U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs gave again practically all of their 2025 beneficial properties after hitting a cycle excessive in early October, with complete web belongings sliding to $120.68 billion as of Dec. 4, down $48.86 billion from the Oct. 6 peak.
The drawdown leaves the class basically flat year-over-year, sitting simply $30 million beneath the $120.71 billion recorded on Dec. 16, 2024, emphasizing a “wipeout” yr wherein large price-driven swings did not translate into sustained web progress for the ETF advanced.
The year-to-date circulation image diverged from the asset determine.
2025 web creations totaled $22.32 billion by way of Dec. 4, but the October-to-December worth drawdown in bitcoin minimize fund belongings again to the place they had been a yr in the past.
Since Oct. 6, cumulative web outflows totaled $2.49 billion, a small share of the $48.86 billion in AUM decline, with the residual transfer attributable to cost and unrealized revenue and loss.
That blend frames a yr wherein issuance demand continued, whereas BTC’s late-year retracement erased the asset’s beneficial properties recorded into early October.
Second-quarter creations reached $12.80 billion, and third-quarter creations added $8.79 billion, whereas fourth-quarter creations turned marginally unfavourable by way of Dec. 4 at $0.20 billion in web redemptions.
The most recent 30-day window confirmed $4.31 billion of web outflows, indicating that This fall cooled after a powerful center a part of the yr.
Even after the fourth-quarter slowdown, cumulative web inflows since launch stood at $57.56 billion, stressing that the structural base of issued shares stays above the extent implied by worth alone.
The hole between precise AUM and a flow-only counterfactual since Oct. 6 illustrates the dynamic. Ranging from the $169.54 billion peak and mechanically including solely every day creations and redemptions yields a path that might have stored belongings close to that start line, whereas the noticed line fell with BTC’s drawdown.
The distinction between these two paths, proven within the “AUM vs flow-only” evaluation, quantifies the worth or PnL element that drove the decline.
By the identical logic, evaluating at present’s AUM to the Dec. 16, 2024 anchor with cumulative 2025 inflows isolates the previous yr’s attribution, the place constructive flows had been offset by unfavourable worth marks, leaving belongings close to flat.
Traders targeted on fund well being will parse the unfold between flows and efficiency to evaluate resilience, liquidity, and potential provide overhang within the main market.
The constructive 2025 flows imply approved members created shares web throughout the yr, so the product set didn’t endure broad redemption strain till late within the yr. Value, not redemptions, explains many of the AUM reset from the October excessive.
That issues for secondary market situations as a result of persistent outflows would level to totally different vendor stability sheet hundreds and secondary spreads than a price-led transfer with secure share counts.
The “nothingburger” year-over-year comparability is particular to the chosen dates, which heart on the most recent legitimate row within the dataset and the prior mid-December reference.
As of Dec. 4, complete belongings got here in solely $30 million beneath the Dec. 16, 2024, studying, a rounding-level change for a product suite that scaled above $120 billion. The interpretation, for readers monitoring structural adoption through creations, is {that a} flat YoY AUM print doesn’t indicate negligible demand.
It displays that the fourth-quarter worth decline countered earlier inflows. The datasets and charts included, spanning complete AUM, every day flows, and cumulative inflows since launch, align with this decomposition.
The intra-quarter shift is seen within the every day collection. By means of the spring and summer season, creations clustered on sturdy worth days, then waned into the autumn. After Oct. 6, redemptions elevated, and the 30-day web circulation turned unfavourable in early December.
The magnitude remained modest relative to the whole, at $2.49 billion in web outflows over the interval, reinforcing the mechanical level that the AUM slide because the peak was primarily a perform of mark-to-market.
Beneath are the core figures referenced for readability.
| Metric | Worth | Date / Interval |
|---|---|---|
| Complete AUM | $120.68B | Dec. 4, 2025 |
| AUM peak | $169.54B | Oct. 6, 2025 |
| Change since peak | −$48.86B (−28.82%) | Oct. 6 to Dec. 4, 2025 |
| YoY AUM | $120.71B → $120.68B | Dec. 16, 2024 to Dec. 4, 2025 |
| 2025 YTD web flows | +$22.32B | By means of Dec. 4, 2025 |
| Flows since Oct. 6 | −$2.49B | Oct. 6 to Dec. 4, 2025 |
| Cumulative web inflows since launch | +$57.56B | By means of Dec. 4, 2025 |
| Newest 30-day web flows | −$4.31B | By means of Dec. 4, 2025 |
| Quarterly flows | Q1 +$0.93B, Q2 +$12.80B, Q3 +$8.79B, This fall thus far −$0.20B | 2025 |
For context and reproducibility, AUM corresponds to complete web belongings in USD, and flows correspond to the every day complete BTC influx.
The easy attribution of the AUM change from Oct. 6 to Dec. 4 equals web flows over the interval plus a worth or PnL time period. Utilizing that decomposition, the $48.86 billion decline approximates to $2.49 billion of web outflows and about $46.37 billion of worth or PnL.
The whole AUM chart reveals the October crest and the following fade into December, the every day flows chart reveals Q2 and Q3 energy with This fall softness, and the cumulative web inflows chart confirms that creations stay constructive since launch.
As framed, the headline takeaway is that 2025 introduced constructive issuance, whereas the October retracement in BTC capped the yr with belongings close to final December’s stage and properly beneath the early October peak.