The newly approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are recording increased investor interest even as the cryptocurrency struggles to sustain its valuation above key support levels.
In this line, in an X (formerly Twitter) post on January 19, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas indicated that in the first five days of the products’ trading, they attracted a volume of $14.11 billion.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) continues to dominate the market with over half of the volume at $7.64 billion. iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) secured the second position with $2.76 billion, followed by Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) at $2.1 billion.
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Reflecting on the first five days of trading, Balchunas observed that the fifth day seemed like a stretch for months. The total rolling net flows recorded a notable gain of $1.2 billion. However, it experienced a slight dip after Grayscale’s GBTC registered a substantial outflow of $582 million, which surpassed the remaining ETFS of $447 million.
This downward trend had a noticeable impact on Grayscale’s GBTC, leading to a considerable decline in net flows to $2.2 billion.
Significance of Bitcoin ETFs five-day performance
To underscore the significance of the performance, the analyst pointed out that, apart from GBTC, the new ETFs now account for 40% of all Bitcoin holdings owned by MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR).
It’s worth noting that MicroStrategy has been accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) in recent years, with the latest haul standing at almost 190,000 BTC. Amid the rising trading volume, the ETF issuers added 10,667 BTC.
Previously, Balchunas underscored the notable achievement of the ETFs, emphasizing that their trading volume exceeded that of all other funds established in 2023, which collectively amassed a total volume of $450 million.
Impact of GBTC selling pressure
The impressive volume comes despite exiting the GBTC selling pressure. As reported by Finbold, James Lavish, managing partner at the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, suggested that the selling pressure from GBTC holders looking to convert to the spot ETF was a key factor in the ETF launch falling short of expectations.
At the same time, Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale Investments, stressed the importance of focusing on the volume instead of outflows.
While the trading volume in ETFs did not directly impact the crypto market, it underscores a potential growing appetite among investors for exposure to cryptocurrencies within the traditional financial market.
