Morgan Stanley's spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, MSBT, reported roughly $34 million in trading volume on its launch day.
According to data from Yahoo Finance, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust saw 1,658,176 shares traded on Wednesday, closing at $20.47 per share.
This first-day volume exceeded the $30 million estimate from Bloomberg Senior Analyst Eric Balchunas, reflecting a strong debut for a late entrant in the bitcoin ETF race. MSBT was designed to undercut established spot bitcoin funds with a 0.14% sponsor fee, the lowest among bitcoin ETPs to date.
In comparison, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, the largest spot bitcoin ETF by net assets, charges a 0.25% fee. Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF was previously the cheapest option, with a 0.15% fee.
Morgan Stanley benefits from the industry's largest network of financial advisors, with roughly 16,000 advisors managing $9.3 trillion in assets.
Morgan Stanley's MSBT debut comes amid bitcoin's best daily performance in roughly a month, jumping more than 7.5% from a low of $67,700 before topping out at roughly $72,800. It has since settled near the $71,000 level.
The reversal followed a Tuesday night US-Iran ceasefire declaration that culminated Wednesday morning with reports that Iran was collecting oil tanker transit fees of up to $2 million per ship, in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
It also coincided with a rebound in the broader bitcoin ETF segment. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin funds brought in about $471 million in net inflows earlier on Monday, the strongest single-day total in roughly six weeks, led by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity Investments’ FBTC, according to The Block's data.
Even with the recent bounce, flows remain in recovery mode. Nearly $5 billion has exited since November, only partially offset by $1.32 billion in March inflows and another roughly $150 million so far in April.
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