Inflows for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States soared to $303 million on May 15 amid a big jump in BTC prices.
It is the highest inflow since May 3 as institutional inventors pivoted back to bullish in the wake of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on May 15 which met expectations.
Fidelity led the pack with its FBTC fund seeing $131 million in inflows for the day, its highest inflow since March 26. Bitwise’s BITB fund also had a solid day with an inflow of $86 million, a figure not beaten since March 4.
BlackRock’s IBIT fund saw its third consecutive trading day of zero flows, but experts have previously explained that this is perfectly normal for a fund of this nature.
Spot ETFs Surge
Even Grayscale’s GBTC saw an inflow with $27 million returning to its flagship BTC fund following four months of outflows.
Bitcoin ETF Flow (US$ million) – 2024-05-15
TOTAL NET FLOW: 303
(Provisional data)
IBIT: 0
FBTC: 131.3
BITB: 86.3
ARKB: 38.6
BTCO: 4.6
EZBC: 1.9
BRRR: 3.7
HODL: 7.5
BTCW: 2.1
GBTC: 27
DEFI: 0
For all the data & disclaimers visit:https://t.co/4ISlrCgZdk
— Farside Investors (@FarsideUK) May 16, 2024
Additionally, the latest US Security and Exchange Commission filings show that one of the world’s largest hedge funds, Millennium Management, holds a whopping $2 billion spot Bitcoin ETF portfolio.
This was commented on by prominent ETF analysts, with James Seyffart quipping, “It’s only retail traders buying the Bitcoin ETFs.”
The portfolio is comprised of $844.2 million in BlackRock’s IBIT, $806.7 million in Fidelity’s FBTC, $202 million in Grayscale’s GBTC, $45.0 million in Ark’s ARKB, and $44.7 million in Bitwise’s BITB.
Millennium is now the largest holder of IBIT and FBTC. The hedge fund led by billionaire Izzy Englander has more than $64 billion in assets under management.
“It’s only retail traders buying the #bitcoin ETFs” https://t.co/9KpVP0Z6pT
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) May 15, 2024
May 15 was the deadline for institutional investment firms to file their quarterly 13F report with the SEC for their positions held as of the end of Q1.
Another major hedge fund, Paul Singer’s Elliott Capital, disclosed a stake of nearly $12 million in IBIT, and Apollo Management Holdings disclosed a stake of $53 million in ARK 21Shares’ ARKB.
BTC Tapped $66,000
The big ETF inflow day came amid big gains for bitcoin’s price. The asset has surged 7% over the past 24 hours, tapping $66,567 during early trading in Asia on Thursday morning.
BTC was changing hands for $65,900 at the time of writing, following a gain of 15% over the past fortnight, bringing it to just 10% from its all-time high.
Crypto markets reacted to the April CPI data in the US, which came in lower than expected at 0.3%.
The report is a key indicator of inflationary trends, and it has increased the likelihood of the Federal Reserve reducing rates and injecting more liquidity into markets, which is good news for high-risk assets such as crypto.