The Bitcoin year 2024 has witnessed a remarkable surge in the launch of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in the United States, setting an early record for the industry. This notable development can be attributed, in part, to the growing influence of digital assets, particularly spot bitcoin funds, which have played a pivotal role in shaping investment trends.
As traditional and innovative financial instruments continue to converge, the heightened interest in ETFs reflects a dynamic market environment where investors seek diversified and accessible avenues for capital growth.
Bitcoin ETFs take a throne in the US
According to statistics from issuers and experts, the much-anticipated debut in the United States of 11 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pegged to spot bitcoin has contributed to a record start to the new year for ETF launches.
In the first two weeks of 2024, 35 new ETFs were launched, up from 23 in 2022 and only seven in the same period last year. The early 2024 figure includes nine new spot bitcoin ETFs and two spot bitcoin ETF conversions.
According to Morningstar, one market analyst expects the “great start” to the year will help total annual 2024 launches exceed last year’s record, which was 520.
Nine of the new ETFs, launched on January 2 by Innovator ETFs and PGIM Investments, are defined outcome products that aim to provide some downside protection in equities while capping upside performance.
Meanwhile, RexShares has launched three ETFs that use leverage to give a multiple of an index or stock’s gain or fall, including Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc.
The spot bitcoin funds received $1.9 billion in asset inflows in their first three days, exceeding the post-launch flows into the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which received a record $1.2 billion in the first three days of trading on its 2021 debut.
Last week, F/m Investments released a series of ETFs linked to a newly created index that tracks investment-grade bonds. According to a company representative, the firm just released a news release and began promoting the funds this week, expecting that the new issues would receive more attention after the bitcoin ETFs had already been established.
The Bitcoin and TradFi markets today
At press time, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is $41,220.27, with a 24-hour trading volume of $24,742,343,252.73. This reflects a -3.13% price drop in the last 24 hours and a -11.75% price drop in the last 7 days.
The global crypto market cap is $1.7 trillion today, down -3.65% in the last 24 hours and 69.69% a year ago. As of today, Bitcoin has a market cap of $805 billion, reflecting a 47.45% domination. Meanwhile, stablecoins’ market cap is $135 billion, accounting for 7.96% of the total crypto market cap.
Early on Thursday, US stock futures remained largely unchanged, while European equities posted modest gains and Chinese markets recovered from an earlier sell-off. With little change at the close, the Nikkei 225 index of Japan remained on course for its best month since June.
The dollar maintained its recent gains and maintained its stable position, whereas bitcoin remained relatively unchanged at around $42,000 in the crypto market. Slight increases were observed in oil prices.
Discover Financial Services, Synchrony Financial, and Capital One Financial led premarket declines among S&P 500 equities. Conversely, AMD, Valero Energy, and Boeing posted gains.
As of 5:05 a.m, ET, futures on the S&P 500 index remained relatively unchanged at 4,774 points. In contrast, analogous contracts on the Nasdaq 100 elevated 0.3% to 16,913.25.
European equities made some gains, as the Euro Stoxx 50 gained a marginal 0.1%. The DAX 40 in Germany increased by 0.3%, while the CAC 40 in France gained 0.5%.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased by 0.75%, whereas the Shanghai Composite gained 0.4%. The Nikkei 225 in Japan showed minimal change at $35,466.20. The Nifty 50 in India fell 0.5%.
The Dollar Index, which measures the value of the U.S. dollar relative to a basket of currencies, remained modestly elevated at its highest point in over one month. The yield on ten-year Treasury notes remained unchanged at 4.08%. A barrel of Brent crude oil cost $73.30, an increase of 0.35%.
