Spot bitcoin ETFs surpass $1B in trade volumes after first 30 minutes

Bitcoin ETFs are here, and traders are excited. BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity emerge as early winners on the first day of trading

by Casey Wagner&Ben Strack /

January 11, 2024 10:22 am

MacroEcon/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Eleven spot bitcoin ETFs surged out of the gate as they hit the market Thursday morning.

Total trading volumes for BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale products exceeded $1 billion in the first 30 minutes of trade, according to market data crunched by Blockworks.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led trading volumes with roughly 10 million shares traded in the first 15 minutes after the bell, according to Yahoo Finance data. Investors had traded about 13.5 million of IBIT by 10 am ET.

The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) — newly converted to an ETF — had traded roughly 5 million shares and 10.5 million shares, respectively, at that time.

The spot bitcoin ETF by Ark Invest and 21Shares had trading volumes of about 1.7 million shares, or $86 million, at 10 am ET, with all other funds trailing considerably.

Grayscale and BlackRock are shaping up to be bitcoin ETF rivals

The market furor boosted the price of bitcoin itself, which after moving marginally on the approval news itself Wednesday evening, soared above $49,000 for the first time since 2022 Thursday.

Bitcoin trading volume reached a nearly 10-month high Thursday morning across cryptocurrency exchanges before the start of the trading session, hitting $52 billion just after 7 am in New York, according to data from CoinGecko.

Ether also spiked, trading around $2,600 and turning around a loss streak to get back in the green year-to-date. The price of ETH is up more than 17% since the start of 2024.

The first bitcoin futures ETF — the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which launched in October 2021 — saw roughly $950 million in trading volume overall on its first day and reached $1 billion in assets under management within two days.

More recently, combined trading volumes for six ether futures ETFs that launched in October saw day one volumes worth roughly $2 million, an analysis of Yahoo Finance data showed at the time.

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