The highly anticipated Hong Kong exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum had their first trading day, with a combined trading volume of 87.58 million Hong Kong dollars (around $11.19 million). While this fell short of expectations exceeding $100 million, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas deemed the debut as quite strong.
Balchunas noted that the ChinaAMC Bitcoin ETF had a $123 million haul on day one, ranking it in the top 20% of all Hong Kong ETF launches over the past three years.
One aspect causing confusion with the launch was the disparity between Day One assets and volume. The Hong Kong ETFs already had assets in place before trading began on April 30, as pre-planned investors were able to buy shares beforehand. In contrast, US-based ETFs had pre-planned investors buy shares on the first day of trading to boost volume.
Balchunas explained that both methods ultimately achieve the same outcome, with one giving more optical impact. The debut of the Hong Kong ETFs has generated significant interest and activity in the market.
