Morgan Stanley’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) started buying and selling Wednesday with strong early exercise, logging greater than 1.6 million shares traded and roughly $34 million in inflows, the financial institution mentioned.
The fund, listed beneath the ticker MSBT, tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark 4 PM New York Settlement Fee and costs a 0.14% expense ratio. It’s the least expensive fund within the class, providing a transparent, if slim, pricing benefit to opponents.
MSBT entered the market with a distinct energy than others: distribution. Morgan Stanley’s wealth administration arm oversees trillions of {dollars} in shopper belongings and operates one of many largest monetary advisor networks within the trade. That attain might assist the fund achieve traction as extra traders entry bitcoin via advisors moderately than direct buying and selling platforms.
Some consultants anticipate the fund to attract capital from present merchandise, particularly BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Belief (IBIT), the biggest spot bitcoin ETF presently in the marketplace. MSBT has loads of catching as much as do. IBIT, which launched amongst 9 different ETFs in January 2024, has amassed over $53 billion in belongings, rapidly changing into the asset supervisor’s most profitable ETF.
Wednesday’s buying and selling presents an early sign of demand, although it stays to be seen whether or not MSBT can maintain momentum in a market dominated by a handful of enormous gamers.
UPDATE (April 8, 2026, 20:00 UTC): Provides extra element.
