U.S Spot Bitcoin ETFs are gearing up for a showdown in April as Morgan Stanley’s product aims to undercut rivals with a 44% lower fees. According to a refiled S-1 form on Friday, the investment bank proposed a 0.14% management fee on its MSBT product.
This would be cheaper than the current lowest fees of 0.15% charged by Grayscale Mini. Compared to the current market leader, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust’s (IBIT) 0.25% charge, Morgan Stanley’s fees will be 44% lower.
As the cheapest option, Morgan Stanley’s MSBT will have a “shot at getting outside assets,” noted Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. This suggested it could attract flows from rivals and new venues, with the analyst calling it a “semi-shock.”
Balchunas added that MSBT could debut in two weeks and would be a game-changer.
This (Morgan Stanley) will be the first bank to put out a Spot BTC ETF, and this bank happens to have 16k advisors managing $6T in assets. They are the ultimate gatekeepers of rich boomer money.
Will fee wars change Spot BTC ETFs?
Balchunas’s outlook echoed Strategy CEO Phong Le’s projection that Morgan Stanley could easily outpace BlackRock’s IBIT with “monster” flows. The bank is a major distribution channel for IBIT, and the fact that its MSBT is cheaper could put BlackRock at a disadvantage.
At the time of writing, IBIT was seeing cumulative net inflows of $63 billion and $52 billion in net assets. Fidelity’s FBTC came second at $12 billion in net assets – Nearly a 5x difference from IBIT.
Meanwhile, BlackRock led Friday’s outflows with $201 million in redemptions. Overall, the ETFs bled $225 million on 27 March. This dragged BTC lower to $65K while erasing nearly all March gains. However, it seemed unclear whether it might be linked to the Morgan Stanley update or not.
When zoomed out, however, the Spot BTC ETFs outflows had slowed down in late Q1 2026. The 90-day average flow showed selling pressure dropped from $72M in January to $6M in late March – A 92% drop in redemptions.
During the period, BTC has been range-bound between $60K-$75K. If Spot BTC ETFs reverse the net outflows in Q1 and flip positive in Q2 2026, perhaps the crypto asset could attempt a bullish breakout from the range.
Final Summary
- Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF could launch in two weeks, and its cheapest 0.15% management fee could trigger competition.
- In Q1, BTC ETF net sell-offs declined by 92%, but it was unclear if they would flip to net buyers in Q2.
