More than $120 million flowed out of bitcoin (BTC) spot ETFs on a day when ETFs tied to ether (ETH), XRP and solana (SOL) drew about $59 million of inflows. The shift in money, however, did not appear to lead to broader strength across the altcoin market.

On Sept. 10 (local time), blockchain media outlet CryptoSlate reported that bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. market posted net outflows of $120.24 million on Sept. 9. Ether ETFs took in $34.75 million, XRP products drew $12.29 million and solana ETFs saw $11.73 million in inflows. Total net inflows for the three assets that day reached $58.77 million.

A notable point was that the direction of flows out of bitcoin and into altcoin ETFs was different. Still, the net outflow from bitcoin ETFs and net inflows to the three altcoin ETFs alone make it difficult to conclude that money that left bitcoin moved directly into ether, XRP and solana. Even so, it was confirmed that demand moved in different directions among regulated major cryptocurrency products.

The issue is that this trend is not spreading across the overall cryptocurrency market. BlockchainCenter’s altcoin season index stood at 37 as of Sept. 9. The index defines an altcoin season when more than 75 percent of the top 50 eligible cryptocurrencies have posted higher returns than bitcoin over the past 90 days. The current reading falls well short of the 75 threshold. That means Wall Street money is moving into some altcoins, but broad-based rotation into altcoins is not appearing across the wider market.

The concentration of flows is also clear over the past 30 days. Through Sept. 9, bitcoin ETFs recorded the largest net inflows at $3.42 billion, followed by ether ETFs at $1.76 billion. Solana and XRP also posted net inflows of $200.88 million and $185.32 million, respectively. The four assets’ combined net inflows over 30 days totalled about $5.57 billion, accounting for most of the roughly $5.64 billion in net inflows for all completed spot cryptocurrency ETFs tracked by Sosovalue.

By contrast, inflows dropped sharply for smaller altcoin ETFs. Over the same period, the Hyperliquid (HYPE) fund drew $54.77 million and Chainlink (LINK) $19.21 million. Hedera (HBAR) recorded $2.54 million and Avalanche (AVAX) $1.30 million. Dogecoin (DOGE), litecoin (LTC) and binance coin (BNB) instead posted small net outflows, while Polkadot (DOT) had no net inflows.

A similar pattern appeared in assets under management. Assets under management for bitcoin-related products totalled $99.33 billion, while ether reached $15.69 billion. XRP and solana also grew to about $1.5 billion each. By contrast, the next-largest, Hyperliquid, stood at about $464 million, while Chainlink was below $182 million. All remaining completed ETF categories stayed below $60 million in assets under management.

In the past, the cryptocurrency market often saw so-called rotation in which funds moved to ether after bitcoin rose, and then spread to large altcoins and mid- and small-cap tokens.

But as the spot ETF market grows, a structure is forming in which institutional investors use regulated investment channels not only for bitcoin but also only for some large cryptocurrencies such as ether, XRP and solana. As a result, even if altcoin rotation occurs within the ETF market, an analysis says it may not spread to the overall token market.

Bitcoin’s market dominance also did not swing significantly. According to CoinGecko, bitcoin’s share of total cryptocurrency market capitalisation was 56.64 percent as of Sept. 9. That was not much different from 56.02 percent three months earlier and 56.54 percent a year earlier.

As a result, some point to the need to distinguish between a shift of funds into altcoin ETFs and a broad altcoin season. Even if ether, XRP and solana attract substantial money, it is difficult to view it as a market-wide altcoin season if the uptrend does not spread to mid- and small-cap altcoins with relatively low institutional demand.

A key factor going forward is whether outflows from bitcoin ETFs continue. Attention is on whether money leaving bitcoin continues to flow into ether, XRP and solana while also spreading to more altcoin ETFs. If flows remain concentrated in a small number of large altcoins as they are now, the gap between altcoin rotation within the ETF market and a broader altcoin season across the overall market could persist for some time.