VanEck’s HODL, one of the top ten spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S., experienced a remarkable surge in trading activity on Tuesday, driven by individual traders.
On Tuesday, HODL saw trading volumes exceeding $400 million, marking a staggering 2,200% increase compared to its daily average of $17 million. This surge occurred just before a scheduled fee reduction on Wednesday, where VanEck plans to decrease its offering fees from 0.25% to 0.20%, according to a filing.
Despite typically being overshadowed by Grayscale’s GBTC and BlockRock’s IBIT, HODL’s volumes now rank as the third-largest in the ETF market. As of February 20th, data indicates that the ETF holds nearly $200 million worth of bitcoin.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas noted that the surge in volumes resulted from 32,000 individual trades rather than a single large investor, suggesting signs of retail frenzy.
“The sudden and explosive increase in the number of trades, from 500 trades on Friday to 50,000 trades today, makes me wonder if some Reddit or TikTok influencer recommended them to their followers,” Balchunas remarked. “It feels like there’s a retail army behind this.”
The unusually high volumes of HODL contributed to bitcoin ETFs recording their highest volume day since their launch in January.
