The US securities regulator has approved the first US-listed exchange-traded funds (ETF) to track bitcoin, in a watershed moment for the world’s largest crypto and the broader crypto industry.

The announcement came at the end of a tumultuous 24 hours for the popular crypto, which saw a tweet sent from the account of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing the approval of the long-awaited ETFs on Tuesday, leading the price of bitcoin to spike by more than $1,000. Soon after, the SEC said its account had been “compromised” and the tweet was “unauthorized.”

By Wednesday, however, the SEC had approved the ETFs – this time for real – adding that it remained skeptical about crypto.

In this blog, let’s see how things have changed after the approval.

Before we move forward, here’s a quick update on how things will shape the future after receiving the green light from the SEC. Read here!

Impact on Bitcoin Price & the Volume of BTC ETF Applicants

Bitcoin surged to a new multi-year peak of $49,000 on Thursday after the Bitcoin ETF went live on the public markets. The ETFs collectively generated an impressive $4.3 billion in trading volume across 11 providers, as reported by Yahoo Finance.

• Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) spearheaded the volume charts, amassing $446 million within just half an hour of trading.
• Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) closely followed with $388 million, positioning it as the top-performing new entrant.
• Fidelity’s FBTC and Ark Invest/21Shares’ ARKB accumulated $230 million and $82 million, respectively.

Analysts, including Bloomberg’s James Seyffart, highlighted potential shifts in investor preferences, suggesting that a considerable portion of the volume may represent new capital injections. Additionally, Seyffart indicated that GBTC might be experiencing outflows due to its comparatively higher annual management fee of 1.5%, motivating investors to explore alternatives with lower fees.

Here's the #Bitcoin ETF Cointucky Derby data via trading volume on day 1 (more volume will continue for a little while).

Total Volume was over $4.6 Billion with $GBTC about half of it. BlackRock & Fidelity went 1 & 2 absent GBTC. pic.twitter.com/t70MzyQfZW

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 11, 2024

Bitcoin ETF Trading Volume Blew Off on Day 1

On the first day of trading for spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), the market witnessed an unprecedented surge in activity, reflecting substantial investor interest.

Industry analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted that 11 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively recorded over 700,000 individual trades, amassing a staggering volume exceeding $4.3 billion. Notably, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) dominated with a volume surpassing $2 billion, nearly matching the cumulative volume of all other Bitcoin ETPs, benefitting from its prior assets under management (AUM) advantage.

All told there were 700,000 individual trades today in and out of the 11 spot ETFs. For context, that is double the number of trades for $QQQ (altho it sees much bigger $ volume bc bigger fish use it) So a lot more grassroots action (vs big seed buys) than I expected which is… pic.twitter.com/syUGfjHQpr

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 11, 2024

Concurrently, ETF analysts James Seyffart and Vijay Boyapati observed significant volume shifts, suggesting a potential migration of investors from GBTC to new ETFs, possibly due to more favorable fee structures.

Despite the ETF fervor, the spot Bitcoin market experienced minimal fluctuations, briefly peaking at $49,000 before settling around $46,000, while the overall crypto market capitalization remained stable at $1.85 trillion.

Analysts remain vigilant for potential market corrections as the initial ETF-induced excitement wanes, emphasizing the evolving dynamics and investor sentiment within the burgeoning crypto ecosystem.

With all this going on, was there any impact on WazirX? Let’s find out in the following section.

What Happened at WazirX?

Following the recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs, WazirX witnessed a remarkable surge in buyer activity and trading volume.

Specifically, buyer engagement surged by an impressive 75% compared to the previous three days. Even more strikingly, when benchmarked against the preceding week, buyer participation escalated by over 130%.

Concurrently, the trading volume experienced a notable uptick, registering a 20% increase in comparison to the past three days and an overwhelming 80% surge from the previous week.

Delving deeper into our user demographics, retail traders emerged as a significant driving force behind this heightened activity.

Retail trading volume surged by 30% compared to the preceding day and skyrocketed by a staggering 200% relative to the prior week’s metrics. Notably, this marked Bitcoin’s most robust single-day trading volume within the financial year 2023-24.

As WazirX continues to evolve as a leading crypto exchange, these trends underscore our commitment to facilitating seamless and robust trading experiences for our expanding user base amidst the evolving crypto landscape.

Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.