$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ and the other majors are lower today, but zoom out and the picture is flatter than the daily tape suggests: prices have gone essentially nowhere over the past two weeks.

The choppy trading is a part of a typical stair-step rally, according to some observers, and it could soon pave the way for a move above $87,000.

The question is what would turn that pause into a firm break above the range. The answer sits in what drove the September surge: large spot ETF inflows.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs attracted roughly $2.6 billion in September, with the week ended Sept. 25 alone accounting for about $2.39 billion of the monthly tally. Inflows peaked at nearly $999 million on Sept. 21. Since then, however, demand has cooled sharply,…