- Bitcoin ETFs saw $5.5 billion in volume yesterday, the second-highest yet
- Bitcoin is less than one percent away from all-time highs and yet retail isn’t talking about it
- The pattern is similar to what happened in 2020
Ten Bitcoin ETFs saw $5.5 billion worth of trading volume yesterday, the second biggest trading day on record, as Bitcoin neared its all-time high. Bitcoin hit $68,686.80 overnight, leaving it just $314, or 0.45%, away from the high it set back in November 2021. The move is all the more incredible given that global interest in Bitcoin is still hovering at December 2020 levels, suggesting that retail hasn’t really started taking an interest.
Silence at the Top
Bitcoin’s incredible run, which began at the start of January 2023, has seen all the losses from 2021-2023 erased, with ETF-mania helping drive it up to the prior high:
The difference between the two highs is that in November 2021 the world was talking about cryptocurrencies and NFTs and yet, despite the noise created but the multiple Bitcoin ETFs, the word on the street is very much not about the digital asset space, as this chart of Bitcoin Google searches clearly shows:
This pattern might mirror what we saw in 2020: Bitcoin surpassed its 2017 high in December 2020, after which retail engagement blew up, helping it rip from $20,000 to $64,000 in six months. The same level of apathy is being shown now as Bitcoin looks to break its old high, with the imminent headlines leading those on the sidelines to realize that Bitcoin is back and diving into the market.
As Bitcoin heads inevitably towards $100,000 this mania will only increase, which is where the huge spike in retail engagement will finally come in, a la 2021.
ETF Buyers Keep Buying
One group getting in ahead of the masses, and being responsible for driving the price up almost single-handedly, is institutional investors, who continue to gobble up bitcoin like there’s no tomorrow:
Confirmed: today was second biggest volume day for the Ten at about $5.5b. $IBIT alone did $2.4b of it and has crossed $11b in aum. Each of them is up over 30% in 6 days, which will prob help keep flow ball rolling. Getting a bit of ARK Mania deja vu. pic.twitter.com/BDRYVPBk34
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) March 4, 2024
This activity has taken the balances of the ETF provers to almost 700,000 bitcoin:
How long this buying frenzy will continue no one knows, but with every dip getting eaten up and appetite seemingly increasing when it should be dimming it’s no surprise that observers have stopped taking bets on when and where it stops, as it must do some time.
