Q9 Weekly | ETF Excitement

4 min readOct 26, 2023

26 October 2023

· BTC passes $35k, highest point in 1½ years
· BlackRock lists its Bitcoin ETF on DTCC database
· ATH institutional interest for BTC on CME

Bitcoin rose above $35k this week on the back of recent ETF excitement, touching its highest point in over a year-and-a-half. The asset has more than doubled in value since the beginning of the year and is up XX% this week vs the dollar — recouping all of the losses sustained after the collapse of the Terra stablecoin.

A spot Bitcoin ETF, the argument goes, would allow previously wary investors access to crypto via the stock market, ushering a new wave of capital into the sector. Investment giant BlackRock is among several major US financial firms with pending applications for an ETF.

Analysts are attributing the sudden buzz to BlackRock listing its BTC ETF on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp (DTCC) database with the ticker $IBTC. DTCC offers post-trade clearance, settlement, custody, and information services for Nasdaq.

Blackrock also updated its filings with the SEC, indicating a readiness to seed the ETF starting from late 2023 and initiate trading promptly upon receiving the approval. The SEC accepting a spot Bitcoin ETF application would validate BTC as an established asset class alongside all other asset classes.

Major Cryptocurrencies Jump Higher

Source: TradingView

Anticipation also grew after reports this month that the SEC won’t appeal a court ruling that found the agency had been wrong to reject an ETF application from crypto firm Grayscale Investments. On Monday, the court formalized its ruling, sending the application back to the SEC for review.

Crypto-linked shares such as Coinbase (COIN) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) gained more than X% and X%, respectively. Many alt-coins fared even better — with Chainlink up XX%, Solana up XX% and Ethereum up XX%. The jump in Chainlink was attributed to its staking v2.0 rollout expected this year.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index Turns Positive

Source: Crypto Fear & Greed Index

Galaxy Research has estimated an ETF could draw over $14bn in investment inflows in its first year — and $38.6bn by the end of year-3.

Source: Galaxy Research

Bitcoin’s market dominance has reached a two-year high of 54%, marking a significant increase from its 38% at the start of 2023.

Bitcoin’s Market Dominance Rises to 54%

Source: TradingView

Institutional Open Interest at ATH

Open interest for the CME’s Bitcoin product hit 100,000 BTC ($3.4bn) for the first time ever — suggesting institutional investors are chomping at the bit to buy BTC amid renewed optimism.

Source: K33 Research

CME’s market share has increased to around 25%, approaching that of Binance’s perpetual market. CME has also captured an 80% market share for all traditional expiry futures.

Source: K33 Research

There was also intense buying pressure in Asia, with the Hong Kong CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF reaching $22.37mn in trading volume on capital inflows of $17.64mn, a record for both volume and inflows.