Spot Bitcoin ETFs hit $4.5B in total volume on the first day of trading.
The first day of trading for the new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) went off at a brisk pace, with BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity ETFs leading the way in total volumes. But one issuer failed to launch as expected.
According to Yahoo Finance aggregate data compiled by Cointelegraph, the total volume of bitcoin ETFs in positions totaled more than $4.5 billion in one-day trades.
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), was the top performer with more than $1 billion in newly listed funds — 22% of the group's total volume — according to Yahoo Finance data.
Close behind was Fidelity's spot Bitcoin ETF – FBTC – which saw $685 million in one-day trading volume.
Greyscale's Bitcoin ETF, which trades on ticker GBTC, has raised $2.2 billion in total volume. The investment vehicle is a conversion of the existing Greyscale Bitcoin Trust.
Hashdex missed the chance to be counted among the Bitcoin ETFs of the day. While the SEC has approved Hashdex's 19b-4 filing — which allows the ETF product to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges — the SEC has not made the S-1 filing effective, meaning Hashdex's “DEFI” fund is still trading exclusively as a business. Futures based ETF. The company has released a corrected statement stating that the fund does not yet hold any position in Bitcoin in its portfolio.
It is important to note that trading volume includes both entry and exit and does not give a complete picture of how much of the day's trading activity was buying versus selling.
Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said much of the trading activity is selling for GBTC, as investors turn away from the fund to newer, lower-fee ETFs like BlackRock and Fidelity. Colleague James Seifert echoed the same sentiment.
What do all these dollars flying around mean? For 10 fresh eff amount = buy btc today. Clear cut. However, GBTC volume prob is all selling and maybe $BITO is some very likely a lot of compensation. Just my guess, not 100%, we'll know more tonight when the streams come
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 11, 2024
Meanwhile, the ProShares Futures Bitcoin ETF (BITO) experienced record-breaking trading of its own, taking in more than $2 billion in total volume for the day.
This is thought to be largely a sell-off as investors move out of futures-based Bitcoin exposure to cheaper volatility-based exposures.
Related: Bitcoin spot ETF trading volume exceeds $1.6B within minutes of launch
Timothy Peterson, chief investment officer at Kane Macro, estimated that the buying activity in ETFs would require roughly 47,000 Bitcoin — $2.1 billion at current prices — to be bought in the market.
3/ Today's amount is approximately 47,000 #Bitcoin needed to buy on the stock market. In comparison, an average of 500,000 bitcoins are traded daily. Today's activity had little impact on liquidity. pic.twitter.com/kd1X3YSxl2
— Timothy Peterson, CFA CAIA (@nsquaredcrypto) January 11, 2024
Balchunas said investors looking to understand the ETF's impact on underlying Bitcoin purchases should wait until the morning of January 13 to get a better idea of the position's flow.
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