Capula Management, Europe’s fourth-largest hedge fund, bought more than $464 million worth of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the second quarter of 2024, according to an Aug. 5 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 13F report. submit.
The documents showed that Capula owns 4,022,346 shares of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF (FBTC), worth approximately $211 million. The company also owns 7,419,208 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin fund, worth $253 million.
13F applications are quarterly reports that institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in equity assets file with the SEC. These reports reveal long positions in U.S. stocks and options on stocks, but do not reveal short positions, so they provide a partial view of an investment manager’s portfolio.
Capula’s disclosure adds to a growing trend of institutional investors showing interest in US spot Bitcoin ETFs. Last month, the State of Michigan Retirement System reported a $6.6 million stake in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) in its 13F filing.
Capula Investment Management LLP is a British hedge fund with approximately $30 billion in assets under management as of 2024.
Interested in Bitcoin ETFs
Institutional interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs remains strong despite BTC’s significant decline to a six-month low of under $50,000 before recovering to over $54,000 at the time of writing.
Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s ETF analyst, said trading volumes for the investment products indicated robust community involvement, with approximately $2.5 billion traded during market opening hours.
However, he pointed out that high trading volume on bad days may indicate market fear, but at the same time reflects the liquidity that traders and institutions value in ETFs. He said:
He said:
“Like you [are a] Bitcoin bull, you really don’t want to see crazy volume today as ETF volume on bad days is a fairly reliable measure of fear. On the other hand, deep liquidity on bad days is part of what traders and institutions love about ETFs, so you also want to see volume, which is good for the long term.”