Bitcoin ETF trade volumes retreat from record level — but stay high

BTC funds from BlackRock, Grayscale Investments and Fidelity each notched at least $1 billion in trade volumes Thursday as crypto rally continues

by Ben Strack /

February 29, 2024 05:17 pm

morokey/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Bitcoin ETF trade volumes quieted down slightly Thursday following a record showing — but remained well above average amid the ongoing crypto rally.

The roughly $4.7 billion in trading volumes was the second-best total for the 10 US bitcoin funds since launching on Jan. 11.

The volumes indicate sustained investor appetite for the once-elusive products about two months away from a bitcoin halving event set to slow the creation of new bitcoin.

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BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) finished the day just shy of $1.9 billion in trading volumes, according to Yahoo Finance data — down from the high of roughly $3.3 billion it posted on Wednesday.

Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise, said during a Thursday interview with CNBC that bitcoin’s supply-demand dynamic is “off the hook.”

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Bitcoin’s price (BTC) was about $61,100 at 4:30 pm ET on Thursday — up nearly 18% from a week ago and about 1.3% in the last 24 hours.

IBIT’s volumes led all bitcoin ETFs Wednesday on a day where the segment notched record volumes amounting to $7.6 billion — a total that shattered the previous high of about $4.5 billion set on Jan. 11.

The BlackRock fund was the leader again Thursday, as it tallied more than $1 billion in trade volumes for a fourth straight day.

As part of Wednesday’s record bitcoin ETF volumes day, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) contributed $1.8 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively.

GBTC’s trade volumes dipped to nearly $1.4 billion on Thursday. FBTC’s volumes dropped too, but stayed slightly above $1 billion.

The elevated volume levels have translated to net inflows, with bitcoin ETFs seeing all-time high net inflows of $673 million on Wednesday, BitMEX Research data indicates. That record came despite $216 million exiting higher-priced GBTC.

Flow data for Thursday was not available at time of publication.

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