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 below the ticker MSBT, tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark 4 PM New York Settlement Fee and fees a 0.14% expense ratio. It’s the most cost-effective fund within the class, providing a transparent, if slim, pricing benefit to rivals.
MSBT entered the market with a distinct power 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 may assist the fund acquire traction as extra traders entry bitcoin by means of advisors quite than direct buying and selling platforms.
Some consultants anticipate the fund to attract capital from current merchandise, particularly BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Belief (IBIT), the biggest spot bitcoin ETF at present available on the market. MSBT has a number of catching as much as do. IBIT, which launched amongst 9 different ETFs in January 2024, has amassed over $53 billion in belongings, rapidly turning into the asset supervisor’s most profitable ETF.
Wednesday’s buying and selling provides 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 huge gamers.
UPDATE (April 8, 2026, 20:00 UTC): Provides extra element.
