US Bitcoin ETF holdings exceed 200,000 BTC, becoming the most popular ETF in Wall Street history

Since the SEC approved more than a dozen Bitcoin spot ETFs in January 2024, institutions have been "working hard without waiting for the whip" to attract customers and competing fiercely. BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC), two big brands, have seen their holdings increase rapidly. Upstarts Bitwise (BITB) and Cathie Wood's Ark Fund (ARKB) are also not far behind and are actively buying. These four have thus become the "Big 4" of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the US stock market.

After the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF, only 20 days later, 9 of them had accumulated a net purchase of more than 216,000 BTC. This number has exceeded the 190,000 BTC positions accumulated by the famous coin hoarder MicroStrategy in the past three years.

Spot ETFs have brought real purchasing power to Bitcoin, and this purchasing power cannot be underestimated. This strong purchasing power from the U.S. stock market has also made Bitcoin spot ETFs officially the most popular ETF in the history of Wall Street!

The above chart shows that within one month of the ETF's listing, BlackRock's IBIT ranked first and Fidelity's FBTC ranked second in terms of the amount of funds that flowed in, opening up a gap with the various ETF products behind them.

Of course, it also far exceeds the performance of the gold ETF (GLD in the picture) that year.

But why is the market calmer than when ETF issuers were buying ETFs? On January 11, BTC reached a high of 48.9k. On February 11, BTC just returned to above 48k.

The key point is that the counterparties of institutions, whether they are small fry holding less than 1 BTC, the "middle class" holding 1-10 BTC, or large investors holding 10-100 BTC, have all been net sellers in the past 30 days.

Only institutions holding more than 100 BTC are continuously increasing their holdings.

It can be seen that the main theme of the market in the past month was "turnover".

The buying power and the selling power reached a dynamic balance. Retail investors gave up their BTC and institutions hoarded them.

The chips given up at $40,000 may be bought back at a higher price after they reach $100,000.

In this secret battle over control of ETFs and BTC, retail investors and institutions are moving towards each other, passing each other by, and saying goodnight to each other.