Bitcoin holds near $86,000 as spot Bitcoin ETF inflows hit 11-month high of $999 million

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Key takeaways

Bitcoin traded near $86,000 following record spot ETF inflows of $999 million.
Institutional demand and short liquidations helped drive the strongest weekly gains in months.
The global crypto market capitalization neared $2.92 trillion with high fear and greed index levels.

Bitcoin holds near $86,000 after record ETF inflows

Bitcoin traded near the $86,000 mark on Wednesday after US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest single-day inflow in 11 months, at $999 million. The cryptocurrency was last trading at $85,938.

In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum were down 0.02%. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano gained upto 4.43% whereas Tron was down 1.54%.

Prateek Gupta, Head of Business, Mudrex said the move also pushed BTC above its 365-day moving average for the first time since March 2023. Interestingly, on-chain data shows unusually little profit-taking for a move this size, though the Coinbase Premium Index remains negative, suggesting this rally has leaned more on futures and ETF flows than organic spot buying so far.

He further said a sustained move above $89,000 could open doors toward the $100,000 mark.

Institutional demand and short liquidations drive market growth

The global crypto market capitalisation was down 0.08% to $2.92 trillion, according to data on Coinmarketcap. The crypto fear and greed index stands at 78, which suggests the market sentiments are somewhere between ‘Greed' and 'Extreme Greed”, said CoinDCX Research Team.

Balaji Srihari, VP - Business, India, CoinSwitch said BTC surged to $87.4K, its highest level since January 2026, as strong institutional demand and short liquidations accelerated the move. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $999 million in net inflows on 21st September, led by major issuers including BlackRock and Fidelity, while roughly $648 million in short positions were liquidated.

Over the last week, Bitcoin and Ethereum were up 13.49% and 14.20% respectively. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Tron, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin, and Cardano gained upto 31.26%.

Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder & CEO, Pi42 said the latest move in crypto market is a good example of how quickly sentiment can change when geopolitical uncertainty starts to ease.

Market perspective from industry analysts

Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst, Delta Exchange : ETF flows have been a major part of the story. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drew roughly $999 million in net inflows on September 21, marking their strongest daily inflow since October 2025.

Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus: Bitcoin is trading near $86,500 after gaining almost 14% over the past week. The immediate driver is the return of institutional demand. US spot-Bitcoin ETFs attracted nearly $1.96 billion over four trading sessions through September 22.

Nischal Shetty, Founder, WazirX: The broader crypto market is trading with a positive bias, with total market capitalization rising toward $2.93 trillion and 24-hour trading volume at approximately $110.73 billion.

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