The inaugural day of trading for a new collection of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was a resounding success, with BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity’s ETFs leading the pack in total volumes. However, one issuer didn’t get off to the anticipated start.
According to data aggregated from Yahoo Finance, the total volume across ten of the spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $4.5 billion on the first day of trading. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), emerged as the top performer among the newly-listed funds, managing just over $1 billion in volume, which accounted for 22% of the group’s total volume.
Fidelity’s spot Bitcoin ETF, FBTC, followed closely behind, recording approximately $685 million in trading volume on the first day. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF, trading under the ticker GBTC, achieved $2.2 billion in total volume. This investment vehicle is a conversion of its pre-existing Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
Hashdex, however, missed the chance to be included among the spot Bitcoin ETFs for the day. Despite the SEC approving Hashdex’s 19b-4 filing, which would permit its spot ETF product to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges, the SEC did not make its S-1 form effective. This means that Hashdex’s “DEFI” fund is still only trading as a futures-based ETF, and the fund does not yet hold any spot Bitcoin in its portfolio.
It’s crucial to understand that trading volume encompasses both inflows and outflows and does not provide a complete picture of the day’s trading activity in terms of buying versus selling. Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas speculated that the majority of trading activity for GBTC was selling, as investors moved out of the fund into newer, lower-fee products such as BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s respective ETFs. His colleague James Seyffart shared the same perspective.
Simultaneously, the ProShares Futures Bitcoin ETF (BITO) saw record-breaking trading activity, with over $2 billion in total volume on the day. This is also believed to be largely selling, as investors transition from futures-based Bitcoin exposure to cheaper, less volatile spot-based exposure.
Timothy Peterson, an investment manager at Cane Macro, estimated that the buying activity across the ETFs implies that approximately 47,000 Bitcoin, valued at $2.1 billion at current prices, will need to be bought on the spot market. Balchunas suggested that investors seeking to understand the impact of the ETFs on underlying Bitcoin purchases will likely have to wait until later the morning of Jan. 13 to gain a clearer understanding of spot inflows.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Eric Balchunas, Timothy Peterson, Rune Christensen, James Seyffart |
| Companies | Cane Macro, Yahoo Finance, Cointelegraph, MakerDAO, Grayscale, Hashdex, Fidelity, BlackRock, ProShares, Bloomberg |
| Currencies | Bitcoin |
| Securities | Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF (GBTC), BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), Fidelity’s spot Bitcoin ETF (FBTC), ProShares Futures Bitcoin ETF (BITO), Hashdex’s “DEFI” fund |
