Morgan Stanley’s first Bitcoin ETF one-week recap: bucking the trend to attract inflows—a signal of institutional accumulation

What is this ETF?

On April 8th, Morgan Stanley officially launched the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (ticker: MSBT) on the NYSE Arca platform under the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the first spot Bitcoin ETF in U.S. history issued by a major commercial bank in its own name.

The fund is custodied by Coinbase, with BNY Mellon responsible for cash and administrative management. Its core competitive advantage is its 0.14% annual fee rate. This is currently the lowest among all spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. market, lower than BlackRock IBIT’s 0.25%, Grayscale Mini BTC’s 0.15%, and Bitwise’s 0.20%.

A brief summary of Morgan Stanley: It is one of the top investment banks and financial services firms in the U.S., founded in New York in 1935; its market capitalization is approximately 192837465657483.91T USD, making it one of the Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs), alongside Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America, on Wall Street’s top tier; it has long ranked among the top three globally in IPO underwriting, M&A advisory, and stock brokerage.

First-week inflow and outflow data

On its first day of listing (April 8th), MSBT recorded a net inflow of $30.6 million, with a trading volume of about $34 million, and over 1.6 million shares traded. Notably, on that day, the entire market’s Bitcoin ETFs experienced a net outflow of $93.9 million, with Fidelity FBTC and ARK 21Shares both losing significant amounts, while only BlackRock IBIT and MSBT defied the trend and saw positive inflows. In other words, this ETF managed to attract funds against the overall market bleeding. On April 9th, boosted by news of a ceasefire negotiation between the U.S. and Iran, market sentiment improved, and all Bitcoin ETFs turned into a net inflow of $304 million. MSBT continued to see a net inflow of $14.9 million, ranking third among all ETFs that day, behind BlackRock IBIT ($269.3 million) and Fidelity FBTC ($53.3 million).

Entering the following week (the week of April 13th), the market weakened again, and all Bitcoin ETFs returned to net outflows. On Tuesday, April 14th, the situation was similar, with Fidelity FBTC experiencing a single-day outflow of $229.2 million, and the entire market net outflow reaching $291 million, while MSBT recorded a positive inflow of $6.28 million, making it one of only three mainstream Bitcoin ETFs that maintained net inflow that day, alongside BlackRock IBIT and Bitwise BITB.

Cumulative data: Since inception, a total net inflow of $37.5 million, fund AUM approximately $63.84 million (Morgan Stanley’s calculation), SoSoValue data shows $70.12 million, holding about 960 BTC, with a market price premium of 0.57% over NAV, since inception market price return +6.86%, NAV return +6.24%.

Behind the data, institutions are building positions at the bear market lows

The inflow data of MSBT, in the current market context, signals a very clear message.

After Bitcoin hit a record high of $126,198 in October 2025, it experienced a sharp correction, currently oscillating between $70k and $75,000, about 44% below the high. In the first few months of 2026, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF experienced four consecutive months of net outflows, market sentiment was subdued, and retail investors were exiting.

But what are institutions doing? MSBT’s data provides a good example.

First, regarding timing, Morgan Stanley took about 18 months to prepare this product, ultimately choosing to launch when Bitcoin was halved from its all-time high and market sentiment was generally pessimistic, rather than chasing the top of the bull market. Second, this ETF appeared during a period of widespread pessimism with continuous contrarian inflows. On April 13th and 14th, the entire market’s Bitcoin ETFs saw significant net outflows (up to $291 million on April 14th), yet MSBT still maintained positive inflows.

This indicates that the funds flowing into MSBT are not hot money shifting from other ETFs due to fee rate differences.

Third, Morgan Stanley’s internal recommendation for holdings is as high as 4%. Previously, the bank advised clients to allocate between 0% and 4% to Bitcoin. With MSBT launched, advisors now have an internal, lowest-fee direct tool. If Morgan Stanley’s approximately 16k wealth advisors actively recommend allocations to high-net-worth clients, managing $7 trillion in client assets, even a tiny reallocation could generate billions in continuous inflows. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas even predicts that MSBT’s AUM could reach $5 billion within a year.

Goldman Sachs is also preparing to enter

Just six days after MSBT’s listing, on April 14th, Goldman Sachs announced it had applied to launch its first proprietary Bitcoin ETF, making it the second major U.S. bank after Morgan Stanley to directly participate.

However, Goldman’s product is quite different from MSBT. Named “Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF,” this fund employs a covered call strategy, aiming to hold Bitcoin exposure while generating ongoing premium income through selling options. According to the application process, it is expected to be officially listed around late June to early July 2026.

The fund will allocate at least 80% of its net assets to Bitcoin-linked instruments, including spot Bitcoin ETPs, related options, and Bitcoin ETP index options, while using a covered call strategy to generate monthly income. The operational approach involves dynamically adjusting the proportion of options sold between 40% and 100% of Bitcoin exposure—this design allows the fund to continuously collect option premiums in sideways or mildly bullish markets, but in case of a sharp Bitcoin rally, the capped upside means the fund’s performance will lag behind a pure spot ETF.

In simple terms, this is a “partial upside for stable cash flow” structure—periodically distributing option premiums to holders, suitable for investors who want to participate in Bitcoin narratives but prioritize stable cash flow over full-price appreciation. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas mockingly calls it “Boomer Candy,” tailored for traditional institutional investors who want Bitcoin dividends but cannot tolerate extreme volatility.

Goldman Sachs’s entry immediately drove a single-day market inflow of $411.5 million. In other words, Wall Street’s top institutions are already collectively positioning themselves, even in a bear market.

Conclusion

In the first week of MSBT’s listing, the numbers don’t look particularly eye-catching. The cumulative inflow of $37.5 million is insignificant compared to BlackRock IBIT’s $55 billion size. But a century-old institution managing $7 trillion in wealth entering at the lowest fee rate in history, during Bitcoin’s 44% correction and extremely pessimistic market sentiment, and continuously promoting allocations through 16k advisors to high-net-worth clients—this signal is very important. For readers paying attention to institutional moves, MSBT’s weekly inflow data will become an important window into Wall Street’s true attitude.