Hong Kong: volume of Bitcoin ETF trading lower than expected

The debut of the new Bitcoin Spot ETFs in Hong Kong has recorded a trading volume below expectations. Not only that, but the price of BTC has been in a dump in the last month, down by 11%, slipping below the $62,000 mark. 

Hong Kong: the debut of spot Bitcoin ETFs seems to be disappointing

Disappointing debut in Hong Kong, where the first spot Bitcoin ETFs and spot Ethereum ETFs have been approved for a couple of weeks.

And indeed, it seems that the trading volume recorded by the brand new Exchange-Traded Funds on cryptocurrencies has just exceeded 11 million dollars, a much lower amount than expected. 

Specifically, the total volume of trades for Bitcoin ETFs was $8.5 million, while Ethereum ETFs recorded $2.5 million.

Basically, for the six approved and listed ETFs, expectations for their initial volume were over 100 million dollars. 

After all, comparing with the United States, on the first day of trading of the 11 ETFs on Bitcoin spot issued, the total trading volume reached 655 million dollars.

Hong Kong and the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs

It was the second half of April, when Hong Kong had given the green light to the requests of the six ETFs on Bitcoin and Ethereum, confirming its race to become a regional hub for crypto.

Specifically, the main managers behind the Exchange-Traded Funds on cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong are China Asset Management together with OSL and BOCI International, Harvest Global Investments, Bosera Asset Management and HashKey Capital. 

However, their listing arrived at different times. For example, Bosera-HashKey Capital’s ETFs started trading only today, April 30th. 

That’s why the current trading volumes are considered as the totals relative to the debut of all six approved ETFs in Hong Kong. 

Anyway, the future prospects behind the Bitcoin spot ETF and Ethereum spot ETF, remain primarily the attraction of a new wave of investors, including those from mainland China, where there are restrictions on cryptocurrency trading.

Not only that, other Asian market makers and wealth holders invested in Hong Kong may see these instruments as new opportunities for arbitrage and portfolio diversification. 

BTC price below $62,000

Another disappointing factor is also reflected in the price of BTC and ETH, both in a dump of 11% and 14% respectively in the last month. 

And indeed, BTC has dropped below $62,000, while ETH remains at $3,000. At the time of writing, BTC is worth $61,678 and ETH $3,046. 

Looking at the monthly chart, the maximum price was $72,360 for BTC and $3,722 for ETH. 

The trading volume of the two main cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours also appears to be increasing, although by very little. For example, BTC sees an increase of +34% while ETH of +8.33%.