A Guide to Spotting Bitcoin ETFs for Everyday Investors and Retires in 2024

(VORNews) – Shortly before the US Securities and Exchange Commission authorized spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (Bitcoin ETFs) on Wednesday night, it reiterated its “no FOMO” caution to investors.

The caution not to invest for “fear of missing out” stressed the volatility of digital assets, pointing out how popular cryptocurrency investments experience tremendous highs and lows, resulting in billions of dollars in profits and losses.

#SECInvestingResolution 5: Say “NO GO to FOMO” (fear of missing out). Just because others might buy a particular investment, doesn’t mean it’s the right opportunity for you. Learn more about finding out what’s right for you and your investing goals: https://t.co/fixDWoNFrF pic.twitter.com/SGf1z6xmhL

— SEC Investor Ed (@SEC_Investor_Ed) January 6, 2024

Gary Gensler, head of the SEC, stated following Wednesday’s announcement in which the commission approved the bitcoin ETF listing but stated that “we did not approve or endorse bitcoin.” Digital asset investment is now regulated and standardized thanks to the SEC’s approval.

However, mainstream investors should proceed with caution, according to financial analysts, because bitcoin (BTC-USD) is still seen as a speculative asset. “You have to be very careful,” said Kiran Garimella, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business, speaking to Yahoo Finance from a very conservative financial standpoint. “If the financial instrument that’s being traded doesn’t actually represent anything of specific value underlying it, then you’d have to sit back and question that.”

First, what exactly is a spot Bitcoin ETF?

ETFs that track the performance of bitcoin are known as spot Bitcoin ETFs. Asset managers who hold the actual bitcoin and its current value (“spot”) as the underlying asset manage the fund, in which investors buy shares. Management fees and the thin margin between the price at which they sell the shares and the actual price of bitcoins (which fluctuates) are how these managers make money.

Although the value of ETFs will fluctuate in tandem with Bitcoin, the funds themselves may be more stable because fund administrators can employ a variety of financial instruments to mitigate the fund’s volatility.

“Investing in an ETF not only simplifies the process of purchasing, selling, and trading bitcoins, but it may also mitigate a portion of the associated strategic risk,” Garimella explained. Unknown but utilizing the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, an unidentified individual created the initial Bitcoin in 2008.

It was established on the decentralized, free market tenet that digital currencies be generated, distributed, traded, and recorded in the blockchain, a peer-to-peer ledger. In the past week, Bitcoin’s price fluctuated around $46,500; at one point last week, it surged to $49,000 due to the reactions to the SEC approval.

In 2021, when the price surpassed $65,000, the value of a coin reached its historic apex. A mere twelve months later, however, it plummeted to approximately $16,000 as investors gradually lost faith in the industry.

Do you need to include bitcoin ETFs in your portfolio?

Everyone may now possess Bitcoin in their investing or retirement accounts, according to the much-anticipated SEC clearance. No longer do investors need to purchase digital tokens directly from a crypto exchange.

Even though many Americans still don’t understand or have access to cryptocurrency, eleven new spot funds have been launched on the NYSE, CBOE, and Nasdaq, the same exchanges where equities, mutual funds, and other conventional assets are traded.

According to Garimella, the new funds significantly lessen the administrative risks associated with Bitcoin investments. Previously, interested parties needed to generate “private keys” and create a “wallet” to own the tokens. There was a chance of fraud or hacking on crypto exchanges.

“Oh, boy, you’d have to go through hoops just to acquire a fraction of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency for that matter,” said Garimella. “Most people had no clue what a wallet or private key is.” There is still a strategic risk in investing in a Bitcoin fund, even though the funds themselves are standardized.

“If you can manage to invest $5, sell it for $500, and then make a lot of money, it would be fantastic,” Garimella added. But can you be reliable and organized, and can you develop a plan to make the most of the value that results from that? Cryptocurrency and its speculative character continue to inspire widespread mistrust.

Such instruments rely only on investors’ expectations that the price of the digital asset will rise, rather than any inherent value in the asset itself. According to Mark Higgins, CFA, author of “Investing in US Financial History,” “Cryptocurrency seems like speculation that central banking will be replaced—that maybe the US dollar is going to be replaced as the dominant reserve currency,” as reported by Yahoo Finance. “I am skeptical.”

Neither the creation of a spot bitcoin ETF nor the offering of any crypto-related products are in the cards for the second-largest ETF provider, The Vanguard Group. “Our perspective is that these products do not align with our offer focused on asset classes such as equities, bonds, and cash, which Vanguard views as the building blocks of a well-balanced, long-term investment portfolio,” according to the firm.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Fidelity Investment, a global leader in asset management, introduced the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), describing it as an effective tool for investors looking to get exposure to Bitcoin. “We’ve long felt a spot-priced exchange-traded vehicle would be an effective method for investors to obtain exposure to bitcoin,” stated Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management at Fidelity.

However, investors are being asked to undertake Fidelity’s Designated Investment Agreement (DIA) when they purchase the FBTC fund, which shows how unexplored this area is. The digital product investors have been verified by the DIA to be experienced, risk-tolerant, and financially stable enough to bear the possibility of partial or whole loss of investment.

Everyone may now possess Bitcoin in their investing or retirement accounts according to the much-anticipated SEC clearance. No longer do investors want to purchase digital tokens directly from a crypto exchange. However, asset managers may mitigate the funds’ risk through complex strategies including strengthening laddering, adding call options, launching futures contracts, and hedging, thus these ETFs may be a safer method to buy bitcoins.

“When you have an ETF that does all of that stuff, it introduces a certain level of stability or risk management to that underlying instrument,” explained Garimella. “In a crypto market, you’re exposing yourself to a certain level of risk, which could be minimized with the right ETF.”

Perhaps the greatest allure of blockchains is their possible future use cases, which is why Bitcoin is the most well-known cryptocurrency in the world. Supporters of the technology think it has the potential to revolutionize the way money is exchanged. According to Garimella, who holds bitcoin for educational purposes, he is considering increasing his investment in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) shortly due to the innovations in the field that might allow the digital coin to be linked to a physical asset class.

“However, would I suggest it to my grandma as an investment?” “I highly doubt it,” Garimella remarked.

Even though many Americans still don’t understand or have access to cryptocurrency, eleven new spot funds have been launched on the NYSE, CBOE, and Nasdaq, the same exchanges where equities, mutual funds, and other conventional assets are traded.

According to Garimella, the new funds significantly lessen the administrative risks associated with bitcoin investments. Previously, interested parties needed to generate “private keys” and create a “wallet” in order to own the tokens. There was a chance of fraud or hacking on crypto exchanges.

“Oh, boy, you’d have to go through hoops just to acquire a fraction of a bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency for that matter,” said Garimella. “Most people had no clue what a wallet or private key is.”

There is still a strategic risk in investing in a Bitcoin fund, even though the funds themselves are standardized.

“If you can manage to invest $5, sell it for $500, and then make a lot of money, it would be fantastic,” Garimella added. “But can you be consistent and systematic, and can you come up with a strategy to capitalize on the value generated by that?”

Cryptocurrency and its speculative character continue to inspire widespread mistrust. Such instruments rely only on investors’ expectations that the price of the digital asset will rise, rather than any inherent value in the asset itself.

According to Mark Higgins, CFA, CFP, author of “Investing in US Financial History,” “Cryptocurrency seems like speculation that central banking will be replaced — that maybe the US dollar is going to be replaced as the dominant reserve currency,” as reported by Yahoo Finance. “I am skeptical.”

Neither the creation of a spot bitcoin ETF nor the offering of any crypto-related products are in the cards for the second-largest ETF provider, The Vanguard Group.

“Our perspective is that these products do not align with our offer focused on asset classes such as equities, bonds, and cash, which Vanguard views as the building blocks of a well-balanced, long-term investment portfolio,” according to the firm.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Fidelity Investment, a global leader in asset management, introduced the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), describing it as an effective tool for investors looking to get exposure to Bitcoin.

“We’ve long felt a spot-priced exchange-traded vehicle would be an effective method for investors to obtain exposure to bitcoin,” stated Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management at Fidelity.

However, investors are being asked to undertake Fidelity’s Designated Investment Agreement (DIA) when they purchase the FBTC fund, which shows how unexplored this area is.

The digital product investors have been verified by the DIA to be experienced, risk-tolerant, and financially stable enough to bear the possibility of partial or whole loss of investment.

Where to purchase ETFs and what fees to expect

Through their brokerage accounts, investors can purchase shares of bitcoin ETFs to diversify their portfolios. Traders can trade the funds throughout the day for liquidity, similar to other funds. ETFs approved by the SEC are funds from big financial players such as Fidelity, Invesco, and BlackRock.

The costs for managing the ETFs have been announced by many providers. The largest asset manager in the world, Blackrock (BLK), which oversees roughly $10 trillion in assets, has reduced its fee from 0.30% to 0.25%.

The new market is quite competitive, with Grayscale charging 1.5% and Franklin announcing that it will eliminate management costs until August. As of today, January 11, 2019, bitcoin’s market value of $913 billion makes it the biggest cryptocurrency in the world.

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