Ethereum ETFs Ended a Month of Selling With a $53M Inflow — But 90% of ETH's Rally Was Short Liquidations

US spot Ethereum ETFs took in $53.02 million on Wednesday, November 4 — their first day of net inflows after a month of near-unbroken selling. ETH jumped 7.5% to $2,428 in the same 24 hours and reclaimed $2,400 for the first time since October 23. It looks like Wall Street finally came back to Ethereum. It didn't — at least, not the way the headline suggests. More than 90% of the liquidations that powered the move hit short sellers, futures open interest barely moved, and by Thursday afternoon ETH had already slipped back toward $2,300. One green day ended the drought. Whether it starts a trend is a different question, and five numbers decide it.

What happened on November 4: the $53 million day

According to SoSoValue data, US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $53.02 million in net inflows on November 4, 2026 — the first positive day of the month and the first inflow after a run of daily withdrawals. Five of the eleven funds attracted money. BlackRock's ETHA led with $32.75 million, Fidelity's FETH added $19.24 million, Grayscale's ETH took in $13.60 million, Grayscale's ETHE added $9.68 million and 21Shares' TETH drew $0.12 million. The odd one out was BlackRock's own staking-focused ETHB, which lost $22.38 million — the only fund to record an outflow on an otherwise green day.

The flow table tells the story in one glance:

Fund	November 4 net flow	What it means
BlackRock ETHA	+$32.75M	62% of the day's entire inflow
Fidelity FETH	+$19.24M	Second-largest buyer of the day
Grayscale ETH (mini trust)	+$13.60M	Low-fee product attracting flows
Grayscale ETHE	+$9.68M	Legacy trust finally adding money
21Shares TETH	+$0.12M	Token inflow, but positive
BlackRock ETHB	-$22.38M	Only outflow — possible rotation into ETHA
Total, all 11 funds	+$53.02M	First inflow day since late September

Total trading volume across the spot Ethereum ETFs hit $947.59 million on the day. Cumulative net inflows since the funds launched in July 2024 now stand at $12.12 billion, and total net assets are $14.12 billion — about 4.77% of Ethereum's market capitalisation. Bitcoin's ETFs flipped the same day, taking in $74.57 million after three sessions of $1.16 billion in outflows, for a combined $127.59 million across the two groups. XRP and Solana ETFs, notably, recorded zero flows for the day — the rotation was an ETH-and-BTC story, not a market-wide one.

For context on how to read these products, see our guide to the best Ethereum ETFs in 2026, which compares ETHA, ETHB and FETH on fees, staking yield and the 23% cut that decides your return.

The month of selling behind it: $1.61 billion out the door

A single $53 million day only matters against what came before it — and what came before it was brutal. The day before the flip, November 3, Ethereum ETFs lost another $85.35 million. Farside Investors' tally puts the final seven consecutive trading sessions of withdrawals at $656.4 million. October was worse: Ethereum ETFs lost approximately $1.61 billion across the month, according to KuCoin's flow data. Glassnode's count is starker still — no net inflow day at all since September 29, a run of 23 straight outflow sessions by October 30.

Put the $53 million against those numbers and the scale snaps into focus. It repays just 8% of what left in the final seven sessions, and barely 3.3% of October's outflows. ETF buyers are also still deep underwater: the average Ethereum ETF buyer paid around $3,200 per ETH against a price near $2,290, sitting on roughly $3.5 billion in paper losses, as we detailed in our earlier piece on Ethereum ETF buyers' $3.5 billion loss. One inflow day does not repair that. It only stops the bleeding — for now.

It also arrived on a day when the whole market turned. Bitcoin reclaimed $80,000 after dipping to $75,600 during the midterm vote count, US stocks rallied, oil dropped around 8%, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index jumped from 34 (Fear) to 50 (Neutral). The ETF inflow was part of a broad risk-on reversal, not an Ethereum-specific vote of confidence. That distinction matters for what comes next.

The rally Wall Street didn't buy: 90% of liquidations hit shorts

Here is the number that changes the story. In the 24 hours around the rally, $88.68 million in ETH positions were liquidated across Binance, Bybit and OKX — and $79.90 million of that, or 90.1%, hit short sellers. The single largest liquidation, $57.62 million, landed on November 4. In other words, the move up was powered mostly by traders who had bet against ETH being forced to buy it back, not by fresh money piling in.

Three more data points confirm the squeeze theory. First, aggregated ETH futures open interest sat at $29.96 billion and was essentially unchanged over seven days even as the price climbed — if new longs were driving the rally, open interest would have risen with it. Second, on-chain activity is weak: the 14-day moving average of active Ethereum addresses fell to roughly 365,000 on October 17, according to Glassnode. Third, the rally faded fast. ETH touched about $2,434 during the rebound, eased toward $2,390, and by Thursday morning was trading near $2,297 — CoinDesk had it at $2,296.83, down 0.4% since midnight UTC — after briefly holding above $2,400 for the first time in two weeks. A rally built on short covering, not buying, gives back its gains quickly when the covering stops.

None of this means the inflow is meaningless. ETF flows and price feed each other: inflows support the price, a firmer price encourages more inflows. But the order of events on November 4 ran the other way — the price jumped first on liquidations, and the ETF money followed. Traders who confuse a short squeeze for institutional demand are the ones who buy the top of it. If you are new to ETH, our complete beginner's guide to buying Ethereum in 2026 explains how to get exposure without chasing a squeeze, and what Ethereum actually is covers the network behind the token.

5 numbers that decide if the inflow streak lasts

One day of inflows is a data point, not a trend. These five numbers are the ones that will tell you, within days, whether November 4 was a turning point or a one-day wonder.

The number	What it is	Why it decides everything
$53.02M	November 4 net ETF inflow	Must repeat — a second straight inflow day is the real signal
$656.4M	Outflows in the final 7 sessions before the flip	The hole one good day has to climb out of
90.1%	Share of ETH liquidations that hit shorts	Shows the rally was a squeeze, not fresh demand
$29.96B	ETH futures open interest, flat over 7 days	No new longs joined the move — yet
365,000	Active addresses, 14-day average (Oct 17)	On-chain usage is the slowest-moving warning light

Those numbers feed directly into three scenarios for the days ahead:

Scenario	Trigger	Price path
Bull — the streak holds	Second and third inflow days; daily close above $2,439 (the 0.618 retracement)	$2,500 (upper Bollinger Band), then $2,920–$2,950, about 21% above $2,410
Base — sideways grind	Mixed flows; ETH holds $2,200–$2,500 into Friday's jobs report	Range-bound; flows, not headlines, set the direction
Bear — the squeeze unwinds	Outflows resume; daily close below $2,200 confirms a wedge breakdown	$1,754, about 27% below $2,410

The base case is the honest favourite. ETH is still 51% below its all-time high of $4,946.05, down 19.8% year-to-date and 27.4% over twelve months. A market that beaten-down does not reverse on one $53 million day — but it does not need to. It needs the selling to stop, and on November 4, for the first time in over a month, it did. Our Ethereum price prediction for November 2026 covers the same $2,500 and $2,170 levels in more depth, including the jobs-report setup.

What most people get wrong about ETF flows

Myth 1 — "Inflows mean institutions are bullish on Ethereum." A $53 million inflow after $1.61 billion of October outflows is a pause, not a pivot. Institutions also rotate within products: BlackRock's ETHB lost $22.38 million on the same day its ETHA gained $32.75 million. Some of November 4's "inflow" may be investors switching between two BlackRock funds, not new money entering the asset at all.

Myth 2 — "The price jump proves demand is back." The price jumped because shorts were liquidated, and liquidations are forced buying — the most temporary kind. Real demand shows up as rising open interest alongside rising prices, growing active addresses, and consecutive inflow days. On November 4, open interest was flat and active addresses were near their lows.

Myth 3 — "ETFs now drive the ETH price." US spot ETFs hold about 4.77% of Ethereum's market capitalisation. That is meaningful but not decisive — and it is smaller than a single corporate treasury. BitMine alone holds 6,060,506 ETH as of November 1, having bought another 8,573 ETH in the prior week. By the arithmetic of the funds' own $14.12 billion in net assets, BitMine holds more ETH than all eleven US spot ETFs combined. ETF flows are the most visible demand signal, not the largest one.

Myth 4 — "One green day ends the bearish case." ETH's own history says otherwise. The funds went 23 straight sessions without an inflow as recently as October 30. Streaks in this market break and re-form quickly; the November 4 inflow only becomes a trend when it repeats.

Who is still buying Ethereum while the ETFs sold

If Wall Street spent October selling, somebody else was buying — and the buyers look very different from the sellers. BitMine's 6.06 million ETH makes it the largest single corporate holder, and it kept adding through the sell-off. Staking demand has held up even as a proposed pay cut looms: EIP-8363 would halve staking yields from 2.6% to 1.2%, a debate we covered in our piece on the Ethereum staking pay cut, and the fact that the queue to stake has not collapsed tells you holders are staying put rather than heading for the exit.

Developers, meanwhile, are building through the downturn. At Devcon 8 in Mumbai this week, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake announced that leanVM — a minimal zero-knowledge virtual machine for aggregating post-quantum signatures — has completed end-to-end formal verification, with December 2028 set as the post-quantum transition target. That is a long way from a price catalyst, but it is the kind of fundamental work that keeps the network's long-term story intact while traders argue about the next $100 move.

The split between the two buyer groups is the real story of November 4. ETF investors, who bought near $3,200 on average and are nursing a $3.5 billion paper loss, finally stopped selling for one day. Corporate treasuries and stakers never stopped buying. If the ETF crowd joins them for a second and third day, the $53 million becomes the start of something. If not, it becomes a footnote — and the squeeze unwinds toward $2,200. For the Bitcoin side of the same day's flows, see how Bitcoin ETFs flipped with $74.6 million after $1.16 billion of outflows.

What happens next: 3 dates and a 5-point checklist

Three dates will decide whether the inflow streak survives its first week. Friday, November 6 brings the US jobs report — the market is braced after ADP's 86,000 hires set the trap, and a hot or cold print will move rate expectations and crypto with them. December 9 is the Federal Reserve meeting, where CME FedWatch puts the chance of a rate hike at 81% — a hike would tighten the liquidity that risk assets depend on. December 17 is the Bank of England's next decision, a day after it hiked Bank Rate to 4% on November 5, its first increase in over three years, with UK inflation projected near 5% by mid-2027.

Before you act on any of it, run this checklist:

• Check for a second inflow day first — one green day is noise; two in a row is a streak, and three is a trend.
• Watch ETHA against ETHB closely — if ETHB keeps losing money while ETHA gains it, the "inflow" is rotation, not new demand.
• Demand rising open interest with rising prices — flat open interest plus a rising price means another squeeze, not accumulation.
• Track active addresses weekly — the 365,000 level needs to turn up before any rally can be called healthy.
• Respect the $2,439 and $2,200 lines strictly — a daily close above the first opens $2,500; a daily close below the second opens $1,754.

FAQs

How much did Ethereum ETFs take in on November 4?

$53.02 million in net inflows, according to SoSoValue — the first inflow day of November and the first positive session after a run of daily withdrawals. BlackRock's ETHA led with $32.75 million, followed by Fidelity's FETH at $19.24 million.

How long was the Ethereum ETF outflow streak?

Glassnode counted 23 straight outflow sessions through October 30, with no net inflow day since September 29. Farside Investors put the final seven sessions alone at $656.4 million in withdrawals, and October's total outflows were approximately $1.61 billion.

Why did ETH rise if ETF investors were selling?

The rally was driven by short liquidations, not buying. Of $88.68 million in ETH liquidations in 24 hours, 90.1% ($79.90 million) hit short positions. When shorts are forced to buy back, the price jumps without any new demand entering the market.

Which Ethereum ETF had the biggest inflow on November 4?

BlackRock's ETHA, with $32.75 million — about 62% of the day's total inflow. BlackRock's other Ethereum fund, the staking-focused ETHB, was the only fund to record an outflow, losing $22.38 million.

Is a $53 million inflow enough to matter for the ETH price?

On its own, no — it repays only 8% of the $656.4 million lost in the prior seven sessions and 3.3% of October's $1.61 billion in outflows. What matters is whether it repeats. Consecutive inflow days would signal the selling is genuinely over; a return to outflows would mark November 4 as a one-day pause inside a longer exit.

What price levels matter for ETH now?

A daily close above $2,439 opens the way to $2,500 and then $2,920–$2,950. Support sits near $2,250 and $2,200 — a daily close below $2,200 would confirm a wedge breakdown targeting $1,754. These are technical scenarios from chart analysis, not guarantees.

Conclusion

November 4 gave Ethereum bulls their first good day in over a month: $53.02 million of ETF inflows, ETH back above $2,400, and the Fear & Greed Index out of fear territory. But the fine print tells a colder story — 90% of the liquidations behind the rally hit shorts, open interest never moved, on-chain activity sits near its lows, and by Thursday afternoon ETH had already slipped back toward $2,300. The inflow ended the drought. It did not end the debate.

The next five days will settle it. A second and third inflow day, rising open interest, and a daily close above $2,439 would turn a one-day flip into a genuine reversal with $2,500 in sight. A return to outflows and a close below $2,200 would send ETH back toward $1,754 — and make November 4 a footnote in a longer exit. Watch the flows, not the headlines: the money will tell you which one it is before the price does.

Sources: SoSoValue ETF flow data via TokenPost and CoinScreamer; Glassnode outflow-streak data and technical levels via BeInCrypto; rebound and October outflow totals via KuCoin; ETH price and liquidation data via CoinStats; market context via CoinDesk and CoinGabbar. This article is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice.