U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds surpassed half a trillion dollars in cumulative trading volume on Wednesday — less than a year after their debut.
Spot bitcoin ETF cumulative trading volume grew swiftly since launching in January, reaching the $100 billion mark by March and $200 billion by April as bitcoin rose to reach new all-time highs of nearly $74,000 for the first time earlier this year.
However, the trading volume trajectory then slowed slightly amid a cooling-off phase for the crypto market that saw bitcoin consolidate in a range between $50,000 and $70,000 for the next seven months — until breaking out to reach new all-time highs again following pro-crypto Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory on Nov. 6.
By the close of trading yesterday, the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs had reached a cumulative volume of $505.4 billion, according to The Block’s data dashboard. While the metric is up only in nature, it still represents a significant milestone for the new bitcoin funds, competing against some of the largest and most established ETF products in the world, including the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) Nasdaq-100 Index.
The half-a-trillion dollar level was surpassed after the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs generated a combined $7.9 billion in trading volume on Wednesday alone — the fourth-largest trading day since launch and the biggest since the prior volume peak in March.
BlackRock’s IBIT spot bitcoin ETF has dominated volume of late, registering a record $5.2 billion in trading on Wednesday, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC and Grayscale's GBTC with $1.2 billion and $670 million in trading volume for the day, respectively.
“I thought things were cooling off, but no, IBIT just saw $5 billion in volume today for the first time ever,” Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on Wednesday. “Only 3 ETFs and 8 stocks saw more action today. Up to $13 billion in 3 days this week. Its peers are seeing heightened volume too but on a smaller scale. FBTC did $1 billion, the biggest day since March.”
IBIT’s market share by volume has snowballed in recent months, rising from around 15% in January, as Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund initially dominated trading, to 67% as of Wednesday.
Despite gaining less traction than their bitcoin counterparts, the U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs, launched in July, have also seen a resurgence in volume, generating $702 million in trading on Wednesday to reach $22.3 billion in cumulative volume.
Amid the rising trading volume, the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs also witnessed another day of more than half a billion dollars of net inflows, adding $510.1 million on Wednesday to clock up $2.4 billion this week alone.
BlackRock’s IBIT also led the net inflows, adding $230.8 million. Fidelity’s FBTC and Grayscale’s mini ETF, BTC, took second and third, with $186.1 million and $61.3 million in net inflows on Wednesday, respectively.
Following a six-day streak of positive flows, the bitcoin ETFs have added $4.7 billion since Trump’s election victory, with total net inflows since trading began now standing at $28.3 billion, according to data compiled by The Block.
"Another $500+ million into spot bitcoin ETFs today," The ETF Store President Nate Geraci said. "6 straight days of inflows totaling $4.7 billion. Quickly approaching $30 billion net inflows since January launch. Simply ridiculous."
Combined with the recent price rise, the spot bitcoin ETFs now account for around $89 billion in assets under management, according to The Block’s Bitcoin ETF Tracker Page, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with $41.1 billion in AUM.
“JUGGERNAUT: IBIT has hit the $40 billion asset mark (a mere two weeks after hitting $30 billion) in a record 211 days, annihilating the previous record of 1,253 days held by IEMG,” Balchunas said on Wednesday. “It's now in the top 1% of all ETFs by assets and at 10 months old it is bigger than all 2,800 ETFs launched in the past TEN years.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs added $146.9 million worth of net inflows on Wednesday, led by Fidelity’s FETH with $101.7 million then BlackRock’s ETHA on $35.6 million. The Ethereum funds have added $578.3 million this week, $796.2 million since the U.S. election result and $248.7 million in total net inflows since launch, having finally overcome substantial initial outflows from Grayscale’s converted and higher-fee fund, ETHE, on Tuesday.
“IMO, nothing more interesting in asset management right now than the intersection of crypto and ETFs,” Geraci said. “Involves largest asset managers, politicians, regulators, everyone. Remember, ETFs are simply a bridge for mainstream access to crypto. Once that bridge is fully built, no going back.”
Bitcoin is currently trading for $90,738, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Price Page, having surged to over $93,000 at one point on Wednesday. The foremost cryptocurrency is up 3.4% over the past 24 hours, more than 20% in the last week and 115% year-to-date.
The GMCI 30 index, which represents a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, is up nearly 5% over the past day to 163.57, gaining 22% in the last week and around 65% in 2024.
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