The world’s largest fund manager, BlackRock, has been at the forefront of Bitcoin ETF inflows lately.
On a single day, the fund manager’s iShares Bitcoin Trust saw an impressive inflow of $493 million, boosting its assets under management to a total of $5.1 billion.
The surge in investment comes as Bitcoin’s ($BTC) market capitalisation crosses the $1 trillion mark, with its price exceeding the key level of $52,000.
This follows the recent approval of 10 spot BTC ETFs by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which marked a pivotal change, following a decade of resistance from the regulator.
A day of notable inflows
Yesterday was a remarkable day for Bitcoin ETFs, with a net increase of $340 million in inflows, as reported by BitMEX Research.
Leading the pack was BlackRock’s IBIT, as noted before, raising its holdings to an impressive $5.1 billion.
Fidelity’s FBTC ETF also saw significant activity, marking its sixth consecutive day of net inflows over $100 million. This culminated in a $119 million addition to its $3.4 billion total.
ARKB by Ark Invest celebrated surpassing $1 billion in net inflows, with $102 million added on 14 February.
However, not all ETFs experienced positive flows. Invesco’s BTCO faced its third day of outflows, totalling $76 million.
Despite these movements, the total net inflow for all Bitcoin ETFs highlighted a growing investor interest in cryptocurrency through these financial instruments.
Bitcoin’s bullish rally
The influx of investments into Bitcoin ETFs contributed to a bullish rally for $BTC, pushing its price over the $50,000 threshold for the first time in two years.
Currently trading at $52,214 per coin, Bitcoin’s value has increased by 16.6% over the past week, with a trading volume of $40,584,867,077 in the last 24 hours.
Long green histograms were seen for the top coin on both the Awesome Oscillator (AO) and Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicators. However, traders should stay wary of high price volatility as the Bollinger Bands expanded and moved away from each other.
The cryptocurrency’s Fear and Greed Index is at 72, indicating a market sentiment of greed.
Amidst the broad-market rise and the bullish sentiment surrounding Bitcoin, options traders are also setting their sights high, with bets indicating that prices could soar to as much as $75,000 in the upcoming months.
This optimistic outlook is again fueled by the growing demand for spot Bitcoin ETF products, as evidenced by the recent performance of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF and others.
Specifically, some traders are targeting the $64,000 level in the coming weeks, suggesting a strong belief in Bitcoin’s continued upward trajectory.
This surge in options trading activity highlights the confidence among investors in the cryptocurrency’s potential for further gains, driven by both institutional and retail interest.
The global crypto market cap now stands at $2.05 trillion, with Bitcoin’s market capitalisation at $1.02 trillion, representing a 50.04% dominance. In contrast, stablecoins hold a market cap of $138 billion, accounting for 6.87% of the total crypto market cap.
As the crypto market continues to expand, traditional investment vehicles like gold ETFs also saw a decline in interest. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, investors are shifting their focus from gold to cryptocurrency ETFs.
This is because they offer exposure to digital currencies without the complexities of direct ownership. This trend underscores the growing acceptance and integration of cryptocurrencies into mainstream financial markets.
Altcoins also enjoyed a push in price as the broader positive cryptocurrency market sentiment helped most of them to trade in the green.
Ethereum ($ETH) was getting close to its next key resistance at $2,800 as it rose by over 15% weekly. $XRP, $ADA and $AVAX were some of the other top altcoins where bulls flocked to, each rising up by over 3% daily.
