Institutional traders could flip their consideration to altcoins as the following wave of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) arrives in the USA, in accordance with market analysts.
The US Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) acquired no less than 5 new altcoin ETF filings in the course of the first half of October, regardless of the continuing US authorities shutdown stalling progress.
Every approval may “open the door for the following wave of institutional shopping for,” stated Leon Waidmann, head of analysis at Web3 analytics agency Onchain.
“Altcoin ETF inflows are the inevitable subsequent step after Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs proved institutional demand,” Waidmann informed Cointelegraph. “That is regulatory confidence translating into capital flows.”
Ether ETFs surpass Bitcoin ETF inflows in Q3
Spot Ether (ETH) ETFs attracted $ 9.6 billion in inflows in the course of the third quarter of 2025, surpassing the $8.7 billion generated by spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF inflows, in accordance with knowledge aggregator SosoValue.
That shift alerts growing institutional demand for different crypto publicity.
The development might even see the altcoin ETFs catalyzing the following wave of institutional altcoin adoption as new regulated automobiles, leading to years of sustained inflows, Waidmann stated.
“Establishments discovered Bitcoin by way of ETFs, now they’re shifting into Ethereum, and different altcoins are coming subsequent.”
The trade’s most profitable merchants, tracked as “sensible cash” merchants on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, are additionally positioning themselves for the approval of altcoin ETFs.
The Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE) and Chainlink (LINK) have been the three most held tokens by sensible cash merchants on Thursday, knowledge from Nansen reveals.
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Nevertheless, some analysts are involved that BlackRock’s absence from the altcoin ETFs will end in restricted total inflows, as BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has amassed $28.1 billion in investments to date in 2025, making it the one fund to log constructive year-to-date (YTD) inflows.
With out BlackRock’s fund, the spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a cumulative internet outflow of $1.27 billion year-to-date, in accordance to K33’s head of analysis, Vetle Lunde.
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Based mostly on the dynamics seen in Bitcoin ETF investments, BlackRock’s absence from the altcoin ETF wave could restrict cumulative inflows and their potential tailwind impact on the underlying tokens, the researcher defined.
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