US Spot Bitcoin ETFs are preparing for an exhibition in April as Morgan Stanley’s product aims to undercut its competitors with a 44% discount. According to an S-1 filing filed on Friday, the investment bank proposed a 0.14% fee on its MSBT investments.
This would be cheaper than the 0.15% price offered by the Grayscale Mini. Compared to the current market leader, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) 0.25% charge, Morgan Stanley’s fee will be 44% lower.
As a low-cost option, Morgan Stanley’s MSBT will have “the risk of acquiring foreign assets,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. This suggests that it can attract runners and new places, and the researcher called it “paradoxical”.
Balchunas added that MSBT could be launched in two weeks and it will be a game changer.
This (Morgan Stanley) will be the first bank to issue a Spot BTC ETF, and this bank has 16k advisors managing $6T in assets. They are the last guardians of boomer money.
Will premiums replace Spot BTC ETFs?
Balchunas’ opinion echoed Strategy CEO Phong Le’s view that Morgan Stanley could overtake BlackRock’s IBIT and the “beast” moves. The bank is a major distribution channel for IBIT, and the fact that its MSBT is cheap could put BlackRock at risk.
At the time of writing, IBIT was seeing a total of $63 billion in revenue and $52 billion in assets. Fidelity’s FBTC ranked second at $12 billion in assets – Almost a 5x difference from IBIT.
Meanwhile, BlackRock led Friday’s outflow with $201 million in redemptions. In total, ETFs shed $225 million on March 27. This dragged BTC down to $65K and wiped out almost all of March’s gains. However, it seems to be unclear whether it will be linked to the change of Morgan Stanley or not.
However, when the Spot BTC ETFs came out it had decreased at the end of Q1 2026. The moving average of 90 days showed that the sale decreased from $ 72M in January to $ 6M at the end of March – A decrease of 92% in redemption.
Meanwhile, BTC has been between $60K-$75K. If the Spot BTC ETFs reverse their Q1 output and turn positive in Q2 2026, perhaps the cryptocurrency will try to go lower.
Brief Summary
- Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF can be launched in two weeks, and its low cost 0.15% management fee can start the competition.
- In Q1, BTC ETF sales fell by 92%, but it is unclear whether they will turn to buyers in Q2.
