What's the Best Bitcoin ETF to Buy in 2026?

By Dominic Basulto – Apr 20, 2026 at 6:30AM ESTKey PointsThe iShares Bitcoin Trust remains the most popular spot Bitcoin ETF for investors, with $55 billion in assets under management. The new Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust offers even lower expenses than the iShares Bitcoin Trust.As a general rule, investors should focus on spot Bitcoin ETFs with the lowest expense ratios possible.Ever since its launch back in January 2024, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT +2.83%) from BlackRock (BLK +2.69%) has been the most popular spot Bitcoin (BTC 0.38%) ETF. It now has $55 billion in assets under management (AUM). By way of comparison, its next-closest competitor has only $13 billion in assets under management. However, that might be about to change. In early April, Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS +0.85%) created a stir with the launch of its new spot Bitcoin ETF called the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT +2.87%). If you are thinking about investing in Bitcoin, there's a very compelling reason why you should be considering it for your portfolio. ETF expense ratios One of the most important factors that investors should be taking into consideration are the expenses involved in managing any ETF. As a rule of thumb, the expense ratio should be below 1%. And the closer to zero it gets, the better it is for the individual investor. Image source: Getty Images. That's what makes the iShares Bitcoin Trust so compelling: Its management fees are just 0.25% annually. Other Bitcoin ETFs have pared down their expense ratios to 0.19% in an attempt to win over investors. Those are razor-thin margins, and it was hard to imagine anyone else ever going lower. But that's exactly what Morgan Stanley did with its Bitcoin ETF. The annual expenses are a minuscule 0.14%. That makes it the cheapest Bitcoin ETF you can buy these days. Beyond spot Bitcoin ETFs Most likely, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust will be the last "vanilla" Bitcoin ETF that launches for some time. Already, there are nearly a dozen different spot Bitcoin ETFs, and some of them are from some of the biggest names in the investment industry like Fidelity Investments. ExpandCRYPTO: BTCBitcoinToday's Change(-0.38%) $-290.55Current Price$75224.00Key Data PointsMarket Cap$1.5TDay's Range$73854.00 - $76165.0052wk Range$60255.56 - $126079.89Volume38B That being said, more exotic Bitcoin ETFs from Wall Street are on the way. The really interesting one is a proposed new Bitcoin ETF from Goldman Sachs (GS +2.88%) called the Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which is still wading through the approval process with the SEC. As you might have guessed from the name, it includes a few bells and whistles. It will employ an options trading strategy using Bitcoin ETFs to generate income for investors. And the winner is... For individual investors, it's important to shop for the lowest expense ratios possible, and to focus on ETFs that invest only in spot Bitcoin. That ensures that you are getting near-perfect exposure to the price action of Bitcoin, and nothing more. There are no hidden risks that you need to be worried about -- such as volatile financial derivatives -- when adding it to your portfolio. Given that MSBT has lower expenses than IBIT and invests only in spot Bitcoin, it might just be the best Bitcoin ETF you can buy. Thus far, overall market reaction to this ETF has been hugely popular, and it's not hard to see why: Buying Bitcoin has never been cheaper or easier.Read NextApr 20, 2026 •By Alex CarchidiBetter Store of Value: Bitcoin vs. ZcashApr 19, 2026 •By Alex CarchidiThe Crypto Market's Fear Index Is Flashing Red. Here's What Smart Investors Are Doing About It.Apr 19, 2026 •By Dominic BasultoSpaceX IPO: Which Cryptocurrencies Stand to Benefit From the Biggest IPO in History?Apr 19, 2026 •By Dominic BasultoWhere Will Bitcoin Be in 5 Years?Apr 19, 2026 •By Neil Patel1 Cryptocurrency to Buy While It's Under $80,000Apr 19, 2026 •By Alex CarchidiThis Signal in Bitcoin's Chart Has Never Been WrongAbout the AuthorDominic Basulto is a contributing Motley Fool crypto analyst covering cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and crypto-related companies. Prior to The Motley Fool, Dominic was a technology and innovation journalist at The Washington Post and Fortune. He holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University and an MBA in finance from Yale School of Management.TMFCryptoDomX@dominicbasultoStocks MentionedBitcoinCRYPTO: BTC$75,224.00(-0.38%)-$290.55Goldman Sachs GroupNYSE: GS$925.95(+2.88%)+$25.95Morgan StanleyNYSE: MS$188.92(+0.85%)+$1.60iShares Bitcoin TrustNASDAQ: IBIT$43.94(+2.83%)+$1.21BlackRockNYSE: BLK$1,052.54(+2.69%)+$27.59Morgan Stanley Bitcoin TrustNYSEMKT: MSBT$22.24(+2.87%)+$0.62*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.