U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had a massive day on Tuesday, with total trading volume surpassing $5 billion as BTC traded close to its all-time high.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for the lion’s share of ETF activity, with $3.3 billion in 24-hour trading volume — its second-highest level ever — as inflows into the fund topped $642 million on the day.
The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) saw the second-highest inflows, pulling in $133 million, with $549 million in daily trading volume.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) was the only fund to buck the trend, with $17.3 million of outflows on a trading volume of around $390 million.
In total, bitcoin ETFs saw total net inflows of $870 million, taking the amount of incoming money for October to an impressive $5 billion. The funds collectively hold $42.9 billion in BTC.
“The only thing that matters with the ETFs is how many bitcoins they accumulate over a fixed period of time,” Ecoinometrics said in its latest newsletter. “It is about demand pressure. Right now the pressure is the strongest it has been since March.
“Over the past 12 months, ETFs have been the main driver of Bitcoin’s uptrend,” Ecoinometrics added.
As ETF inflows tick higher, pseudonymous Checkonchain analyst Checkmate noted in a post on X that CME open interest had not risen by a meaningful amount, and that GBTC outflows were at the lower end of the spectrum.
“We’re seeing true directional ETF inflows, and less so cash and carry trades,” Checkmate said.
At the time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $72,376, down from an intraday high of $73,544 — just a few hundred dollars from its all-time high of $73,738.
Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin’s trading volume has reached $53.42 billion.
