VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF increases 1,400% daily trading volume
VanEck's spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) has experienced sudden and heavy trading, market analysts are looking for the reason.
VanEck's fund — which sports the ticker symbol “HODL” — saw $258 million in trading volume on Feb. 20, a nearly 15-fold increase from the previous day, according to data shared with X by senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
$HODL is going wild today at $258M in volume, an average daily jump of 14x, and not one big investor (which would make sense) but rather 32,000 individual transactions, averaging 60x. Not sure how to explain.. Maybe it was added to the forum a week ago? pic.twitter.com/VTkjboS0ff
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 20, 2024
VanEck's sudden surge in volume was about 32,000 individual transactions — 60 times the average, according to Balchunas — not from a single large investor, which he said was “helpful.”
“Still don't know what happened,” Balchunas wrote in a follow-up X post five hours later.
“No one knows. I'm wondering how sudden and explosive the increase in business was (500 Friday business, 50,000 transactions today) if some Reddit or TikTok influencer type recommended them to their followers. I feel like an army of retailers,” he added.
“WTF? ETF Unsolved Mysteries continues after a word from our sponsors…”
On Feb. 15, VanEyck filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission saying it would drop from 0.25% to 0.20% effective Feb. 21, 5 basis points below what market leader BlackRock is paying. and loyalty.
The largest fund provider, BlackRock, has pledged to waive fees until its iShares fund reaches $5 billion in AUM. In the year Since reaching that milestone on February 15, BlackRock has charged a 0.25% fee on all new investments in the fund.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs Snowball: Last 4 Days More Than First 4 Weeks
Trading volumes on the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (WBTC) were also “spiking,” according to Bloomberg data cited by Balchunas, which jumped 1,200% from the average to $154 million.
More interesting: -$BTCW also pops up, $154m in transactions, 12x the average and 25x the assets with 23,000 indiv trades. For context, Friday saw 221 trades. At the same time, the $IBIT rate goes up but not as crazy. WTF? ETF Unsolved Mysteries Continue after… pic.twitter.com/IXQmCKuCWl
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 20, 2024
WBTC saw 23,000 individual trades on February 20, which is “a significant increase from 221 trades on Friday,” Balchunas added.
The increase in trading volume in the HODL and WBTC funds comes as BlackRock is “high but not crazy” on market-leading funds, including the iShares Bitcoin ETF.
VanEck's Bitcoin Trust currently stands as the seventh largest Bitcoin ETF, commanding $191.9 million in assets under management (AUM), while the Wisdomtree fund is the smallest at just $29.4 million, according to Dune Analytics data.
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