Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were off to a remarkable start as trading officially began on Jan. 11 with a total volume of around $1.6 billion just minutes after the opening bell.
The movement comes on the heels of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of the first Bitcoin spot ETFs.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs begin trading on Cboe, NYSE Arca and Nasdaq
Leading the pack of 11 currently registered ETFs are Grayscale (GBTC), Blackrock (IBIT), Fidelity (FBTC) and Ark (ARKB) whose capitalization as of the time of this articles’ publication are around $667.55 million, $475.6 million, $291.1 million, and $117.8 million respectively.
It’s important to note that, as of the time of this article’s publication, trading volume continues to fluctuate with some snapshots showing more than $2 billion in volume as orders are processed and total volume fluctuates from peak to trough.
Almost a good hour after this tweet and the number still isn't 2.3 billy.. it did however hit $1b and $1.8b if you incl $GBTC, which are UNREAL first day numbers (records will be smashed today). My source is a consolidation of all the exchange feeds via Bloomberg terminal. FYI! https://t.co/emqwEY0Hke
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 11, 2024
The long-awaited launch of Bitcoin spot ETF’s has been marred by false starts, SEC X account hacks, and no small amount of perceived fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
On Tuesday, Jan. 9, as Cointelegraph reported, the SEC’s official X (née Twitter) account was allegedly “hacked” by a person(s) who then posted a false indication that the commission had approved BTC spot ETFs.
The news was quickly quashed when SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and the recovered SEC account both informed the public that the latter had been “hacked” and no such approval had been issued.
The kerfuffle turned out to be moot, despite some knock-on negative market movement on Tuesday, as full approval came on Wednesday Jan. 10 ahead of the Jan. 11 launch.
Wow
— Tony "The Bull" (@tonythebullBTC) January 11, 2024
3M #Bitcoin versus Money Supply on the cusp of major bullish crossover and momentum change after 6-year downtrend pic.twitter.com/nRP4PqWJnC
The current sentiment on social media within the cryptocurrency community appears to be near unanimously bullish, with most pundits and commentators hailing the arrival of Bitcoin spot ETFs as monumental.
Next up, the community looks toward the possibility of an ETH spot ETF. As Cointelegraph recently reported, BlackRock filed for a spot Ether ETF in November 2023.
The SEC deadline for a decision is May 23, 2024, and many crypto proponents believe the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs point to a positive outcome for an ETH ETF.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
