Coinbase International Exchange Tops $1B Daily Volume While Bitcoin ETF Volumes Surge 

On Feb. 20, the company’s CEO Brian Armstrong reported that Coinbase International Exchange continues to grow, hitting $1 billion in daily volume for the first time.

The exchange, which is based in Bermuda, offers crypto perpetual futures trading to professional non-US traders.

It was set up outside of the United States due to the ongoing war on crypto and legal battles. Armstrong added, “Would be great to see perpetual futures allowed in the U.S. market as well.”

Coinbase International Exchange continues to grow – first time hitting $1B in volume in a day.

Sign up here: https://t.co/Z21Z7mqrca

Would be great to see perpetual futures allowed in the U.S. market as well. https://t.co/DxXobk5XVS

— Brian Armstrong 🛡️ (@brian_armstrong) February 20, 2024

Bitcoin ETF Volumes Soar

Crypto perpetual futures are a type of derivatives contract that allow traders to speculate on the future price of digital assets without having to own the underlying token. Unlike regular futures, they have no expiry date and allow traders to hold positions indefinitely rather than settling at an expiration.

The record volume day for Coinbase International Exchange clearly shows that there is demand for such products among institutional investors.

Additionally, the newly launched batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US is also seeing huge volumes.

On Feb. 20, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported that the new nine funds had the biggest volume day since launch day with about $2 billion in combined trading.

There were big volumes on VanEck’s Bitcoin Trust (HODL), which traded just under $400 million for the day, a new record. The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) also made new daily volume records.

For context, $2 billion in daily trading would put them in the top ten among ETFs and top twenty among stocks, he said before exclaiming, “It’s a lot.”

The Nine had biggest volume day since Day One with about $2b in combined trading thx to big contributions from $HODL, $BTCW and $BITB which all broke their personal records. For context $2b in trading would put them in Top 10ish among ETFs and Top 20ish among stocks. It’s a lot. pic.twitter.com/547pIl5grI

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 20, 2024

The VanEck volume spike for HODL was from an influx of around 32,000 individual trades.

VanEck Volume Baffling

Balchunas was trying to figure out what happened “given how sudden and explosive the increase in the number of trades was (500 trades Friday, 50,000 trades today),” he said before adding:

“I’m wondering if some Reddit or TikTok influencer type recommended them to their followers. Feels retail army-ish.”

Moreover, the HODL fund inflow numbers do not correlate with this volume surge since there was only $5.9 million, according to preliminary figures from Farside.

Nevertheless, company CEO Jan van Eck was happy with the boost in volume.

Welcoming all new HODL investors (HODLers)!

Our #bitcoin ETF traded over $399,923,600 today. $HODLhttps://t.co/dbLtTjkKQX

— Jan van Eck (@JanvanEck3) February 20, 2024