Spot bitcoin ETF trading volumes hit $1.8B on trading day 3

Spot bitcoin ETFs have notched trading volumes of roughly $10 billion in their first three days on the market, with funds by Grayscale Investments and BlackRock continuing to lead competitors in that category.

Grayscale’s newly converted Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) notched Tuesday trading volumes amounting to about 25 million shares, or $970 million, a Blockworks review of Yahoo Finance data found.

That came after GBTC’s volumes were about $2.3 billion and $1.8 billion on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

High trading volumes for GBTC did not signify a net influx of funds. It saw net outflows of $579 million last week, as highlighted in a CoinShares report released on Monday. Recently, GBTC converted to an ETF format. Though recently converted to an ETF, the trust launched in 2013 and has roughly $27 billion in assets under management.

Segment observers told Blockworks last week they expected GBTC to see outflows over time, in part because of its high fee compared to competitors, at 1.5%.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw trading volumes amounting to nearly 15 million shares, or roughly $370 million, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, there were about 8.2 million shares of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) — worth about $310 million — traded on the day.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas said in an X post that BlackRock’s IBIT was on its way to be the fund “most likely to overtake GBTC as liquidity king.”

Industry watchers labeled liquidity — tighter bid-ask spreads and capacity for large trades without much price impact — as a key factor certain investors would weigh when deciding which spot bitcoin ETF to buy.

The spot bitcoin ETF by Ark Invest and 21Shares, as well as one by rival firm Bitwise, had Tuesday trading volumes of about $124 million and $52 million, respectively.

Other similar offerings by Invesco, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Valkyrie and WisdomTree each had $10 million in volumes or less.

Bitwise initially led in net flows for spot bitcoin ETFs. However, BlackRock and Fidelity, traditional finance giants, surpassed the crypto-focused firm after the second day, as indicated by Bloomberg Intelligence data.

21Shares President Ophelia Snyder told Blockworks the initial trading volumes reflect pent-up demand, noting she expects “a second wave of activity in the coming weeks and months as this becomes more mainstream.”

But focusing on short-term flows into such funds is “crazy short-sighted and largely not the point,” she added.

“It’s going to ramp over time,” Snyder said. “So I think the short-term view is a mistake.”