5 Bitcoin ETFs Pass $1 Billion in Assets as Demand Soars
Late last week, the ETF unicorn club welcomed its fifth member as Bitwise Asset Management’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB) passed the $1 billion mark for the first time.
While Grayscale Investments’ Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) still holds the lion’s share of assets under management at $23.8, BlackRock’s iShares ETF (IBIT) and Fidelity Investments’ Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) have grown the fastest with asset bases now standing at around $6 billion and $4.3 billion, respectively.
Lagging further behind is Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) which has roughly $1.4 billion in assets under management, so far edging BITB’s $1.1 billion. According to Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss, the cumulative effect of the ETFs has caused a surge in demand that is sucking up 10 times as much BTC as the number of new tokens being minted by miners, which has helped the world’s largest cryptocurrency continue its rally late into last week.
Looking at BTC Options, most of the interest at the moment sits on the Call side, meaning there is a huge demand for requests to buy BTC at a certain price, versus Puts, which are requests to sell at a certain price, according to Coinglass.
But trouble could be brewing for the bulls. Last week it was revealed that a U.S. bankruptcy judge granted bankrupt crypto lender Genesis permission to sell $1.6 billion in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares. This could create a sizeable amount of sell pressure as Bitcoin moves ever closer towards the halving.
Check our BTC analysis for more below.
Chart of the week
Bitcoin has been hitting key levels all week, and is comfortably trading at about $50,000. Retail investors are taking a keen interest in crypto again, with new entrants helping to keep prices high.
Bitcoin dominance has been holding strong between the 50–54% range, but altcoins aren’t out of it either. Ethereum has touched $2,900 for the first time in over a year, helping lead gains in the rest of the market. ETH has 17.7% market share, but could grow if BTC enters a distribution phase again.
BTC Analysis
BTC continues to have a stellar 2024, with prices sat above $50,000 for the first time since 2021. This came off the back of a triangle breakout we saw last week, and has continued to hit key levels ever since.
For this not to be a flash in the pan, we’re looking for a new accumulation/distribution phase, with $50,000 as a key support. If we see BTC ranging between $50–53,000 we expect ETH to take over leading market gains.
While there are multiple bearish divergences, all eyes should remain on prices as the lead indicator in the weeks to come.
Order Books:
Analyzing the order books, we can see a healthy market with a good balance between the bid and ask in the next 1–5% range. Almost all the exchanges have neutral books, suggesting the price is settling here, for now. But we can see a relatively big wall on Coinbase at 53K, which should act as a resistance for any gains above where the price is currently.
That’s echoed over in Bitfinex’s order books, which has a big wall between $53,500-$54,000.
Liquidity:
There are liquidity pools above and below the main pivots (lows and highs) as the traders are setting their liquidation prices. But the bigger point of liquidity on the heat map below is around $50,000, and is acting as a floor price to everyone. For a new leg up, if we want to have a healthy market, our analysts believe a sweep below $50,000 to clean late longs would move the markets into a new phase.
Coin of the week: BNB
Since Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was forced out, BNB has been on a role. In the last week we’ve seen a clear reverse/support flip, with $350 forming a key support line, for now. While that was the key resistance line for most of 2022, things are looking very different in 2024.
If retailers are returning to crypto after the recent crypto winter, BNB will become a key player, thanks to its role as a trading pair on the Binance exchange, which continues to dominate the CEX despite the legal and regulatory woes.
Looking Ahead
Monday, February 19 is a holiday in the United States, which typically brings with it volatility as traders look to crypto markets while TradFi is on holiday.
On top of Monday’s holiday, traders are eagerly awaiting the release of the FOMC meeting minutes in the United States, which will offer insights into the Federal Reserve’s thinking regarding potential interest rate cuts.
Market watchers will be playing close attention to any signals regarding the timing and scale of future rate adjustments, especially given the ongoing concerns surrounding inflation and economic growth.
Alongside the FOMC minutes, all eyes will be on the flash S&P Global PMIs for the US, which offer a snapshot of economic activity across the manufacturing and services sectors. Expectations of a slight slowdown in activity add to the anticipation, as investors weigh the implications for future policy decisions.
It’s going to be a busy week.
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That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more exciting updates, and we’ll catch you in the next one!
