Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF Debut Captures Close to $1 Billion in Volume

The first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched in the United States and smashed records on Tuesday, capturing close to $1 billion in total volume. Eric Balchunas, the senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg said that the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) definitely “defied expectations.”

Proshares Bitcoin ETF Commands Serious Volume

Proshares Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund (BITO) did well on its first day, as it closed the day at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) at $41.94 per unit. Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin (BTC) soared on Tuesday, tapping a high of $64,367 on the crypto exchange Bitstamp fifteen minutes after the closing bell on Wall Street.

As the ETF shares swapped hands on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), BITO reached a daily high of over $42. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart tweeted at the end of the day: “Looks like the final tally is gonna be right around ~$990 million in trading for BITO on its first day trading.”

Eric Balchunas, the senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, also tweeted about the action the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF saw on Tuesday. “BITO just about $1 [billion] in total volume today (curr $993m but trades still trickling in),” Balchunas said. “Easily the biggest 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] defied our expectations.” The analyst added:

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

While the Proshares bitcoin ETF had a decent day, bitcoin (BTC) spot markets also rampaged on October 19. BTC’s market cap swelled over $1.2 trillion on Tuesday and there’s been $42.4 billion in global trade volume throughout the day.

Balchunas stressed that the result of today’s first bitcoin ETF performance in the U.S., “makes life that much harder for the next in line ETFs to succeed.” He added: “Every day counts [because] once an ETF gets [known] as ‘the one’ and has tons of [liquidity], it’s virtually imposs to steal (see SPY, GLD).” Balchunas concluded:

What does this mean for assets? My guess is about half of this volume will end up as flows next two days. [Probably] looking at $750 [million] by end of week, something like that. Tomorrow’s volume will be interesting and how much it comes down to Earth vs [staying] high.

What do you think about the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) performance on Tuesday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.