The first-ever Bitcoin ETF that was launched yesterday on NSE (New York Stock Exchange) has become the second-highest ETF ever in opening day volume, nears $1B in trading volume. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy Fund (BITO) is a futures exchange-traded fund, the first of its kind, that has been approved in the US and started trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Many investors had expressed doubts over Bitcoin’s future ETF given the amount of already available spot trading options in the market. But the overall sentiment seems to be very positive so far. The first-day trading session of BITO closed at 23 million shares traded worth $950 million USD, as per the data received from trading view.
I’m not surprised in the least by today’s volume. BITO’s strong debut is reflective of the pent-up demand among individual investors and advisors to access bitcoin price exposure via traditional brokerage and retirement accounts.
Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store
Also, read - What is Bitcoin ETF and why it is so important for investors
This is a big milestone in the crypto world, as it will attract more investors who are looking for prudent ways to get more exposure to crypto investing. However, the bigger significance is the strong signal it gives for increased regulatory approval and adoption of Bitcoin and crypto as a whole, indicated by the general price increases.
The investors and analysts are now waiting to see how ProShares BITO’s performs on the weekly chart and also waiting to see how Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF launch goes which was originally expected to launch its product alongside ProShares on Tuesday, however, launch on the Nasdaq are now expected on Wednesday or Thursday.
As the second mover, I wouldn’t expect Valkyrie to put up the same numbers as ProShares. However, I still think they’ll experience brisk demand. More importantly, it’ll be game on for the bitcoin ETF race.
Geraci, president of the ETF Store
The approval of the first bitcoin ETF has led to discussions about when the market will see approval for an Ethereum ETF. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein is expecting that SEC will now be more inclined to approve an Ethereum ETF. After all, it took nearly eight years from the first filing date for bitcoin ETF approval.
Grayscale is going more aggressive after ProShares’s move and planning to file a Bitcoin Spot ETF application in response to growing competition after ProShares saw its Bitcoin Futures ETF approved for trading on the NYSE.
Spot ETF is been argued to be a more superior filing to the Futures ETF and it will be more difficult to get SEC approvals. Regulators prefer futures-based ETFs because the SEC lacks jurisdiction over crypto trading venues that aren’t registered as exchanges in the U.S. Grayscale is still waiting on the go-ahead from the SEC before it can file the application to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin Spot ETF.
