Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
ARKB vs MSBT: Tracking, Returns & Fees
Over the six months to Oct 28, 2026, ARKB finished level with Bitcoin and MSBT 0.06 behind.
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Net assets: $1.9bn on Jun 30, 2026 for Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, beside Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust.
ARKB over 1 year: fund −28.42%, Bitcoin −28.30%, 0.13 pts behind Bitcoin. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.MSBT since launch: fund +14.02%, Bitcoin +14.28%, 0.26 pts behind Bitcoin. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.Pair scorecard
MSBT costs 0.07 points a year less.
| Measure | ARKB | MSBT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −28.4% | not published |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bitcoin | Bitcoin |
| Against Bitcoin, same days | 0.1% behind | 0.3% behind |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.21% | 0.14% |
| Net assets | $1.9bn | not read by ETFIQ |
| Reports to the SEC on | 10-K, not N-PORT | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
ARKB among the 26 spot crypto trusts with a full year
How much of its coin's move it captured, after costs, ranked against 26 spot crypto trusts with a full year and 25 spot crypto trusts listed less than a year. 100 is best. How it is computed
MSBT among the 25 spot crypto trusts listed less than a year
A percentile among the 26 spot crypto trusts with a full year. MSBT is a percentile among the 25 spot crypto trusts listed less than a year, a different set, so the two marks are not on one scale. Share of the coin's own price growth a holder kept; funds on different coins are ranked together. All crypto ETFs ranked by it →
Side by side
As of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
Window by window
| Total return | The coin over the same days | Difference, percentage points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | ARKB | MSBT | ARKB | MSBT | ARKB | MSBT |
| 1 month | −2.2% | −2.3% | −2.2% | −2.2% | 0.0 pts | −0.1 pts |
| 3 months | +28.3% | +28.1% | +28.3% | +28.3% | 0.0 pts | −0.2 pts |
| 6 months | +7.9% | +7.9% | +7.9% | +7.9% | 0.0 pts | −0.1 pts |
| 1 year | −28.4% | – | −28.3% | – | −0.1 pts | – |
| Since each listedNot the same days: ARKB Jan 2024 · MSBT Apr 2026 | +73.4% | +14.0% | +76.1% | +14.3% | −1.6% of its growth | −0.3 pts |
– means no data for this window. Open this comparison in the app →
The same coin, two trusts
ARKB and MSBT hold the same asset. Both are 1933 Act trusts holding Bitcoin through a custodian, so neither has a portfolio to compare: the whole of each fund is one line. Over the days each has traded, ARKB finished 0.13 of a percentage point behind Bitcoin and MSBT 0.26 of a percentage point behind, but the two windows are not the same days, so neither number is set against the other here. That gap is the fee, the custody, the creation and redemption friction and the market’s pricing of the shares, compounded into one number. ARKB has 818 more days of record than MSBT, and a longer record is a longer window over which a cost can show itself.
ARKB
ARKB holds Bitcoin through a custodian and trades on an exchange, so a holder gets the coin’s return inside a brokerage account rather than a wallet. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, Bitcoin moved −28.3% and ARKB returned −28.4%. That leaves it 0.13 of a percentage point behind. That difference is the fee, the custody cost, the friction of creating and redeeming shares in blocks, and whatever the market paid for the shares rather than for the coin, all of it together. It is the only number on this page the sponsor does not publish itself. ARKB charges 0.21% a year and finished 0.1% behind Bitcoin, so the fee is almost the whole of the difference. A spot trust is not a registered investment company. It files a 10-K rather than an N-PORT, and its holding is one line: the Bitcoin it custodies.
MSBT
MSBT holds Bitcoin through a custodian and trades on an exchange, so a holder gets the coin’s return inside a brokerage account rather than a wallet. Over the time since launch to Oct 28, 2026, Bitcoin moved +14.3% and MSBT returned +14.0%. That leaves it 0.26 of a percentage point behind. MSBT charges 0.14% a year and finished 0.3% behind Bitcoin, so the fee is almost the whole of the difference.
Questions people ask
- Which tracked Bitcoin more closely, ARKB or MSBT?
- Over the days each has traded, ARKB finished 0.13 of a percentage point behind Bitcoin and MSBT 0.26 of a percentage point behind. Those are not set against each other here, because the two windows are not the same days, so neither is nearer its coin than the other on this page. Each difference carries the fee, the custody cost, the friction of creating and redeeming shares in blocks and whatever the market paid for the shares rather than for the coin.
- Do ARKB or MSBT pay a staking yield?
- Bitcoin is a proof of work chain, so there is nothing to stake and no fund holding it can pay a staking yield.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
It is a place in a set, not a rating or a recommendation.
Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.
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ETFIQ, ARKB against MSBT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/crypto/arkb-vs-msbt
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). ARKB against MSBT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/crypto/arkb-vs-msbt
[ARKB against MSBT (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/crypto/arkb-vs-msbt)
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