TL;DR
- Record Trading Volume: U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs hit a new record with $10 billion in trading volume on March 5, as Bitcoin’s price soared to an all-time high of over $69,000.
- Top Performers: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) led the pack with $3.7 billion in volume, followed by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
- Price Volatility: Despite the trading frenzy, Bitcoin’s price experienced significant volatility, with an 8.6% drop in value for both IBIT and FBTC on the same day, reflecting the market’s cautious sentiment.
In a historic event, U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) recorded a staggering $10 billion in trading volume on March 5. This milestone coincides with Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high, breaking through the $69,000 mark. These ETFs, despite being relatively new, have shown strong performance.
The premier digital currency experienced a sharp drop in value, according to CoinMarketCap data, following its breach of the $69,000 threshold. Significantly, as highlighted by Bloomberg Intelligence’s ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the ten recently approved ETFs collectively exceeded $10 billion in trading volume in a single session, breaking the record set the previous week.
MILESTONE: the ten Bitcoin ETFs did $10b in volume today, smashing prev record set last Wed.. Volatility and volume go hand in hand with ETFs so not totally surprised. That said these are bananas numbers for ETfs under 2mo old. $IBIT, $FBTC, $BITB, $ARKB all w record days. pic.twitter.com/rIdbhoYifV
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) March 5, 2024
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) topped the trading volume charts with a whopping $3.7 billion. It was closely trailed by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which posted volumes of $2.8 billion and $2 billion respectively.
Bitcoin’s price was particularly volatile during U.S. trading hours that day. It reached a high of $69,200 at around 3:00 pm UTC on March 5 but then fell sharply by 12% to $60,860 just five hours later. As of the most recent update, Bitcoin has managed to claw back some of its losses and is now trading at $67,091.
It’s worth noting that both IBIT and FBTC saw their value decrease by 8.6% on the same day. Other spot Bitcoin ETFs also experienced similar declines in price.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF Leads the Charge
Fascinatingly, BlackRock’s IBIT rose to become the fourth most traded among all ETFs, recording an impressive $3.8 billion in volume, as per Barchart data. Last week, IBIT also reached an asset under management (AUM) milestone of $10.03 billion, surpassing the iShares Silver Trust (SLV), the largest silver trust globally.
In early February, the spot BTC ETFs shattered their previous record of $4.69 billion by one and a half times, with $7.69 billion traded on February 28. However, this record was surpassed on Tuesday.
Over the past week, Bitcoin ETFs have seen a significant uptick in trading activity, largely fueled by substantial net inflows that drew in over $1.7 billion in new investments. However, recent market trends indicate a move towards profit-taking, with traders cashing in on Bitcoin’s 50% price increase over the last month.
The rise in trading volume for spot Bitcoin ETFs mirrors the escalating interest in Bitcoin as an investment. Yet, given the market’s volatility, investors are becoming more wary, resulting in a spike in profit-taking actions.
