Premium is positive when the ETF trades above the value of the crypto it holds; discount is negative when it trades below. The gap is reported as a percentage of NAV. For example, a 0.15% premium on a Bitcoin spot ETF means the fund closed 15 basis points above the value of its bitcoin holdings.
Spot crypto ETFs typically trade in a tight band — usually within 10 to 30 basis points of NAV. The mechanism that holds it there is intraday creation and redemption. When the ETF trades rich, an authorized participant (AP) buys the underlying spot, delivers it to the issuer, and receives ETF shares to sell — collapsing the premium. When the ETF trades cheap, the opposite trade closes the discount. As long as APs can route between spot and ETF cheaply, the gap stays narrow.
When premium widens beyond its usual band, that’s a positioning signal. A persistent premium suggests buyers are willing to pay up for the ETF wrapper rather than route to spot, often because allocation mandates forbid direct crypto exposure. A persistent discount points the other way: holders want out faster than the AP arbitrage can clear. Both conditions tend to mean-revert within a session or two.
InflowScan reports per-fund daily premium averages alongside the issuer-published flow record. We do not aggregate premium across funds or across days that have partial coverage — on a partial day, the fund’s premium stat shows -- rather than a stale value.