Key Points
- Hong Kong’s six new spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded over $11 million in trading volume on their first day.
- China Asset Management’s spot bitcoin ETF secured $121.7 million in assets under management (AUM), and its ether ETF had $20.4 million in AUM.
Hong Kong’s newly launched spot bitcoin and ether ETFs have seen a trading volume of over $11 million on their first trading day. This figure is significantly lower compared to the $4.6 billion first-day volume of the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs launched in the United States in January.
Performance of the Newly Launched ETFs
China Asset Management reported that its spot bitcoin ETF had $121.7 million in AUM at the end of the first trading day. Its spot ether ETF, on the other hand, had $20.4 million in AUM. The ETFs, managed by China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and HashKey, officially commenced trading in Hong Kong.
The ChinaAMC Bitcoin ETF led in trading volume, recording HK$37.16 million on the day, according to data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The ETF gained 1.53% at closing. Its spot ether ETF saw a volume of HK$12.66 million.
Comparison with U.S. Bitcoin ETFs
When the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. began trading in January, their first-day volume reached about $4.6 billion. Despite the comparatively lower volume, Justin d’Anethan, head of APAC business development of crypto market maker Keyrock, believes that the spot ETFs in Hong Kong are a success.
He also pointed out that the Hong Kong market does not offer access to mainland China investors, thus the decent buy-in is a positive sign. Additionally, Hong Kong’s spot ether ETFs currently do not offer staking rewards. D’Anethan mentioned that missing out on about 4% APR is significant.
Livio Weng, chief executive of HashKey Exchange, stated that fund issuers will need to engage in more discussions with regulators to design and introduce the mechanism of staking rewards, as such activities may be considered risky.
