Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF Debut Hits Nearly $1 Billion in Volume – Markets and Prices

The first Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) launched in the US, breaking records on Tuesday with a total volume of almost $1 billion. Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) is definitely “defying expectations.”

Proshares Bitcoin ETF commands serious volume

Proshares Bitcoin Strategy Exchange Traded Fund ( BITO ) performed well on the first day, closing the day at $41.94 per unit at 4:00 p.m. (EDT). Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) soared on Tuesday, reaching a high of $64,367 on crypto exchange Bitstamp fifteen minutes after the closing bell on Wall Street.

As ETF shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), BITO hit an intraday high of over $42. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart tweeted at the end of the day: “It looks like the final tally for BITO will be around $990 million on the first day of trading.”

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also tweeted about the action that the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF saw on Tuesday. “BITO only about $1 [trillion] total volume today (currently $993 million but trades are still flowing in),” Balchunas called. "By far the largest day one of any ETF in terms of 'natural' volume. It also traded more than 99.5% of all ETFs ([including] some big [ones] like DIA, ARKK, SLV). It [definitely] met our expectations." The analyst added:

If we don't exclude ETFs where their day-one volume was literally a pre-planned giant investor or BYOA (not of course), it still ranks #2 overall. Here is that list. The reason some of these shouldn't be included in the IMO is because they don't really represent the interest of the grassroots.

While the Proshares Bitcoin ETF had a decent day, Bitcoin (BTC) The spot markets also rioted on October 19th. BTC ’s market capitalization rose to over $1.2 trillion on Tuesday, and there was a global trading volume of $42.4 billion during the day.

Balchunas emphasized that the result of today’s first Bitcoin ETF performance in the US “makes life that much harder for the next ETFs in line to succeed.” He added: "Every day counts [because] once an ETF gets [known] as 'the one' and has tons of [liquidity], it's virtually impossible to steal (see SPY, GLD)." Balchunas completed:

What does this mean for assets? I suspect that about half of this volume will end up as flows over the next two days. [Probably] looking at $750 [million] by the end of the week, something like that. Tomorrow's volume will be interesting and how much it's on Earth vs [staying] high.

What do you think of the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) performance on Tuesday? Let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments below.

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