Hong Kong Bitcoin ETF Debut Disappoints as Market Struggles for Traction

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a downturn in European trading hours following disappointing performance of newly introduced exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Hong Kong tied to bitcoin and ether.

The primary cryptocurrency, valued by market capitalization, dropped nearly 2% from $63,300 to below $61,000. Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, also declined by 2.8% to $3,066. The six new bitcoin and ether ETFs in Hong Kong collectively recorded a trading volume of approximately HK$49.4 million ($6.3 million) during the morning session on their inaugural trading day, as per data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Data from HKEX revealed that the "ChinaAMC Bitcoin ETF" by China Asset Management led in trading volume, generating HK$22.97 million in turnover during the first half of the trading day. Following closely, the ChinaAMC Ether ETF recorded the second-highest turnover among the six ETFs, with a volume of HK$10.47 million.

Today marked the official launch of six spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in Hong Kong, managed by China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and HashKey.

Harvest Global witnessed a trading volume of HK$8.11 million for its spot bitcoin ETF and HK$2.18 million for ether, while Bosera HashKey Bitcoin ETF recorded HK$3.59 million in volume for bitcoin and HK$1.53 million for ether during the morning session. In contrast, when the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. began trading in January, their first-day volume reached approximately $4.6 billion.

China Asset Management reported a subscription size of about HK$1.1 billion ($140.5 million) during the initial offering period before trading commenced, with its bitcoin product attracting HK$950 million and the ether ETF drawing in HK$160 million.