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Bitcoin Slips Under $62K as Hong Kong ETFs Disappoint

Asia's first spot bitcoin and ether ETFs debuted in Hong Kong with dismal trading volumes.

Updated Apr 30, 2024, 6:37 p.m. Published Apr 30, 2024, 9:32 a.m.
BTC's price
BTC's price
  • BTC, ETH nurse losses after weak demand for Hong Kong ETFs.
  • The six ETFs registered a first-day trading volume of just $11 million.

Bitcoin (BTC) faced selling pressure during European hours after data showed poor uptake for Hong Kong’s newly listed exchange-traded funds tied to bitcoin and ether.

The leading cryptocurrency by market value fell nearly 2% from $63,300 to under $61,000 in 60 minutes to 09:00 UTC, CoinDesk data show. Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, slipped 2.8% to $3,066.

Read More: Bitcoin Set to Become More Dominant Even as BTC Stares at First Monthly Loss Since August

The six ETFs that commenced trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday fell far short of expectations, with a combined trading volume of just $11 million, a fraction of the expected $100 million. Bitcoin ETFs accounted for $8.5 million of the tally, while ether ETFs contributed the rest.

The cumulative volume is also significantly lower than the U.S.-based spot BTC ETFs' first-day tally of $655 million. Nearly a dozen spot BTC ETFs began trading in the U.S. on January 11 and have pulled in nearly $12 billion in investor funds since then. Inflows, however, have recently slowed, stalling bitcoin’s uptrend.

Spot ETFs allow investors to take exposure to cryptocurrency without having to own it. They are considered a better option than futures-based ETFs, which are subject to rollover costs.

Omkar Godbole

Omkar Godbole is a Co-Managing Editor on CoinDesk's Markets team based in Mumbai, holds a masters degree in Finance and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) member. Omkar previously worked at FXStreet, writing research on currency markets and as fundamental analyst at currency and commodities desk at Mumbai-based brokerage houses. Omkar holds small amounts of bitcoin, ether, BitTorrent, tron and dot.

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