Bitcoin ETF Trades Top $4.6 Billion in ‘Ground-Breaking’ Day

The first US ETFs that directly hold Bitcoin got off to a strong start, with billions of dollars changing hands in a historical first day of trading for the long-sought investment vehicles.

Over $4.6 billion worth of shares traded between the almost a dozen US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Thursday. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which converted into an ETF, saw about $2.3 billion in volume, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meantime, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust—IBIT— saw over $1 billion change hands.

“This is definitely ground-breaking,” said Athanasios Psarofagis, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “There was no doubt demand would be strong for these ETFs, but the numbers across the board are impressive.”

Still, it’s hard to compare Thursday’s activity to any other day in ETF history. Typically, only one fund that tracks a new asset class begins trading on a single day. It’s unprecedented to see over 10 nearly identical funds all begin at once. But even singling in on one ETF indicates the sheer magnitude of trading.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust was the most heavily traded ETF debut on record. To be sure, the product has existed in its trust structure since 2013, and had a nearly $27 billion headstart in asset size.