Bitcoin news: BTC reclaims $74,000 as ETFs see $5.3B volume

Bitcoin’s latest rally has been backed by a sharp increase in institutional activity. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded more than $5.3 billion in trading volume as BTC reclaimed $74,000 for the first time in 86 days.

BlackRock’s IBIT dominated activity with $4.44 billion in volume. Fidelity’s FBTC came next at $438 million and Grayscale at $208.8 million. Meanwhile, Bitwise, ARK Invest, VanEck, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, Valkyrie, WisdomTree and Hashdex accounted for the remaining volume as per data.

$517M Flows as Bitcoin Jumps 17%

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs also attracted $517.19 million in net inflows, their strongest inflow day since May 4. Eight of the 12 funds recorded positive flows. BlackRock’s IBIT led with $284.7 million, followed by ARK and 21Shares’ ARKB at $77.7 million. Fidelity’s FBTC came next at $62.4 million.

The ETF activity came as Bitcoin surged roughly 17% in two days. It added around $11,000 and more than $220 billion to its market capitalization.

The rally has also triggered a major short squeeze. More than $3.6 billion in short positions have been liquidated over the past 72 hours, including $2.75 billion in Bitcoin shorts on Wednesday. Over the following 24 hours, another $783.2 million in Bitcoin positions were liquidated. Of this, $747.7 million came from shorts, according to CoinGlass data.