Traditional-minded investors have been able to invest in Bitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC) via exchange-traded funds (ETFs) since January 2024. There are 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs on the market today, and they are pretty much the same thing in many ways. But if you want to get started with Bitcoin investing from this angle, putting a modest $100 to work for the long haul, I can't recommend all 11 ETFs.
Which spot Bitcoin ETF is right for you? Image source: Getty Images.
Some of the funds are lightly traded and not widely held. Getting a fair price for these ETFs is a bit more difficult, and you never know how long the fund's sponsor will continue to manage an unpopular fund.
Others are priced above $100. Some stock brokerages will let you buy fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, but others don't. So if you have a strict $100 Bitcoin investing budget, these funds may be out of reach right now.
Being index funds at heart, most of these spot Bitcoin ETFs come with minimal expense ratios. However, a few funds charge much higher management fees, making them unsuitable for long-term investing.
These filters leave me with a short list of three suitable spot Bitcoin ETFs. These are the Bitcoin-tracking funds an intrepid long-term investor can buy for less than $100 as of May 19, 2025.
The three funds under my microscope have delivered almost identical returns over the last year -- as expected. After all, they are all trying to match the real-time price changes of the underlying Bitcoin asset.
They do it in slightly different ways, though. The market-leading iShares Bitcoin Trust(NASDAQ: IBIT) and the smaller Bitwise Bitcoin ETF(NYSEMKT: BITB) are true index funds, basing their Bitcoin price estimates on the same price-tracking index. The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund(NYSEMKT: FBTC), on the other hand, generates its own Bitcoin price reports by spot-checking six large cryptocurrency exchanges. The results are similar, and both methods are robust; Fidelity just does a bit more homework than the other two fund managers.
Management fees and community donations
The iShares, Bitwise, and Fidelity Bitcoin funds all come with reasonable management fees. There are some surprises in this area, though.
You might expect Fidelity to charge a little more to cover the company's more intense Bitcoin price tracking. Bitwise and iShares simply look at an official index, while Fidelity checks Bitcoin prices at six trading exchanges every 15 seconds. But the Fidelity ETF's management fees are 0.25%, exactly matching the iShares fund's expense rate. As it turns out, Fidelity automates its more direct price-tracking system.
The lowest fee in this trio comes from the Bitwise fund, where the annual expense rate stops at 0.20%. The Bitwise team simply pockets slightly lower profits than financial powerhouses like Fidelity and iShares manager BlackRock do.
Furthermore, Bitwise donates 10% of its gross profits to Bitcoin's core developers. This way, Bitwise and this Bitcoin ETF's investors provide some direct financial support to keep the Bitcoin system safe, secure, and up to date.
Which spot Bitcoin ETF is right for you?
A $100 investment is a small bet for so-called Bitcoin maximalists, who expect the cryptocurrency to deliver massive returns over time. Buying Bitcoin directly is always an option, though you need to open and fund an account with a crypto-trading platform first. These three ETFs discussed should be available on any stock-trading service. They are reasonable investment vehicles for investors just dipping their toes in the cryptocurrency pool for the first time.
The iShares Bitcoin ETF is the largest and most liquid option. Everybody knows the iShares name, managed by financial services giant BlackRock. There's a sense of additional security in relying on the most popular option.
Fidelity is also a well-known financial services name, giving its spot Bitcoin ETF a sheen of extra credibility. Going the extra mile to generate Bitcoin price reports can also be a selling point.
Finally, Bitwise entered this discussion from a different angle. The company was a crypto expert first, and an ETF manager much later. I like this team's commitment to supporting the Bitcoin developer community, and you can't go wrong with the lowest available management fees.
Any of these three spot Bitcoin ETFs can serve as effective starting points for new Bitcoin investors. You can't go wrong with any of them, as long as you accept the price swings and volatility that come with Bitcoin investments in 2025.
Should you invest $1,000 in iShares Bitcoin Trust right now?
Before you buy stock in iShares Bitcoin Trust, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and iShares Bitcoin Trust wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider whenNetflixmade this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,you’d have $642,582!* Or when Nvidiamade this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,you’d have $829,879!*
Now, it’s worth notingStock Advisor’s total average return is975% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you joinStock Advisor.
Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust, and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
