According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF with the ticker ‘BITO’ has been performing outstandingly well in the last few days.
ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF Doubles in Value
In a recent post on X, Balchunas highlighted the level of progress that the BITO ETF has seen in the past 30 days. Within this period, the ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF assets almost doubled in terms of value, a trend he noted comes mostly from market appreciation. However, he said about $240 million of the volume comes from flows, the second-best month for the ETF.
It looks like the ETF is on its way to breaking its volume record this week with about $2 billion in assets being traded. Balchunas attributed a significant percentage of this value surge to the industry-wide anticipation for spot Bitcoin ETF approval from the United States SEC which has been the case for many other digital assets like Bitcoin.
The financial expert tagged the situation as an irony, citing that the potential Bitcoin spot ETF, upon approval, is bound to displace offerings like the ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF.
For context, Bitcoin Futures ETFs are known to issue publicly traded securities that offer exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin futures contracts, according to the CFTC. It is typically a form of mimicry of the spot price of Bitcoin and seeing that they are not the same, the performance of Bitcoin Futures ETFs will never truly reflect that of Bitcoin.
On the other hand, spot Bitcoin ETFs allow investors to legally trade the price of BTC without owning a wallet, Bitcoin address, or privacy keys. Markedly, investors can avoid the perceived risks associated with cryptocurrency while gaining exposure to the crypto market.
Compared to Bitcoin Futures ETFs which are highly volatile and speculative, investors are bound to pivot to spot Bitcoin ETFs when they are eventually launched.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Coming Soon
Meanwhile, the anticipation for a spot Bitcoin ETF approval is building up, and experts are very optimistic about the potential timeline. James Seyffart, another Bloomberg ETF analyst recently projected that there is a 90% chance that the approval will be given by January 10.
The calibre of applications ranging from BlackRock to Fidelity Investments and VanEck among others generally lends additional optimism to the potential of Bitcoin spot ETFs. Already, the law, through Grayscale’s victory over the SEC currently aligns with the assumption that with Bitcoin Futures ETF, there is no excuse for denial of a proper ETF product.
Notably, the SEC has been more engaging in recent times, and with current negotiations with Grayscale, more fingers are crossed in anticipation.
