Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States witnessed a significant surge in trading volume, reaching the highest levels since their launch last month. Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted this uptick in activity, noting that the total volume amounted to nearly $2 billion.
Among the notable ETFs, VanEck’s HODL ETF recorded close to $400 million in trading volume, while WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) saw $221.9 million and BitWise’s ETF had $178.29 million in trades. Balchunas observed a remarkable surge in trading activity for VanEck’s HODL, with volume reaching $258 million, representing a 14x increase over its daily average, fueled by approximately 32,000 individual trades, marking a 60x surge over its typical trading patterns.
The surge in trading volume has been attributed to the closure of U.S. markets on Presidents’ Day, resulting in trades executed over the weekend being settled on the first trading day of the week.
Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin itself hovered above $52,200 at the close of the U.S. trading day, according to CoinDesk Indicies data.
Greta Yuan, head of research at VDX, a regulated exchange based in Hong Kong, noted that the substantial inflow into Bitcoin ETFs by institutional investors reflects a prevailing risk-on sentiment. Concurrently, Gold ETFs experienced notable outflows since the launch of 10 spot bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 11, with nearly $10 billion flowing into the two largest bitcoin ETFs. However, this does not necessarily signify a direct shift of funds from gold to bitcoin, as global investors’ demand for U.S. equity might also play a role in the dynamics of ETF flows.