After almost a decade of rallying and anticipation, a Bitcoin-linked ETF started trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for the very first time. Even as the speculation in the past few weeks leading up to the launch has catapulted the cryptocurrency near a new all-time high, the ProShares BTC Strategy ETF opened to a record-breaking first day in the market.
The ETF with the ticker name $BITO, which is backed by Bitcoin Futures, amassed over $1 billion in trading volume on its first day of trading. It has also ranked as the second-biggest ETF debut of all time, right behind BlackRock U.S. Carbon Transition Readiness ETF, which has the highest one-day influx yet, at $1,161,734,000.
However, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas argued that it was “easily the biggest Day One of any ETF in terms of ‘natural’ volume,” which excludes inorganic and pre-planned investments on the first day that vanish later.
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. pic.twitter.com/wmZiHnpFrS
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 19, 2021
Either way, the first day for $BITO was a real success in terms of trading, as it closed at $41.94 with nearly 24 million shares traded, noting a 4.85% increase in its $40 opening price.
The first Bitcoin ETF just painted a beautiful and very common fuck you pattern also known as Burj Khalifa. Welcome home pic.twitter.com/MRvd8xCvD4
— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) October 19, 2021
Balchunas also predicted that $BITO’s success could spell trouble for the other upcoming BTC ETF’s, as this could make it much harder for them to succeed if too much time passes between this launch and the next. “Time is of essence,” noted the analyst, adding that if an ETF gets crowned as ‘the one’ and also has liquidity, it would become virtually impossible to dethrone it.
Although, another ETF is reportedly set to launch this week. The Valkyrie ETF, which Balchunas had earlier stated would be released on the same day, as $BITO, might feature on the NYSE in the coming days, granting the ProShares ETF with its much-required competition.
Update: Valkyrie not going live tomorrow. Likely looking to launch Wed or Thu tho, but we'll see. Anyway, $BITO will have market to itself tomorrow. https://t.co/G2Ucit6yxM
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 18, 2021
