidelines, leading to a noticeable decline in the cost-effectiveness of short-term allocations to Ethereum ETFs from the perspective of some institutions and mid-to-large funds.

● Structural comparison: In the context of overall outflows, the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust recorded a net inflow of approximately $9.7107 million on the same day, becoming one of the few "contrarian points" among Ethereum-related ETF products. This comparison indicates that funds are not simply abandoning exposure to Ethereum but are instead re-selecting "product tiers" within the same asset class, favoring vehicles whose costs, structures, or strategies align better with their preferences.

● Dual decline: On the same trading day, the U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net outflow of approximately $32.1081 million, coinciding with the outflow of funds from the Ethereum spot ETF, creating a "synchronized retreat" of mainstream crypto asset ETFs. This parallel signal of capital withdrawal points more towards a phased deleveraging of overall crypto risk exposure rather than a collapse of confidence in a specific public chain.

● Implications of confidence: Continuous net outflows over several days are often seen as a direct reflection of weakened short-term attractiveness and cautious market sentiment. Although price levels may not exhibit similarly drastic fluctuations, ETFs, as one of the main entry points for compliant funds, will suppress expectations for incremental capital in terms of pricing power and discourse, leading some institutions that were originally prepared to enter through ETFs to choose to observe further or delay decisions.

Grayscale Mini Trust attracts capital against the trend: Who is making structural migrations?

● The only net inflow against the trend: Market observers point out that on January 22, amidst the overall net outflow of funds from the Ethereum spot ETF, the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust became the only Ethereum-related product to achieve a significant net inflow, attracting approximately $9.7107 million in a single day. This "isolated red column" reinforces a judgment: funds have not entirely fled from Ethereum but are undergoing structural migration and refined allocation within the ETF family.

● Product preference differences: Mini trust products typically exhibit characteristics that differ from traditional large-cap ETFs in terms of management fee rates, redemption thresholds, on-exchange liquidity, and market-making depth. For participants more sensitive to costs and trading slippage, lower holding costs or more flexible trading mechanisms may be key incentives for shifting from large-cap ETFs to mini trusts, especially pronounced in high-volatility environments.

● Institutional and retail differentiation: Among different vehicles for Ethereum ETFs, institutional funds may place greater emphasis on scale, compliance history, and custody quality, while retail or smaller investors may prioritize trading convenience and account-side constraints. Therefore, in the same macro environment, institutions may choose to reduce overall allocations or even phase out positions, while retail or smaller funds maintain or even increase their exposure to Ethereum through mini trusts, resulting in behavioral differentiation of "same asset, different channels."

● Judgments under data constraints: Currently, the market lacks complete data on the overall AUM of Ethereum spot ETFs and precise holder structure data, and there are no publicly available, reliable product-specific capital transfer links, meaning we cannot rigorously depict which funds have flowed out of which ETFs and into which products. Therefore, the reverse capital attraction of the Grayscale Mini Trust can only be analyzed at the directional and preference level, without extending to detailed share ratios and market share reconstruction projections.

Bitcoin's simultaneous outflow and the tension of gold hitting new highs

● Mainstream dual assets retreat: On January 22, the Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net outflow of approximately $32.1081 million, paralleling the net outflow of approximately $41.9772 million from the Ethereum spot ETF, indicating a consistent retreat of funds from mainstream crypto asset ETFs on the same trading day. This cross-asset synchronized action resembles a consensus reduction in "overall crypto risk factors," rather than a simple rotation between Bitcoin and Ethereum.

● Gold hits historical highs: In the same time window, the price of gold reached a historical high, providing a clear contrast for capital preference shifts. The continued strength of safe-haven assets indicates a resurgence of risk aversion sentiment in the macro environment, enhancing traditional funds' willingness to allocate to stable assets, which, combined with the outflow of crypto ETF funds, creates a typical asset rotation scenario of "crypto cooling, gold warming."

● Passive redemption pressure: When risk assets are under pressure and safe-haven assets strengthen, allocation and quantitative funds often trigger rebalancing mechanisms, passively reducing exposure to high-volatility assets. For volatile targets like Ethereum and Bitcoin, which are highly correlated with macro liquidity, ETF products are more likely to become "the first to be redeemed" during rebalancing cycles, resulting in sustained net outflows over several days.

● Inability to accurately track direction: It is important to emphasize that, at this stage, the market lacks verifiable cross-asset capital flow links that can accurately depict "how much of the capital withdrawn from crypto ETFs directly enters gold or other safe-haven assets." What we can observe are only two dimensions of time-overlapping capital behavior and price performance, but we cannot simply equate the two or establish a one-to-one mapping relationship.

TradFi innovation heats up: Capital shifts from simple exposure to strategic games

● Gate TradFi trading volume expands: Amid the continuous net outflows from crypto spot ETFs, Gate TradFi's public test trading volume surpassed $5 billion, becoming a typical representative of the activity level of traditional financial innovation. This platform introduces traditional assets into the trading environment through on-chain/compliant structures, providing funds with a more diverse strategic space beyond simple ETFs, attracting some traders seeking "new play."

● BitMart derivatives expansion: Meanwhile, BitMart launched 10 traditional asset perpetual contracts, further bridging the gap between traditional assets and crypto derivatives. Through perpetual contracts, which are high-frequency and high-leverage tools, market participants can conduct relative value trading and hedging of traditional and crypto assets within the same account system, enhancing capital efficiency.

● Dislocation between spot ETF outflows and active derivatives: On one side, there are continuous net outflows from Ethereum and Bitcoin spot ETFs, while on the other side, there is a warming of trading volume around traditional assets and crypto assets in derivatives and new platforms, creating a clear dislocation between the two. Capital has not completely distanced itself from the crypto-related risk environment but has shifted from passive, one-dimensional exposure in spot ETFs to a more flexible and strategic trading track.

● Behavioral shift inference: In a phase of declining return expectations and a return to rational volatility, some funds tend to abandon simple Beta exposure in favor of pursuing Alpha amplified through leverage and complex structures. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that some funds originally entering through crypto spot ETFs may be migrating to perpetual contracts, mixed trading platforms, or structured products that include traditional asset elements, seeking higher capital utilization rates and a richer toolbox of strategies.

On-chain and compliance lines: Mismatched rhythms of technology and regulation

● On-chain technology sentiment: During the same period, MegaETH launched a global stress test, achieving a TPS of approximately 16,034, injecting new imaginative space into the narrative of Ethereum's scalability and performance expectations. High TPS data reinforces the long-term logic of "enhanced on-chain activity carrying capacity," theoretically beneficial for boosting confidence and valuation support for the Ethereum ecosystem.

● Compliance environment adjustments: Meanwhile, the insider trading case involving a former OpenSea manager has been announced to be withdrawn, signaling a certain "loosening" or redefinition at the boundary of compliance and enforcement. For compliant funds that have long been concerned about regulatory pressure, such events may reduce extreme worries on an emotional level, helping to improve compliance expectations for the entire NFT and on-chain trading field.

● Technical and regulatory positives have not supported ETF: Although advancements in on-chain technology and easing compliance risks constitute a bullish narrative in the medium to long term, data from January 22 indicates that they have not prevented the continued short-term outflow of funds from the Ethereum spot ETF. This suggests that the dominant factors driving ETF capital inflows and outflows are still more related to macro liquidity, interest rate expectations, and risk appetite, rather than breakthroughs in single projects or individual regulatory progress.

● Mismatched rhythms: It can be observed that there is a clear mismatch between short-term ETF capital flows and the medium to long-term development of on-chain and regulatory improvements. Technological iterations and the reshaping of compliance frameworks often require quarterly or even annual cycles to reflect in asset pricing, while ETF capital movements on a daily or weekly basis seem to be rapid responses to macro sentiment and asset allocation models, with the two lines running parallel but out of sync.

Capital has not exited, it has just left a single channel

● Repricing rather than abandonment: By synthesizing data from January 22 and surrounding days, it is more reasonable to define the current state of the Ethereum spot ETF as a repricing phase of funds regarding products and risk-return, rather than a one-way abandonment of the Ethereum asset itself. There are still cases of reverse net inflows, such as the Grayscale Mini Trust, indicating that interest in funds has not disappeared but is being more finely filtered in terms of exposure methods.

● Data boundary reminders: In the absence of overall AUM, complete holder structure, and detailed cross-product flow data, it is prohibited to extrapolate specific ETF capital directions or market share changes beyond publicly available data. Any attempt to construct precise share redistribution and market share reallocation narratives based on single-day or short-term net inflows and outflows will exceed the range supported by current data.

● Future observation dimensions: Looking ahead, investors and researchers should focus on three major directions: first, the duration and rhythm changes of net outflows from the Ethereum spot ETF; second, the correlation with the capital flows of gold and other traditional safe-haven assets; third, the marginal changes in the activity levels of traditional financial innovation platforms and derivatives trading, to better grasp whether capital is undergoing structural shifts between different channels.

● Action framework: For individual and institutional allocators, it is essential to build their decision-making framework from the dimensions of product structural differences (costs, liquidity, tax treatment) and macro interest rates, risk aversion sentiment: first, assess their overall stance on macro cycles and risk assets, and then make combination choices among different tools such as ETFs, mini trusts, and derivatives, rather than relying solely on single-day capital inflow and outflow data for emotional operations.

Join our community to discuss and grow stronger together!
Official Telegram community: https://t.me/aicoincn
AiCoin Chinese Twitter: https://x.com/AiCoinzh

OKX benefits group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=l61eM4owQ
Binance benefits group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=ynr7d1P6Z

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。