Fidelity’s bitcoin fund FBTC is down 45 percent in a year

The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, known by its ticker FBTC, closed at $56.23 this week, down 45 percent over the past year and more than 26 percent year to date. The fund, which tracks the daily spot price of bitcoin, once traded as high as $110.25 within the past 52 weeks.

For Northeast Philadelphia residents who bought in during the crypto excitement of early 2024, or who hold FBTC in a brokerage or retirement account, those numbers sting. The fund was one of the first spot bitcoin products available to ordinary investors through traditional platforms, and it drew enormous attention when it launched. Now, with bitcoin well off its highs, FBTC offers a case study in the volatility that comes with digital asset investing.

How FBTC got to market

Fidelity Investments launched FBTC on Jan. 11, 2024, one day after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission authorized exchange-traded products backed by physical bitcoin for trading on traditional stock exchanges. Fidelity’s registration statement was made effective on Jan. 10, 2024.

The company had been pushing toward this moment for years. Fidelity was among the first major asset managers to file a spot bitcoin exchange-traded product application, doing so in 2021, according to the firm’s newsroom.