Bitcoin price erased some of the gains made earlier during the day when it soared after the US-Iran ceasefire. BTC dropped to $70,800, down from the intraday high of $72,680. This retreat happened despite the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF launch.
Morgan Stanley Launches Spot Bitcoin ETF Today
The spot Bitcoin ETF industry is getting more competitive today as Morgan Stanley launches MSBT. This is a big deal because the company is the biggest wealth manager in the world with over $9 trillion in assets.
The company also has thousands of wealth advisors, who will likely start recommending Bitcoin to their clients. As a result, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, believes that the fund will attract over $5 billion in assets under management in its first year.
A key advantage of the fund is that it will become the cheapest Bitcoin ETF in the industry with an expense ratio of 0.14%, much lower than IBIT’s 0.25%. As such, an investor with a $100,000 investment in it will pay an annual fee of just $140, while a similar amount on IBIT will cost $250.
That $110 difference can add up in a long term. This explains why many investors are dumping the popular SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) ETF and moving to the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). SPY, which charges 0.09%, has shed over $33 billion this year, while VOO has gained over $30 billion. VOO costs 0.03% a year.
Bitcoin price dropped despite the MSBT launch because the industry is already saturated, with 11 funds already. Some of these funds are by companies like Invesco, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton. At the same time, data shows that demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs has waned in the past few months.
Bitcoin Price Prediction: Technical Analysis
A closer look at charts shows that Bitcoin price may be at risk of a steep crash this year despite the Morgan Stanley ETF launch today.
The weekly chart shows that the BTC value has crashed this year and is now loitering near the lowest level since 2024. It has slumped below the important resistance level at $74,600, its lowest level in April last year when Donald Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs.
The coin is also trading at the 50% Fibonacci Retracement level at $70,475. Also, it dropped below the 200-week moving average, a sign that bears have prevailed.
Bitcoin has also formed a bearish flag pattern. Therefore, the path of the least resistance is bearish, with the initial target being at $60,000, its lowest level this year.
The bearish Bitcoin price forecast will become invalid if it moves above the 200-week Weighted Moving Average at $76,450.