coindesk.com
Bitcoin’s price surged Tuesday to a six-month high, climbing past $63,000 as ProShares’ much-anticipated, futures-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The largest cryptocurrency has climbed 33% over the past month on expectations the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would approve the exchange-traded fund, which invests in futures contracts tied to the cryptocurrency.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF started trading at 9:30 a.m. ET as the bell rang to open the day’s session on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock ticker is $BITO.
First-day trading volume in $BITO appeared strong, with at least 1.89 million shares of the ETF changing hands in the first couple hours, or more than $770 million worth.
As of press time at 17:32 coordinated universal time (13:52 p.m. ET) the $BITO share price was trading at $41.36, up 3.4% from the initial net asset value of $40. Over the same timeframe, bitcoin was up 2.3% to $63,197.
Dave Nadig, director of research at ETF Trends, tweeted that trading in $BITO appeared “orderly” and “stable” in the early moments after the ETF went live.
Helene Braun contributed to this report.
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