Spot Bitcoin ETFs top $4.5B total volume on the first day of trading

Spot Bitcoin ETFs topped $4.5 billion in trading volume on the first day of trading, but one of the issuers has clarified it hasn’t yet made the cut.

The first day of trading for a suite of new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has gone off with a bang, with BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity’s ETFs coming out on top in total volumes. One issuer, however, didn’t get to start as expected.

Aggregated data from Yahoo Finance, compiled by Cointelegraph, shows that the total volume across ten of the spot Bitcoin ETFs reached more than $4.5 billion in total volume for day one trading.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), was the top performer of the newly-listed funds, handling just over $1 billion in volume — 22% of the group’s total volume — per Yahoo Finance data.

Following close behind was Fidelity’s spot Bitcoin ETF — FBTC — which witnessed some $685 million in day one trading volume.

Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF, which trades under the ticker GBTC, notched $2.2 billion in total volume. The investment vehicle is a conversion of its pre-existing Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

Hashdex missed the opportunity to be counted among spot Bitcoin ETFs for the day. While the SEC approved Hashdex’s 19b-4 filing — which would allow its spot ETF product to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges — the SEC did not make its S-1 form effective, meaning that Hashdex’s “DEFI” fund is still only trading as a futures-based ETF. The company also issued a corrected statement noting the fund did not yet hold any spot Bitcoin in its portfolio.

It’s important to note that trading volume includes inflows and outflows and doesn’t paint a full picture of how much of the day’s trading activity was buying versus selling.

Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas theorized that the vast majority of trading activity for GBTC was selling, as investors rotated out of the fund into newer, lower-fee products such as BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s respective ETFs. His colleague James Seyffart shared the same view.

Re what all these dollars flying around means. For the 10 fresh ETFs volume = buying btc today. Clear cut. But, GBTC volume prob ALL selling and maybe $BITO has some too so likely a lot offsetting going on. Just my take tho, not 100%, we’ll know more when flows hit tonight

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 11, 2024

Meanwhile, the ProShares Futures Bitcoin ETF (BITO) experienced record-breaking trading activity of its own, with more than $2 billion in total volume on the day.

This is also theorized to be comprised largely of selling, as investors move out from futures-based Bitcoin exposure, to cheaper, less volatile spot-based exposure.

Related: Bitcoin spot ETF trading volume surpasses $1.6B within minutes of launch

Timothy Peterson, an investment manager at Cane Macro, estimated that the buying activity across the ETFs means that approximately 47,000 Bitcoin — worth $2.1 billion at current prices — will need to be purchased on the spot market.

3/ Today’s volume required an estimated 47,000 #Bitcoin to be purchased on the spot market. By comparison, an average 500,000 Bitcoin are traded daily. Today’s activity had minimal impact on liquidity. pic.twitter.com/kd1X3YSxl2

— Timothy Peterson, CFA CAIA (@nsquaredcrypto) January 11, 2024

Balchunas said that investors looking to understand the impact of the ETFs on underlying Bitcoin purchases will most likely have to wait until later the morning of Jan. 13 to get a better idea of spot inflows.