Best Bitcoin ETF in 2026: Which One Should You Buy?

Why This Comparison Matters in 2026

All twelve spot Bitcoin ETFs hold the same underlying asset. There is no stock-picking, no index methodology, no portfolio construction difference. Unlike equity ETFs where holdings vary, the “best” Bitcoin ETF comes down to cost structure, liquidity, and features.

Two years after the landmark January 2024 launch, the category has moved from novelty to financial infrastructure. These funds collectively custody over 1.27 million BTC — roughly 6% of Bitcoin's 21-million-coin total supply. Spot Bitcoin ETFs now sit inside IRAs, 401(k) plans, model portfolios, pensions, and endowments. The question in 2026 is no longer whether Bitcoin ETFs should exist. It is which one best aligns with how you actually deploy capital.

This guide was last updated during a period of extreme market stress. Bitcoin touched $60,000 in early February 2026 — down more than 45% from its all-time high above $126,000 set in October 2025 — before rebounding above $69,000. That context matters because ETF assets under management move directly with Bitcoin's price. IBIT's roughly $54 billion AUM reflects the same approximately 765,000 BTC it held near the peak; it is Bitcoin's volatility, not fund outflows, driving most of the AUM decline. Tracking BTC holdings rather than dollar AUM gives a clearer picture of true fund scale.

Critically, most introductory fee waivers have now expired. VanEck's HODL maintains a sponsor fee waiver until July 31, 2026 (or $2.5 billion in AUM, whichever comes first), but for the rest of the field, 2026 is the first year of true apples-to-apples fee comparison.

The other major shift: options. Since IBIT options launched in November 2024, the derivatives ecosystem around Bitcoin ETFs has matured rapidly. During the February 2026 volatility, IBIT options processed over 2 million contracts in a single session with roughly $900 million in premiums traded. This has spawned covered call ETFs, defined-outcome products, and institutional hedging programs — none of which existed at launch.

A structural point worth noting: nine of the twelve spot Bitcoin ETFs use Coinbase or Coinbase-affiliated custody. Only Fidelity (via Fidelity Digital Assets) and VanEck (via Gemini) offer custody diversification. For institutional allocators, this concentration is a meaningful decision factor.

The Complete Bitcoin ETF Comparison Table

Every spot Bitcoin ETF holds Bitcoin, but your experience differs based on expense ratio, liquidity, spreads, custody, and options depth. Below is the complete landscape.

Data current as of February 20, 2026. AUM and BTC holdings fluctuate with Bitcoin's price and market conditions — verify current figures before making decisions. For live BTC-per-share values and historical ETF price data, visit our data hub.

Sources: Bitbo.io (BTC holdings), TradingView and issuer disclosures (AUM), verified as of February 20, 2026. AUM figures move directly with Bitcoin's price; the same BTC holdings represent lower dollar AUM when Bitcoin declines. For this reason, tracking BTC holdings provides a clearer picture of fund scale and investor flows.

Best Bitcoin ETF by Use Case

Because spot Bitcoin ETFs are structurally identical in what they hold, how you use them determines which is best for you.

Best for Buy-and-Hold: Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC)

For investors whose horizon is measured in years or decades, the most reliable drag on returns is not volatility — it is compounding fees.

BTC's 0.15% expense ratio is the lowest among all spot Bitcoin ETFs. That 10-basis-point advantage over funds charging 0.25% may appear trivial in any single year, but it compounds continuously because ETF fees are paid by selling Bitcoin from the trust. Over time, lower fees preserve more Bitcoin exposure per share — a subtle but meaningful advantage that grows with every year you hold.

Grayscale spun off BTC from the legacy GBTC in August 2024, creating its low-cost product while maintaining GBTC's 1.50% fee for holders who couldn't easily switch due to embedded capital gains. With roughly $3.4 billion in AUM and adequate liquidity for typical retail transactions, BTC is designed for the set-and-forget investor.

The tradeoff is straightforward: BTC's options market and daily trading volume are thinner than IBIT's. For a long-term holder who trades infrequently, that rarely matters. For an active trader, it often does.

To see how that fee difference compounds over your specific investment amount and time horizon, use our fee drag calculator. For a broader comparison, see IBIT vs ARKB.

Best for Active Traders: iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)

Active strategies invert the priority stack. For frequent traders, execution quality matters more than expense ratios — and IBIT dominates on that dimension.

BlackRock's IBIT holds roughly 765,000 BTC worth approximately $54 billion, making it larger than the next several competitors combined. Its 30-day median bid-ask spread sits around 0.02% — the tightest in the category. Average daily volume exceeds 80 million shares, with recent volatile sessions seeing volume spike above 160 million.

Why this matters: if you're entering and exiting positions regularly, spread savings can exceed fee savings. Paying 0.10% more in annual expense ratio (0.25% vs. 0.15%) is irrelevant if you consistently give up more than that in execution costs from wider spreads and thinner order books. During the extreme February 2026 volatility — when Bitcoin plunged below $61,000 in a single session on February 5 — IBIT maintained orderly trading and relatively tight spreads while thinner ETFs widened materially. That resilience under stress is the kind of structural advantage that matters when you need it most.

Explore current BTC-per-share data with our IBIT calculator. For a head-to-head breakdown, see IBIT vs FBTC.

iShares Bitcoin Trust — official fund page

Best for Options Strategies: IBIT

If options matter to your strategy, this is where the “best Bitcoin ETF” question stops being subtle.

IBIT options launched on November 19, 2024, and immediately posted extraordinary activity — roughly 354,000 contracts and approximately $1.9 billion in notional exposure on day one. By February 2026, during heightened volatility, IBIT options processed over 2 million contracts in a single session with approximately $900 million in premiums traded. Put volume slightly exceeded calls during the worst of the drawdown, suggesting investors were using options for hedging protection rather than simply liquidating — a hallmark of institutional-grade usage.

This depth enables strategies that are impractical elsewhere: covered calls for income generation, protective puts for downside hedging, multi-leg spreads with defined risk parameters, and cash-secured puts for planned entries at target prices. Weekly expirations with tight options spreads make these strategies executable without significant slippage.

The ecosystem effect is compounding. IBIT's options depth has attracted secondary products: YBTC (Roundhill) launched a Bitcoin covered call strategy, Tuttle Capital launched BITK with a 0DTE daily covered call approach, and BlackRock itself filed Form S-1 in January 2026 for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF — designed to generate premium income by writing call options primarily on IBIT shares.

Use our strike-to-BTC conversion calculator to translate IBIT options strikes into Bitcoin-equivalent values, or model covered call returns in both USD and BTC with our covered call calculator.

Best for IRAs and Tax-Advantaged Accounts: FBTC or ARKB

Inside an IRA or other tax-advantaged wrapper, the decision factors shift. Wash sale mechanics and short-term capital gains are largely irrelevant within the account. If you're not trading frequently, fees and platform integration dominate.

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC)

FBTC holds roughly 191,000 BTC worth approximately $13.5 billion, making it the second-largest spot Bitcoin ETF. Its distinguishing feature is custody: Fidelity Digital Assets handles custody — not Coinbase. This is structurally unique among major spot ETFs and eliminates dependency on Coinbase infrastructure. If you already use Fidelity for retirement accounts, operational simplicity is a real advantage. The 0.25% expense ratio matches IBIT.

ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB)

ARKB charges 0.21%, saving 4 basis points annually versus FBTC and IBIT. While modest, this difference compounds over decades in retirement accounts. ARKB holds roughly 35,000 BTC with $2.5 billion in AUM — sufficient scale for long-term viability.

All spot Bitcoin ETFs are generally eligible for traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 401(k)s that support ETF trading — a major structural advantage over buying Bitcoin directly.

Learn more about the tax implications in our guide to how Bitcoin ETFs are taxed. See the full IBIT vs FBTC comparison.

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund — official fund page

Tax-Loss Harvesting: Proceed With Caution

Tax-loss harvesting with Bitcoin ETFs is an area of genuine legal uncertainty — and most guides either oversimplify it or get it wrong.

The wash sale rule (IRC §1091) applies to securities. Bitcoin ETFs are SEC-registered securities. Therefore, selling one Bitcoin ETF at a loss and rebuying the same ETF within 30 days triggers the wash sale rule, disallowing the loss. Meanwhile, direct Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) is classified as property by the IRS and is generally not subject to wash sale rules under current law.

What remains debated is whether two different spot Bitcoin ETFs — for example, IBIT and FBTC — are “substantially identical” for wash sale purposes. Legal analysis exists on both sides. Some tax professionals argue they are not substantially identical because they have different issuers, custodians, and trust structures. Others point to precedent suggesting ETFs tracking the same underlying asset may be treated as substantially identical — similar to how two S&P 500 index funds would likely be viewed.

The IRS has not issued explicit guidance on this specific question. Spot Bitcoin ETFs structured as grantor trusts present an additional complication: a look-through analysis could treat them as ownership of Bitcoin property (where wash sales wouldn't apply), even though brokers report them as securities on Form 1099-B and may apply wash sale adjustments. This disconnect between broker reporting and substantive tax treatment has created genuine confusion — one that neither the IRS nor Congress has resolved.

If you harvest a loss in one spot Bitcoin ETF, rotating to a different issuer's product with different custody may be a defensible position — but treat it as an area where professional tax advice is essential given your specific facts, cost basis, and risk tolerance. Do not treat cross-ETF swaps as a guaranteed strategy.

Read our comprehensive guide to Bitcoin ETF tax-loss harvesting for deeper analysis.

The Hidden Metric: BTC-Per-Share Decay

This is where most Bitcoin ETF coverage fails — and where our calculators become indispensable.

A Bitcoin ETF share does not represent a fixed quantity of Bitcoin forever. Because ETFs sell Bitcoin from the trust to pay management fees, each share's Bitcoin backing declines gradually over time. This is BTC-per-share decay — and it is the clearest way to see fee drag in action.

Consider two funds: IBIT at 0.25% and BTC at 0.15%. Each year, IBIT sells 0.25% of its Bitcoin to cover fees while BTC sells only 0.15%. That 10-basis-point difference compounds annually, silently reducing your long-term Bitcoin exposure in the higher-fee fund.

Crucially, BTC-per-share is dynamic. It changes daily as fees are accrued and Bitcoin prices move. Quoting a single static number is misleading; what matters is the trend and the relative decay rate between funds over time. This is why BTC-per-share — not just price performance — is the correct way to compare Bitcoin ETFs. Price performance conflates Bitcoin's market movements with the structural fee drag unique to each fund. BTC-per-share isolates the variable you can actually control.

For current BTC-per-share values across all ETFs, visit our calculator and price data hub.

How Fees Actually Affect Your Returns

Fees feel abstract until translated into dollars. Here is the math on a $10,000 investment held for 10 years, assuming 15% annualized Bitcoin returns (purely illustrative — not a forecast):

The 10-basis-point gap between BTC and IBIT is real but modest — roughly $700 over a decade on $10,000. The 1.35-percentage-point gap between low-cost ETFs and GBTC is enormous: you lose approximately 13% of your ending wealth over a decade purely to fees. On larger balances, these numbers scale proportionally.

The key insight: small fee differences matter most for long holding periods and large balances. Trading costs — spread and market impact — matter most for active investors. Your “best ETF” depends on which of those two cost buckets dominates your actual behavior.

Calculate exact fee drag for your investment amount and horizon with our performance calculator. For the full mathematical deep-dive, read our IBIT expense ratio and fee drag analysis.

The GBTC Question: Why It Still Has $11 Billion

If GBTC charges 1.50% — six to ten times what competitors charge — why does it still hold over $11 billion in assets and roughly 158,000 BTC?

The answer is structural inertia, not investor preference.

GBTC predates the January 2024 spot ETF era entirely. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust launched as a closed-end trust in 2013 and accumulated holders for over a decade before converting to ETF format. Many long-term holders have massive unrealized gains from early Bitcoin exposure. Selling GBTC to switch to a low-cost alternative triggers a taxable event — potentially 20–37% of the gain depending on holding period and tax bracket. For some holders, paying 1.50% annually in perpetuity is economically preferable to realizing a massive one-time tax liability.

Grayscale partially addressed this by spinning off the BTC Mini Trust in August 2024 and distributing shares to existing GBTC holders, offering a lower-cost alternative while preserving some tax basis.

For new investors: there is zero justification for choosing GBTC today. Eleven alternatives exist with fees between 0.15% and 0.25%. For existing GBTC holders: the optimal path depends on your cost basis, tax rate, and expected holding period. Model the breakeven horizon — the point where paying capital gains tax now becomes cheaper than bleeding 1.50% annually — with help from a tax professional.

See the full IBIT vs GBTC comparison. Considering Fidelity instead? See our FBTC vs GBTC comparison.

SEC EDGAR — Grayscale filings

What Makes Bitcoin ETFs Different From Other ETFs

Spot Bitcoin ETFs are a unique category with traits that distinguish them from traditional equity or bond ETFs.

They offer single-asset exposure — there is no “manager skill” in selecting holdings. Each fund simply holds Bitcoin and tracks its spot price. Unlike a diversified equity ETF where security selection drives performance, all spot Bitcoin ETFs are attempting the same thing. The question isn't what they hold but how efficiently they hold it.

They pay no dividends or yield, because Bitcoin generates no income. This is fundamentally different from dividend-paying equity ETFs or bond ETFs with coupon payments. Covered call ETFs are a separate derivative category that generates income by selling options — trading potential upside for current premium.

Tracking error is minimal. All spot ETFs track Bitcoin's price within approximately 0.5% annually. Performance differences are driven primarily by fee drag and minor operational factors, not manager decisions.

Custody is a first-class concern. Nine of twelve spot Bitcoin ETFs use Coinbase-related custody infrastructure — a concentration that some institutional allocators flag as a risk factor. Fidelity self-custodies via Fidelity Digital Assets, and VanEck uses Gemini. For portfolios where counterparty diversification matters, custody is a meaningful decision variable.

Compared with buying Bitcoin directly, the ETF wrapper offers brokerage convenience, IRA eligibility, simpler estate planning, and no need to manage private keys. The tradeoff: you pay an ongoing expense ratio, you don't control the underlying Bitcoin directly, and you're limited to market-hours trading with no 24/7 access.

For a deeper exploration, read Does IBIT Hold Actual Bitcoin? and our full comparison of IBIT vs. Buying Bitcoin Directly.

Beyond Spot: Bitcoin ETF Products to Know About

The product ecosystem has evolved rapidly beyond simple spot exposure.

Covered Call / “Income” Bitcoin ETFs

Covered call strategies generate income by selling call options — typically on IBIT exposure — at the cost of capping upside participation. These products are designed for investors willing to sacrifice uncertain upside for current premium income, and that tradeoff has real consequences.

YBTC (Roundhill Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF), the first U.S.-listed Bitcoin covered call ETF, launched in January 2024 with a 0.96% expense ratio. Distribution rates have been reported in the high double digits, but this represents option premium income — often including return of capital — not risk-free yield. When Bitcoin surged from roughly $60,000 toward $126,000 during Q3–Q4 2025, YBTC captured only a fraction of that upside because its calls were exercised at lower strikes. Investors received steady weekly distributions but sacrificed the majority of the rally. That is the structural tradeoff: income today is exchanged for convexity tomorrow.

BlackRock filed Form S-1 in January 2026 for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, designed to generate premium income by writing call options primarily on IBIT shares. No ticker or fee has been disclosed. Given BlackRock's distribution power and IBIT's options depth, this is the institutional-grade income product to watch. Approval timing depends on SEC review.

BITK (Tuttle Capital) launched in September 2025 with a 0DTE (zero days to expiration) covered call approach — selling extremely short-dated options daily. This represents a more aggressive risk profile than weekly or monthly strategies.

Futures-Based and Leveraged Products

BITO (ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF) launched in October 2021 using futures contracts rather than spot Bitcoin. It charges 0.95% and generally underperforms spot ETFs for buy-and-hold investors due to contango drag — the cost of rolling expiring futures contracts at higher prices. Since spot ETFs became available in January 2024, there is little reason for most long-term investors to use futures-based products.

Leveraged and inverse Bitcoin ETF products exist but are designed for intraday tactical trading, not holding. Daily compounding reset causes significant performance decay over multi-day periods. They are not suitable for the audience reading a “best Bitcoin ETF” guide.

How to Choose: Decision Framework

If you want a clean framework to cut through the noise, start with the question that most determines your answer.

If you trade frequently or care deeply about execution quality, evaluate IBIT first. Its liquidity dominance, 0.02% spreads, and $54 billion in scale are unmatched. No other Bitcoin ETF behaves like a true institutional instrument under stress.

If you are buying and holding for years with minimal trading, evaluate BTC at 0.15% — or HODL if you want the 0% fee waiver through July 2026. For pure cost minimization on a long horizon, expense ratio is the dominant variable.

If you plan to use options meaningfully, IBIT is the only choice with deep, institutional-grade options liquidity. The gap between IBIT and the next-best options market is not close.

If you are using a Fidelity IRA or prioritizing custody diversification, FBTC offers seamless Fidelity integration and self-custody via Fidelity Digital Assets — structurally distinct from the Coinbase-dominated field.

If you are considering tax-loss harvesting, discuss your specific situation with a tax professional. The IRS has not issued explicit guidance on whether different Bitcoin ETFs are “substantially identical” for wash sale purposes, and reasonable legal analysis exists on both sides.

If you are holding GBTC with large unrealized gains, run the tax math: compare paying capital gains now versus bleeding 1.50% annually. This is a pure breakeven calculation that depends on your cost basis, tax rate, and time horizon.

If you want income generation and are willing to cap upside, watch for BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF launch, or evaluate existing covered call products like YBTC — but understand the structural tradeoffs and the historical underperformance versus spot during rallies.

Then validate your decision with BTC-per-share math, not headlines. Use our Bitcoin ETF calculator to model scenarios for any fund.

The Bottom Line

Spot Bitcoin ETFs are unusually simple in what they own and unusually nuanced in how investors should use them.

If you're choosing among the top tier — BTC, IBIT, FBTC, ARKB, BITB — you're not choosing “different Bitcoin.” You're choosing fee structure, execution quality, options depth, and custody infrastructure. All five hold Bitcoin and track its price within fractions of a percent annually.

The real mistakes are structural: paying extreme fees when alternatives exist (GBTC at 1.50% versus 0.15–0.25%), using futures-based products when spot is available, or implementing derivatives strategies without understanding the tradeoffs.

The most informed move is often the straightforward one: pick the ETF that matches your actual use case, then track your exposure with tools that show what truly matters — BTC per share, compounded fee drag over your horizon, and real-world execution costs. Our calculators exist because these nuances matter — and because the math should be visible.

Frequently Asked Questions