Spot Bitcoin ETFs Emerge Successful in First Trading Week Despite BTC Sell-Off

According to Cointelegraph: The historic launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States has sparked a crypto sell-off, however, within the ETF industry, the funds have seen considerable success in their first week of trading, as per industry analysts. Despite Bitcoin's plunge by 6.6% from roughly $49,000 to $42,876 since the ETFs' initiation on January 11, the ETFs have flourished. Bitcoin (BTC) seven-day price chart. Source: CoinGecko According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, this debut of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. has been one of the most successful launches in terms of trading volumes, aggregating to $10 billion across ten funds within just the first three days. These figures vastly surpass the $450 million combined volume of all 500 ETFs launched in 2023. The prominent trading volumes originated mainly from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), which accounted for half of the combined $10 billion volume within the first three days. While GBTC saw massive selling after the launch, resulting in $1.2 billion in net outflows within the first three trading days, other spot BTC ETFs have been increasing their holdings. For instance, ETF issuers BlackRock, Fidelity, and ARK Invest bought a combined total of at least 40,000 BTC. Bitcoin holdings by U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs from Jan. 9 to Jan. 17, 2024. Source: X Despite the initial sell-off triggered by the entrance of spot Bitcoin ETFs, analysts like Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, believe that the entrance of institutions could drive Bitcoin to all-time highs post the U.S. Presidential elections in Q4 2024. Furthermore, Standard Chartered forecasts that spot Bitcoin ETFs could attract inflows of $50-100 billion in 2024, projecting a potential BTC price of $200,000 by the end of 2025.