Bitcoin February 2024 Update

Market Data:

Market Commentary: 
In February, markets rose as the big tech and AI equities-led rallies continued, with the S&P up 5.2%, NASDAQ up 6.1%, and Gold up 0.2%. NVDA continues its rally alongside AI coins in crypto. Fixed income markets came under pressure as investors priced in later rate cuts in 2024, with US treasuries down 1.3% in February and US headline inflation coming in at 3.1% YoY for January. This is in comparison to BTC, which ended the month up 43.79%, rising from $42.5K to $61.2K. Comparing this to historical price performance, this was BTC’s best month since December 2020.

BTC ETFs showed sustained activity in February, reaching a peak inflow day of $673.4M on February 28. Notably, the BTC ETFs also obliterated previous volume records, almost reaching $6B in daily volume towards the end of February. Importantly, IBIT is the newest member of the $10B ETF club and the fastest ETF ever to reach that milestone. It appears that after a temporary and short-lived sell-the-news event, ETF inflows are strong and, importantly, sustained. 
GBTC outflows have slowed down significantly, and we are starting to see days with significant net inflows, which is a positive sign for ETF adoption. With the AUM wars continuing, Blackrock’s IBIT is currently winning with an AUM of $10.01B, and Fidelity’s a close second at $6.47B.

TradFi Markets:
CME futures closed off January on a low, with coin-denominated open interest decreasing by 30%. However, open interest has since nearly recovered to coin-denominated ATHs and bursted through the dollar-denominated ATH in the final days of February due to BTC’s price appreciation. Similarly, volume has rebounded since the lows of January, with daily volume reaching a new ATH.