Bitcoin ETF Trading Volumes and Holdings Keep Rising After Launch but BTC Price Struggles

Nine of the newly launched spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a 34% increase in trading volume on Jan. 18 compared to the previous day.

“Normally, with a hyped-up launch, you see volume steadily decrease each day post-launch, rare to see it reverse back up,” observed senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas on January 19.

Eight of the funds saw a significant jump in volume on day five of trading, with Ark 21 Shares performing the best with a 116% increase.

Widsomtree bucked the trend with a 34% decrease in volume, according to the figures.

This is interesting, the Newborn Nine actually saw a 34% jump in volume today vs yesterday. Normally with a hyped up launch you see volume steadily decrease each day post-launch, rare to see it reverse back up. All but one saw jump too but GBTC change flat so wasn’t a volatility… pic.twitter.com/f6xOsLRWjr

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 18, 2024

Bitcoin ETF Holdings and Volumes Up

However, the not-so-good news was that the Grayscale GBTC discount has also reversed the wrong way. This was likely due to selling pressure, commented Balchunas.

On Jan. 19, fellow ETF analyst James Seyffart reported that there was another big outflow from GBTC, with $582 million leaving the fund. So far, $2.2 billion has left Grayscale’s product as investors rebalance their portfolios, seeking better returns and fees.

According to the latest data from CC15Capital, the total holdings for all spot ETFs as of January 18 was 650,207 BTC worth an estimated $26.7 billion.

BlackRock and Fidelity hold 25,067 and 20,507 BTC, respectively. Grayscale has the lion’s share with 581,274 BTC, according to the figures.

🚨 1st Update for 1/18 #Bitcoin ETF Holdings👇$BITB is the 1st to report (again!), w/ 491 #Bitcoin added

I track the $BTC holdings of the 🇺🇸Spot Bitcoin ETFs

Waiting for other 1/18 reports 🧮 Orange = open$IBIT $FBTC $ARKB $BITB $BRRR $BTCO $HODL $EZBC $BTCW $DEFI $GBTC pic.twitter.com/8VxYW0fbL0

— CC15Capital 🇺🇸 (@Capital15C) January 19, 2024

Tether and VanEck strategy advisor Gabor Gurbacs observed that Bitcoin ETFs (not including Grayscale) were sitting on $3 billion in assets just after a few days of trading, adding:

“As I said, $300 million net average inflows a day into Bitcoin ETFs means ~7,000 BTC a day taken off the market at current BTC prices. Only 900 Bitcoin is mined every day.”

SEC Postpones Ethereum ETF

On Jan. 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission postponed a resolution on Fidelity’s proposed spot Ethereum ETF.

The regulator set a new deadline of March 5, 2024. Seyffart said the delay was in line with expectations, estimating that the approval date for a spot Ethereum ETF could be late May.

Nevertheless, Bitcoin prices have taken a 3.7% hit on the day falling to $41,000 during Friday morning trading in Asia.

ETF Store president Nate Geraci asked why people were angry that spot ETFs didn’t make Bitcoin’s price go up.

Why are people so angry about spot bitcoin ETFs…

Such an odd phenomenon.

You like getting btc exposure via ETF? Great. Invest.

Want to own btc direct? Go for it.

Mad that spot btc ETFs didn’t make “price go up”? Welcome to financial markets.

ETFs simply a delivery vehicle.

— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) January 19, 2024