Daily Bitcoin ETF Trading Volume Surges to $2 Billion, Highest Since Day One
Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States have witnessed a remarkable surge in trading volume, reaching the highest levels since their debut last month.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the volume amounted to nearly $2 billion, the highest level since the first day of trading on January 11.
VanEck’s HODL ETF Sees 14x Increase in Daily Volume
Among the leading Bitcoin ETFs, VanEck’s HODL ETF recorded just under $400 million in trading volume, while WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) saw $221.9 million and BitWise’s ETF had $178.29 million.
Balchunas pointed out that VanEck’s HODL ETF was particularly active, with $258 million in volume, representing a 14-fold increase over its daily average.
Notably, this surge in volume was driven by 32,000 individual trades, which is 60 times higher than its average.
The Nine had biggest volume day since Day One with about $2b in combined trading thx to big contributions from $HODL, $BTCW and $BITB which all broke their personal records. For context $2b in trading would put them in Top 10ish among ETFs and Top 20ish among stocks. It's a lot. pic.twitter.com/547pIl5grI
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 20, 2024
The spike in trading volume can be attributed, in part, to the closure of U.S. markets on Monday for Presidents’ Day.
Trades conducted over the weekend were settled on the first day of the workweek, contributing to the increased volume.
While Bitcoin ETFs continue to gain momentum, the price of Bitcoin itself is currently trading just above $52,200, as the U.S. trading day concludes.
As reported earlier, spot Bitcoin ETFs witnessed a substantial influx of approximately $2.3 billion last week, nearly doubling the previous week’s inflow of $1.2 billion.
These inflows accounted for almost half of the total net inflow since the inception of BTC ETFs, which currently stand at approximately $5 billion.
According to Matteo Greco, research analyst at digital asset investment firm Fineqia International, the growing demand for BTC ETFs has fueled Bitcoin’s surge last week, which saw the leading cryptocurrency gain around 8% to close at approximately $52,150.
Gold ETFs Bleed as Bitcoin ETFs Take the Soptlight
Meanwhile, there has been a net outflow from Gold ETFs, possibly driven by global investors’ growing demand for U.S. equity.
So far this year, the leading 14 Gold ETFs have experienced outflows of $2.4 billion in 2024 as of February 14.
Among the gold ETFs, only three have seen minor inflows this year: VanEck Merk Gold Shares, FT Vest Gold Strategy Target Income ETF, and Proshares UltraShort Gold.
More recently, Galaxy Asset Management’s global head Steve Kurz said he expects top wirehouses to increase their involvement in spot Bitcoin ETFs within the next year.
“I’d be surprised in the next year if the top 10 wirehouses are not involved in this… We will probably see institutional FOMO,” he told FOX Business on February 19 during the Exchange ETF Conference in Miami Beach, Florida.
The statement came as companies offering spot Bitcoin ETFs have been inundated with queries from financial advisers during the event.
At present, several online brokerage and robo-advisor platforms, such as Fidelity, Robinhood, Charles Schwab, and eToro, facilitate the trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Galaxy Asset Management offers the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), which ranks as the sixth-largest fund of its kind, managing $314 million in assets.
