(Kitco News) – Bitcoin (BTC) bulls and bears are locked in a battle for control of the price action in early trading on Thursday as an attempt by bulls to spring off of support at $64,000 was rejected before the rally even started.
Bears then attempted to break the back of bull reinforcements at the support level, dropping BTC to a low of $62,745 shortly after the market opened in the U.S., but their success was short-lived as bulls managed to rally back above $63,800, where King Crypto trades at the time of writing.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
The sideways, choppy price action for Bitcoin comes as the flows into U.S.-listed sport BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have slowed, with the feverish pace seen in the months following their listing diminishing to a trickle.
Wednesday saw the ETFs collectively record outflows of $120.64 million and marked the end of the 71-day inflow streak for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), as noted by Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas.
ITS OVER: $IBIT took $0 yesterday and as such it's daily inflow streak has ended at 71 days, shy of all-time record but one for the ages and utterly smashing the record for a new launch. For context, $GLD had awesome launch and its 'out of the gate' inflow streak was 3 days. https://t.co/ZwZSKmnqD5
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 25, 2024
However, buying activity could soon pick up. A report from AdvisorHub said the firm is looking to allow its 15,000 brokers to recommend Bitcoin ETFS to their customers, according to two senior executives who are familiar with the company’s plans.
Morgan Stanley has thus far offered access to the ETFs on an unsolicited basis, meaning customers had to approach their advisors about investing, but they are now exploring letting advisors recommend the products directly to clients, which could increase demand but will also expose the wirehouse to additional liability.
The firm is looking to establish “guardrails” for solicited purchases, which include risk tolerance requirements and limits on allocation and trading frequency, according to one of the sources.
“We’re going to make sure that we’re very careful about it,” the executive added. “We are going to make sure everybody has access to it. We just want to do it in a controlled way.”
Bitcoin also stands to benefit from the upcoming launch of three spot BTC ETFs in Hong Kong, with regulators in the region approving the products to begin trading on April 30 as part of their first wave of approvals.
The Hong Kong market will also see the launch of three Ethereum (ETH) ETFs, beating out issuers in the U.S. who are still trying to get their applications approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A decision on the spot Ether ETF applications from VanEck and ARK Investment Management is due by May 23 and May 24, respectively. A report from Reuters said the firms expect the SEC to deny their applications after discouraging meetings with the agency in recent weeks,
“Recent meetings between issuers and the SEC have been one-sided, and agency staff have not discussed substantive details about the proposed products,” four anonymous sources who participated in the meetings told Reuters.
Most crypto proponents aren’t holding out hope for an Ether ETF approval in May, as Balchunas previously put the odds of approval at sub-35%, which many took to heart after he put the odds of a Bitcoin approval in January at 95%.
Looking beyond the noise of daily ETF flow announcements and choppy price action, Fidelity Digital Assets remains bullish on Bitcoin long-term, as the number of wallets holding $1,000 or more worth of BTC has increased by 20% since the beginning of 2024.
“This increase in the number of wallets holding at least $1,000 worth of BTC shows that there is a continued increase in the number of smaller addresses purchasing and holding Bitcoin despite the upward trend in prices,” Fidelity analysts said in a report. “As a result, this increase shows that Bitcoin is bought and adopted by more people.”
“This increase, which represents an important milestone for Bitcoin, shows that people are turning to Bitcoin despite the rising prices, and this is a positive situation for BTC,” the analysts said.
