Feb 02, 2024
Market Recap: Spot ETFs Ignite Fund Inflows as Prices Idle
Key takeaways for the month:
- This month marked a major milestone for digital assets as the SEC approved the first series of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. market. The initial launch of these products was met with tremendous demand with total net inflows surpassing $1.4 billion and assets under management for the newly launched cohort of funds exceeding $7.3 billion. However, despite the ETFs, Bitcoin prices ended the month relatively flat after already appreciating over 80% since the summer. Overall market performance was subdued, with the CF Free-Float Broad Cap Index nearly unchanged at -1.3%, while the CF Ultra Cap 5 Index of mega caps outperformed. Lagging market segments included the CF Digital Culture Index, down 12.2%, and the CF Blockchain Infrastructure Index, which fell 9.0%.
- The monthly top performing protocols displayed a wide variance in performance, with returns spanning 0.2% to 15.5% across Maker, Ethereum Classic, Chiliz, Stacks and Chainlink. On the flip side, underperformers like Fantom, Curve DAO Token, Filecoin, Synthetix and Algorand posted steep declines that stretched from -25.57% to -31.11% for the month.
- Institutional interest in digital assets continued on its upward climb as evidenced by a near-record of monthly inflows with the launch of the first series of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. market. Additionally, total open interest for Bitcoin and Ether futures rose 1.3% and 9.2% (respectively) from the previous month. Lastly, CME Bitcoin open interest hit a new all-time high of 26,846 contracts, further underscoring surging institutional demand.
Monthly Index Performance
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Size and Growth Lag in Market-Wide Selloff
CF Benchmarks’ Quarterly Factor Report breaks down digital asset performance through a systematic factor lens, highlighting the key drivers of risk and return to help investors better understand market behavior across different regimes.
Gabriel Selby
Weekly Index Highlights, January 12, 2026
Crypto cooled but stayed positive in the most recent week, with Bitcoin and Ether dipping slightly. Infrastructure was best performing CF DACS Sub-Category, +4.2%. Meanwhile our CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index eased -8.12% even as realized ticked up. Among Factors, Value and Size notched slim gains.
CF Benchmarks
CORRECTION: Expansion of the CME CF Cryptocurrency Pricing Products Family to include the CME CF Uniswap-Dollar Reference Rate - New York Variant
The Administrator will announce the date to which the launch of this index will be rescheduled in due course.
CF Benchmarks