Spot bitcoin ETF volumes eclipse $4.5B on first day of trading

BlackRock’s IBIT surpassed $1 billion in volume right before the close

January 11, 2024 05:29 pm

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink | WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Photo Jolanda Flubacher/"Global Economic Outlook 2014: Laurence Fink" (CC license)

The first spot bitcoin ETFs in the US saw roughly $4.5 billion in day-one trading volumes, according to Yahoo Finance data.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) — cleared to convert to an ETF Wednesday — accounted for roughly half the volumes, while a new fund by BlackRock saw roughly a quarter of the volumes.

The high trading figures closed out a day that started quickly, as 10 such funds saw more than $1 billion in trade volume in their first 30 minutes of trading Thursday. The listings came just hours after the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved a swathe of spot bitcoin ETFs in a milestone regulatory decision.

Read more: Bitcoin ETF Tracker

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Hashdex revealed in a late afternoon press release that while a rule change to list its bitcoin futures fund as a spot product was approved, its registration statement to convert the fund is still under SEC review.

“At a later date, the fund will change its name and change its investment strategy to permit spot bitcoin in its portfolio,” the release stated.

A spokesperson for the firm declined to comment further.

The Grayscale and BlackRock ETFs led the pack with roughly 56 million and 38 million shares traded, respectively, Yahoo Finance data shows.

GBTC finished the day with about $2.3 billion in trade volume, while BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) crossed $1 billion in volume by the day’s end.

“Easily the biggest Day One splash in ETF history,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Balchunas said in an X post.

IBIT’s day-one trading volumes were similar to those seen by the first bitcoin futures ETF — the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) — which saw about $950 million in volume on Oct. 19, 2021. BITO, however, did not have competing products launch on the same day.

“Although it’s still early to draw definitive conclusions, this high volume suggests a substantial inflow of investor capital into the spot-based Bitcoin ETFs,” CoinShares research head James Butterfill told Blockworks. “The market price impact on the first day was moderate, which we attribute to the unwinding of futures positions in response to this significant event for the asset class.”

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