Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Makes Strong Debut With $44 Million Inflows

Key Insights:

• Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF MSBT posted early demand, signaling renewed institutional interest.
• U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $304 million in inflows on April 9, led by BlackRock’s IBIT.
• Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas projects MSBT could reach $5 billion AUM.

Morgan Stanley made a strong debut on Wall Street with its Bitcoin ETF (MBST). The product is seeing strong initial demand with nearly $46 million in inflows clocked at the beginning.

Spot Bitcoin ETF inflows turned positive on April 9. Investor demand surged amid optimistic US-Iran war talks.

Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Makes Strong Debut

Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF debuted on April 8 with record-breaking demand. The fund recorded approximately 1.7 million MBST shares traded on its first day. This signaled continued institutional interest in Bitcoin exposure. It marks the strongest product launch in the firm’s history.

The strong debut comes as institutional demand for Bitcoin ETFs continues to evolve. Moreover, the demand has revived again following strong outflows during the month of March.

The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF (MBST) has posted two consecutive days of inflows since the launch on April 8. On Thursday, April 9, the total inflows across all US Spot Bitcoin ETFs bounced back to $304 million.

BlackRock’s IBIT dominated inflows, attracting $269.37 million and accounting for the majority of the day’s capital movement.

Morgan Stanley’s newly launched MSBT also posted early inflows of $14.90 million. This highlights that institutional demand is picking up once again for BTC products.

On April 9, Bitwise’s BITB recorded inflows of $11.73 million, while ARK Invest’s ARKB added $4.78 million. Franklin Templeton’s EZBC saw $2.08 million in inflows, and VanEck’s HODL attracted $2.04 million.

Can Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Hit $5 Billion AUM

Eric Balchunas said Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF could be one of the largest. He emphasized its potential scale since the product’s launch.

Balchunas projected the fund could reach $5 billion in assets under management within its first year. He also estimated approximately $30 million in trading volume on the first day.

He framed the predictions as an early benchmark for market interest. The ETF debut comes amid growing institutional participation in Bitcoin investment products. Speaking to Bloomberg about the launch, Oldenburg head of Digital Assets at Morgan Stanley said:

Balchunas also said that MSBT launch comes with just a 14 basis point fee, and could give the fund an edge over other. Besides, he also believes that it would pressure competitors to reduce costs.

Balchunas noted that lower fees may also encourage new issuers to enter the market with even cheaper products. He described fee competition as challenging for issuers but beneficial for investors.

However, he suggested that BlackRock’s IBIT is unlikely to cut fees. He said strong liquidity and market leadership give the fund pricing power.

BTC Price Shows Signs of Recovery

Julio Moreno of CryptoQuant said Bitcoin may be entering an early recovery phase. He noted that two key on-chain indicators point to a favorable risk-reward setup.

He highlighted two signals for patient investors. He pointed to the Short Term Sharpe Ratio and the Buy Sell Pressure Delta 30 as key alignments.

The Short Term Sharpe Ratio has dropped sharply to deeply negative levels near minus 40. Historically, such extreme negative readings have appeared near major market turning points. Similar conditions were observed during previous recovery phases in 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2023.

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