ETF flows, the 'Vanguard effect' and BoA's allocation shift
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas said bitcoin's intraday surge lined up almost exactly with the U.S. equity market open - the first session after Vanguard clients regained access to spot bitcoin ETFs.
"Bitcoin jumps 6% right around the U.S. open on the first day after the ban lifted. Coincidence? I think not," Balchunas wrote on X, noting that BlackRock's IBIT saw $1 billion in volume within the first 30 minutes.
Vanguard's reversal comes the same day Bank of America reportedly told advisers across Merrill, Private Bank and Merrill Edge that clients can now allocate 1%-4% of portfolios to crypto, an end to a long-standing restriction that prevented more than 15,000 advisers from proactively recommending digital-asset products.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley called the confluence of policy shifts a classic bear-market tell.
"The second-largest brokerage flips its policy... and no one is fired up," he wrote.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan added that in down markets, positive developments "are ignored but not forgotten" and accumulate as "potential energy" for the next uptrend.
