Bitcoin ETFs Tripled Their Total Monthly Volume in March to $111 Billion
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Bitcoin spot ETFs posted record monthly volume in March, tripling compared to the previous two months with a whopping $111 billion in trading volume.
Bitcoin ETFs’ success
The funds combined for circa $42 billion in trading volume in February and circa $25 billion in January when they first launched. Since then, Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has overtaken Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as the leading Bitcoin ETF by daily volume.
“I can’t imagine April being any bigger, but who knows,” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted on Tuesday.
While all ETFs have come out on top in terms of profitability, $IBIT has won the volume race and is officially the $GLD of Bitcoin,” he continued. “Basically, it’s a wrap.”
Gold ETFs like GLD have seen significant outflows in recent months compared to Bitcoin ETFs — the latter had already absorbed $12 billion in net inflows as of April 1. Still, GLD surpassed IBIT in volume on Monday, amid a net outflow day for Bitcoin funds overall and a recent rally to new highs above $2,250 for gold overall.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin Victory
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF saw larger inflows than any other ETF in history in its first 30 days on the market, absorbing $7.2 billion during that time, and today it has $17.6 billion in assets.
The ETF was also among the most traded ETFs on certain days last month. On March 4, for example, its volume exceeded $1.9 billion, ranking it 6th behind funds like BlackRock’s U.S. Treasury ETF and the SPDR.
Its assets have now nearly caught up with those of Grayscale, whose assets have fallen from 650,000 BTC to 350,000 BTC since January. Both funds have each experienced perfect inflow and outflow series since January 11.
Last week, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink admitted that the success of his firm’s Bitcoin ETF had exceeded his expectations.
“Nothing in the history of ETFs has gained assets as quickly as IBIT,” he said.
Several analysts, including Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, believe that Bitcoin spot ETFs could maintain their opening momentum for years to come as more investors gain access to the investment products.
“The truth is that most professional investors still cannot buy Bitcoin ETFs,” Hougan wrote on Twitter last week. “That will change through a series of over 100 individual due diligence processes over the next two years.”
