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Day one for the newly minted spot Bitcoin ETFs is in the books—and it did not disappoint.
The freshman BTC funds managed to clear $4.5 billion worth of volume and hit a few standout milestones.
If that sounds like a big number, it’s because it is. Despite all the hullabaloo, market observers did not expect such a big debut across the board. “Even attaining $500 million in day-one inflows is a noteworthy challenge,” Adam Guren, co-founder of crypto hedge fund Hunting Hill Digital, told Decrypt in October.
It seems like the appetite for Bitcoin from Wall Street investors, who can now gain exposure to BTC without storing or holding the asset directly—and who have been denied the option by the SEC for over a decade, was indeed there all along.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which trades on the Nasdaq under the IBIT ticker, almost cleared $1 billion worth of volume by itself. It accounted for 22% of the total volume across all 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday. (Yes, that’s 10, not 11—more on this later.)
Despite a strong showing in the morning, BlackRock’s IBIT closed the day trading at $26.62—down 4.6% from its open. The fund saw a frenzied start, with 3 million shares moving before markets opened, but lost some steam as the day went on.
It’s worth pointing out that BlackRock, whose catalog of ETFs trade under the iShares brand, has often enjoyed big debuts for its exchange-traded funds.
The list of newly trading spot BTC funds changed during the day, losing one of its entrants. In its announcement about the Bitcoin ETF approvals yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission included the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF in its list. But Hashdex put out its own announcement this afternoon to clear up some confusion.
Hashdex received permission from the SEC for its Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF, which trades on the NYSE under the DEFI ticker, to be converted to a spot BTC fund. A rule change that’s similar to the one that allowed GBTC to trade as a spot Bitcoin ETF. But Hashdex hasn’t followed through on the change yet.
“The fund, which is currently a futures product, presently does not hold spot Bitcoin in its portfolio,” the company said in a press release. “At a later date, the fund will change its name and change its investment strategy to permit spot bitcoin in its portfolio.”
The firm added that the registration statement that will make the change final is still under review by the SEC. When that's finalized, it will once again bring the total list of Bitcoin ETFs trading in the U.S. back up to 11.
And while most of the attention today was centered on BlackRock, crypto-native digital asset manger Grayscale notched an impressive milestone of its own. The company's Grayscale Bitcoin Trust saw an all-time high daily volume of 56 million shares on Thursday. It’s the odd fund out in the Bitcoin ETF lineup because it already has a 10-year history, having originated as a Bitcoin investment product for accredited investors.
Today’s GBTC volume beats the next highest day, 40 million shares on May 25, 2017, by a very wide margin.
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The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.