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Morgan Stanley ETF First Month Performance: Attracts $194 million, No Net Outflows
Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF attracted $194 million in its first month, with no daily net outflows. This achievement is unmatched by other spot Bitcoin funds during the same period.
MSBT announced on April 8th that Morgan Stanley Digital Asset Strategy Head Amy Aldenberg stated this ETF had the strongest debut in the firm's history, with net inflows of $30.6 million and trading volume of approximately $34 million. On the first day, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas ranked it in the top 1% among all ETF launches. Such a strong opening occurred on a day when the overall performance of Bitcoin spot ETFs was poor. Net outflows reached $94 million.
According to SoSoValue data analyzed by The Block, MSBT's daily inflows remained in the millions of dollars during the first two weeks, then gradually declined to single digits but never fell below zero. During the same period, the overall Bitcoin spot ETF market experienced high volatility, with inflows reaching as high as $663.9 million on April 17, while on May 7 and 8, there were consecutive outflows of $277.5 million and $145.7 million.
Based on SoSoValue data, on May 7th, MSBT recorded $5.7 million in inflows, while BlackRock's IBIT recorded -$27.2 million, Fidelity's FBTC recorded -$97.6 million, and ARKB recorded -$26.6 million. MSBT's trading price was at a 0.24% premium over its net asset value, higher than IBIT's 0.18% and FBTC's 0.13%, indicating market demand exceeded the supply of issued units.
Within six trading days of listing, MSBT's net inflows exceeded $103 million, surpassing the total of $86 million accumulated by WisdomTree's BTCW fund since trading began in January 2024.
Low Fee Perspective
MSBT's annual sponsor fee is 0.14%, the lowest among all US spot Bitcoin ETFs, lower than Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust's 0.15%, Bitwise's BITB at 0.20%, ARKB at 0.21%, and IBIT and FBTC at 0.25%. Grayscale's original GBTC still charges a 1.50% fee.
Whether fee discounts are a primary driver of investor stickiness for MSBT remains unclear. The 11 basis point fee difference between MSBT and IBIT is negligible for retail investors, but for institutional investors, investing $1 billion annually results in a $1.1 million fee difference.
According to SoSoValue data, the closest competitor to MSBT, Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (with a 0.15% fee), experienced more volatile fund flows during the same period, with at least one day of outflows and generally smaller daily inflows, despite its $4.3 billion net asset value.
Advisory Channel Still Waiting
The company states that nearly all of MSBT's initial month inflows came from self-directed investors. Morgan Stanley has about 16,000 financial advisors managing over $9.3 trillion in client assets, but the fund was not initially available on the firm's advisory wealth management platform.
Morgan Stanley Digital Asset Head Amy Aldenberg said, "The first one or two weeks were almost entirely driven by clients themselves, meaning it wasn't our advisors promoting these products," at the Consensus conference in Miami.
Once the channel is fully operational, MSBT will gain a proprietary distribution channel unmatched by any other Bitcoin ETF issuer. The bank is also piloting cryptocurrency trading on E*Trade, with a trading fee of 50 basis points, supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading pairs.
Broader Market Context
MSBT's launch coincided with a full recovery in demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs. According to SoSoValue data, as of May 8, 13 US spot Bitcoin funds have experienced net inflows of over $3 billion for six consecutive weeks, setting the longest weekly net inflow record since last summer. The total net assets of this fund category reached $106.6 billion, accounting for 6.67% of Bitcoin's total market cap. Since its launch in January 2024, the category has accumulated net inflows of $59.3 billion.
Balchunas predicts that MSBT's assets under management (AUM) could reach $5 billion within its first year. At the current growth rate, significantly accelerating inflows through the advisory channel will be necessary to achieve this goal.