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Bitcoin ETFs Break Volume Record Led by BlackRock Amid Wild Crypto Price Action

Net inflows into U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs accelerated this week, with BlackRock's IBIT pulling in $520 million in fresh funds on Tuesday, BitMEX Research data shows.

By Krisztian Sandor
AccessTimeIconFeb 28, 2024 at 8:48 p.m. UTC
Updated Mar 8, 2024 at 10:24 p.m. UTC
Larry Fink (Will Ess for Pixelmind.ai/CoinDesk)
Larry Fink (Will Ess for Pixelmind.ai/CoinDesk)
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  • BlackRock's bitcoin ETF has traded $3.3 billion Wednesday, twice as much as its previous volume record. The new spot bitcoin ETFs combined with other new bitcoin ETFs also attracting heavy trading.
  • "These numbers are absurd," ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted.
  • The frenzy in ETF trading happened as bitcoin surged to $64,000 during the day and then quickly fell to $60,000.

U.S. spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETF) experienced another massive trading session Wednesday as bitcoin's price surged to $64,000 and then quickly tumbled.

BlackRock's bitcoin ETF (IBIT) broke its volume record for the third consecutive day, with over 96 million shares - worth roughly $3.3 billion - changing hands during the day, Nasdaq data shows. This is more than twice as much as Tuesday's all-time best of $1.35 billion, which toppled Monday's record of $1.3 billion.

The ten spot BTC ETFs altogether booked $7.7 billion in trading volume, smashing the previous record of $4.7 billion from their first trading day on Jan. 11, according to data shared on X by James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Grayscale's GBTC and Fidelity's FBTC both surpassed the $1 billion mark.

Halfway into the trading session, IBIT was the fourth most traded ETF in the U.S., and three other new spot bitcoin ETFs were in the top 20, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted earlier during the day.

"This is officially a craze," Balchunas said in an X post. "These numbers are absurd."

The frenzy in market activity happened as bitcoin blasted past $60,000 before U.S market hours for the first time since Nov. 2021, and ran up to as high as $64,000 before tumbling 7% below $60,000. The largest crypto by market capitalization gained 44% in a month.

Market observers pointed to demand for spot bitcoin ETFs as a significant driving force behind the price surge.

Read more: Morgan Stanley Evaluating Spot Bitcoin ETFs for Its Giant Brokerage Platform

The ten newly listed spot ETFs attracted over $6.7 billion in net inflows since their debut in January, according to BitMEX Research. This week, allocations to the spot ETFs accelerated, surpassing $1 billion in two days, with BlackRock's IBIT alone pulling in $520 million of fresh funds on Tuesday, BitMEX Research data shows.

UPDATE (Feb. 28, 22:25 UTC): Updates ETF trading volume figures at market closing.

Edited by Stephen Alpher.

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Krisztian Sandor
Krisztian Sandor

Krisztian Sandor is a reporter on the U.S. markets team focusing on stablecoins and institutional investment. He holds BTC and ETH.

Follow @sndr_krisztian on Twitter

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