Traders looking to buy and sell Bitcoin now can do so through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The best Bitcoin ETFs make it easy and cheap to buy and sell the cryptocurrency through a traditional online broker rather than through the potentially riskier process of using a cryptocurrency exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, giving traders a way to access Bitcoin without having to take custody of the crypto coin themselves or trade with an exchange that may be fraudulent. So it’s easier for everyone to gain exposure to Bitcoin.
The SEC also greenlit spot Ethereum ETFs in mid-2024, giving investors access to ETFs for the second most popular currency too. (Here are the best Ethereum ETFs.)
Here are some of the best Bitcoin ETFs, including how much you’ll pay to invest in them.
|
Fund (ticker) |
Total assets |
1-year performance |
Expense ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
|
IShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) |
$43.9 billion |
19.1% |
0.25% |
|
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) |
$14.7 billion |
18.7% |
1.50% |
|
Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) |
$15.1 billion |
19.2% |
0.25% |
|
ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) |
$3.6 billion |
19.0% |
0.21% |
|
Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust (BITB) |
$2.9 billion |
18.9% |
0.20% |
|
ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO) |
$2.0 billion |
11.5% |
0.95% |
|
VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL) |
$1.1 billion |
19.1% |
— |
|
Source: etf.com. Data as of April 10, 2025 |
Spot Bitcoin ETFs track the price of the crypto on effectively the same percentage basis, even if they trade at different prices. If Bitcoin rises 1 percent, then the fund should rise 1 percent. So you see that the spot funds have all risen approximately the same amount, with minor differences.
Which fund should you choose? If you were looking at two McDonald’s on the same block and they both offered Big Macs, it would make sense to go with the cheaper one. So it is with spot Bitcoin ETFs. Since these funds give you exposure to Bitcoin in the same way, their defining feature is their expense ratio, the percentage of your investment that they charge as a fee.
Some Bitcoin funds initially charged 0 percent fees as they pursued a “land grab” and looked to grow their assets and users quickly. With the top funds now holding billions of dollars, those fees have largely reverted.
A few funds may eventually become dominant and be able to lower their fees still more, and so draw in more investors, enabling them to lower prices even further and become more dominant.
The funds’ expense ratios are competitive with the fees for trading Bitcoin in all but the cheapest brokers and exchanges for cryptocurrency trading. So these Bitcoin funds can be a good option to keep your overall costs low while making it easy to trade from your existing online broker.