By the numbers: One year since the Bitcoin ProShares ETF launched
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) ETF made history when it was approved. Launched exactly one year ago today, it was the first futures-based BTC ETF in the US and received massive attention from the wider financial market. As BITO celebrates its one-year anniversary today, we take a look at how the ETF has performed over time and its current performance compared to when it was first launched.
The year in review
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) ETF had been highly anticipated, which had been evident in the trading volume recorded soon after launch. In its first two days, BITO saw more than $1 billion in trading volume, making it the fastest ETF to ever reach that number.
BITO saw more than 20,000 BTC in exposure just days after launch, and excitement continued to grow as talk of Spot Bitcoin ETFs made the rounds. The performance during this time had grown to about 0.3% against BTCUSD. However, this would only last for a short time.
Shortly after the launch of BITO, the crypto market had seen a massive crash which caused the value of the digital assets in the market to drop significantly. BITO would begin trading below BTCUSD shortly after, and while there has been some recovery since then, it continues to underperform Bitcoin.
BITO underperforms BTCUSD | Source: Arcane Research
Currently, BITO is underperforming the BTCUSD spot pair by negative 1.79%. That’s a nice rebound from the negative 2.8% figures from December 2021, and investors are taking their time in 2022. BITO’s exposure as of this week stands at 32,520 BTC. This is slightly below the all-time high of 34,520 BTC on August 3rd. This shows that investors are still optimistic about the fund’s future.
Bitcoin Spot ETFs Face Resistance
Although the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has given the green light to several bitcoin ETFs over the past year, it remains steadfast in not approving any Spot Bitcoin ETFs. The regulator has pointed out that concerns about the risk of investing in a Spot BTC ETF have been behind this, but the companies have not been receptive to this.
BTC price at $19,165 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
The most prominent of the companies that have pushed back against the SEC’s stance on this are shades of gray. The firm that manages various crypto funds had applied to turn its infamous Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Spot ETF, but was rejected. However, Grayscale did not take this rejection lightly as it sued the regulator, citing that the argument for not approving a BTC Spot ETF was “flawed” and “inconsistently applied”.
The SEC has so far rejected more than a dozen BTC Spot ETF applications including those from WisdomTree and Ark21Shares. Currently, Grayscale’s case against the SEC is still pending, but there is no timeline as to when the regulator will approve a Spot ETF.
Featured image from Techstory, charts from Arcane Research and TradingView.com
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