The first US Bitcoin ETF launched yesterday and was more than successful, trading nearly 6.4 million shares within 20 minutes of launch and a total value of $0.981 billion worth of shares at the end of the first day of launch.
It smashed multiple records to become the second most highly traded ETF debut ever in US markets, only after BlackRock Carbon ETF which traded $1.16 billion in shares value on the first day. ProShares CEO Michael Sapir said the company is taking advantage of a first-mover, now that similar products are expected soon.
“I’ve been around the ETF industry for quite some time, and there are numerous instances where two products have launched in proximity to each other. And almost uniformly, it’s the first launch that ends up being the most successful product.”
According to Sapir, the ETF, through Bitcoin futures will provide the best channel for price discovery for Bitcoin, and attract the big smart money who have access to the vast amount of information to account when trading Bitcoin.
He said one interesting feature of the ETF in the marketplace is it allows access to Bitcoin exposure to people with retirement accounts that have brokerage windows. Sapir said it was wise that people allocated a small percentage of their portfolio to cryptocurrencies as advised by many financial experts.
The shares rose by 5% in value to close the day at $41.94. The ETF contracts, however, expire every month meaning there will be a high cost of a rollover to buy next month’s contracts.
The huge excitement around the ETF also caused BTC price to gain by more than 4% on Tuesday. There was a huge expectation that the ETF could impact the spot prices. Still, experts believe that ETFs could propel Bitcoin demand to the next resistance from the $70,000 level.
More positive news could be on the way for Bitcoin proponents as three more futures-based ETFs are set to launch, and even more so a Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF – the first-ever directly pegged to Bitcoin. Sapir, however, downplayed the possibility of the Securities Exchange Commission approving a spot Bitcoin ETF any time soon saying the ProShares ETF was designed as the closest product to meet demands needed by regulators for an equivalent spot Bitcoin ETF.
Meanwhile, it was also a good day for the Bitcoin futures market, which also gained by more than 4% on the ETF launch date. This is partly because the ProShares Bitcoin ETF tracks the Bitcoin futures on CME. The ProShares ETF does not directly invest in Bitcoin but holds Bitcoin Futures trading on the CME market.
