Nikolas Sargeant
TL;DR
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Morgan Stanley’s bitcoin ETF recorded $34 million in first-day trading volume.
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Bitcoin is down 1% and is now trading below $71,000.
Morgan Stanley’s MSBT Bitcoin ETF Surpasses $34 Million in First-Day Trading Volume
Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), MSBT, debuted with an impressive $34 million in trading volume on its first day.
According to Yahoo Finance, 1,658,176 shares of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust were traded on Wednesday, closing at $20.47 per share. This first-day volume exceeded the $30 million estimate from Bloomberg's Senior Analyst Eric Balchunas, signaling a strong entry into the Bitcoin ETF market.
The MSBT ETF offers a competitive 0.14% sponsor fee, the lowest among Bitcoin ETPs, positioning itself to undercut existing spot Bitcoin funds. This is much lower than BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust fee of 0.25%, while Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF previously held the lowest fee at 0.15%.
Morgan Stanley leverages its extensive network of financial advisors, with approximately 16,000 managing $9.3 trillion in assets, to boost the ETF’s reach.
Morgan Stanley’s entry into the Bitcoin ETF market comes during Bitcoin’s best daily performance in a month, which saw the cryptocurrency climb over 7.5%, from $67,700 to nearly $72,800 before settling around $71,000.
BTC’s rally followed news of a US-Iran ceasefire agreement, which included reports that Iran was collecting oil tanker transit fees in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
This positive momentum was also reflected in the broader Bitcoin ETF market, which saw $471 million in net inflows, led by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s FBTC.
