Bitcoin Spot ETF Trading Begins In the US As Volume Exceeds $4B on First Day

Bitcoin spot ETF volume records jaw-dropping feat on the first day of trading.  

The first day of trading for the recently approved Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) was a massive success. Notably, the volume and number of individual trades of these products surpassed the expectations of the crypto community.  

Bitcoin Spot ETF Volume Surpasses $4.3 Billion

In a groundbreaking development, the total volume surpassed a whopping $4.3 billion. Data from Bitcoin ETF analyst Eric Balchunas showed that approximately $4.33 billion worth of Bitcoin spot ETF shares changed hands on Thursday. 

According to the data, Grayscale, BlackRock, and Fidelity dominated the Bitcoin spot ETF market on the first trading day. Out of the $4.33 billion, Grayscale’s ETF (GBTC) accounted for $2.09 billion, BlackRock’s fund (IBIT) saw approximately $1.01 billion, and Fidelity Investments recorded $673 million. 

ARK 21Shares’ ETF (ARKB.Z) was ranked as the fourth largest Bitcoin ETF with a 24-hour trading volume of $275.6 million. 

Notably, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), Invesco Galaxy (BTCO), VanEck (HODL), Valkyrie (BRRR), and Franklin (EZBC) rank as the fifth ($120.3 million), sixth ($44.6 million), seventh ($24.8 million), eighth ($9 million), and ninth (6.5 million) largest ETF, respectively.

In addition, WisdomTree Bitcoin ETF and Hashdex’s volumes stood at around $6.4 million and $4.2 million, respectively, as they took the 10th and 11th position on the first day of Bitcoin ETF trading. 

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Popular crypto journalist Wu Collins noted that Grayscale’s massive trading volume is mostly from sales and outflow. He pointed out that the company’s Bitcoin ETF shares traded at a discount throughout the session. 

According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, there were 700k individual transactions on the first day of the spot BTC ETF’s launch, with trading volume reaching $4.33 billion, of which GBTC reached $2.09 billion, IBIT reached $1.01 billion, FBTC reached $673 million, and… pic.twitter.com/VkeDtuqQFD

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 12, 2024

Number of Individual Trades Spike

Furthermore, the data also showed that there were a total of 703,931 individual trades across the 11 approved Bitcoin spot ETFs. Grayscale still led this category, having recorded 246,340 number of trades. 

While BlackRock saw 174,720 individual trades, Fidelity, ARK 21Shares, Bitwise, and Invesco saw 151.12K, 62.92K, 33.94K, and 10.9K trades, respectively. 

The development comes a day after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved all 11 Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds. 

Race for Market Share 

Following the approval of the multiple Bitcoin ETFs, analysts had speculated that the asset management companies would engage in an intense competition for market share. 

As reported earlier, BlackRock and ARK 21Shares slashed their fees to 0.25% and 0.21%, respectively. At the moment, the fees for all approved Bitcoin ETFs range from 0.2% to 1.5%. 

To gain an edge in the market, some asset managers announced fee waivers for a specific period. For instance, Bitwise said it would waive fees for the first $1 billion invested in its Bitcoin ETF for the first six months.