Surge Attributed to Individual Investors
Balchunas noted that this spike wasn’t the result of actions by a single large investor. Instead, it came from around 32,000 separate trades, reflecting a sixtyfold rise compared to the norm. He speculated that a social media influencer might have driven the surge, as the number of transactions skyrocketed from 500 to 50,000 within mere days, indicating a potential mass mobilization of retail investors.
VanEck’s Competitive Fee Reduction
In a related development, VanEck disclosed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on February 15th its decision to cut ETF fees from 0.25% to 0.20%, starting February 21st. This undercut the charges of industry titans BlackRock and Fidelity by 5 basis points. Meanwhile, BlackRock’s iShares fund stated it would begin implementing a 0.25% fee on new investments after amassing $5 billion in assets under management as of February 15th.
Not to be left behind, WisdomTree’s Bitcoin Fund (WBTC) also saw a surge in trading volume with an increase to $154 million on February 20th, a move reflecting a nearly 1,200% jump over its average daily volume. Balchunas highlighted that on the same day, WBTC carried out 23,000 transactions, a stark contrast to the mere 221 on February 16th. The rise in activity for both HODL and WBTC funds occurred during a period of high yet not unprecedented volume across leading market funds.
As per Dune Analytics, VanEck’s Bitcoin Trust currently ranks as the seventh-largest spot Bitcoin ETF, with $191.9 million in assets under management. Meanwhile, WisdomTree’s fund, although being the smallest with $29.4 million in AUM, shows significant momentum in the wake of this recent market activity.
