Asset manager ProShares is looking to gain an advantage in the market, as suggested by its latest Bitcoin ETF filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This comes as its BTC futures ETF looks to have lost a significant number of investors to the recently launched Spot BTC ETFs.
ProShares Files For 5 Bitcoin Inverse And Leveraged ETFs
According to the filing, these inverse and leveraged ETFs will track the daily performance of the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index. Out of the five ETFs, three happen to be inverse, namely ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF, ProShares ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF, and ProShares Short BTC ETF. As noted in the filing, these funds won’t directly short BTC but only look to benefit from decreases in its price.
Meanwhile, the leveraged ETFs are named the ProShares Plus Bitcoin ETF and ProShares Ultra Bitcoin ETF. Like the inverse ETFs, these funds will also not invest directly in BTC but will only be looking to benefit from significant price changes in its price. ProShares is a major player when it comes to offering crypto-related ETFs.
The firm happened to be the first to launch a BTC futures ETF (ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO). They also launched the first ETF that tracked the performance of Ethereum. This will also not be the first time the asset manager is looking to offer an inverse ETF, as they already offer investment funds that aim to benefit from declines in BTC and Ethereum’s prices.
A Plausible Reason For ProShares’ Latest Move
Nate Geraci, President of the ETF Store, gave his opinion on what could be the reason for ProShares’ latest move as he predicts that BITO could slowly bleed out. As such, ProShares are reporting back to these leveraged and inverse ETFs, which Geraci says is their bread and butter.
Indeed, ProShares Futures Bitcoin ETF may already be bleeding, as indicated in a recent comment by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. He highlighted that BITO broke its all-time volume record with $2 billion traded on the same day that the Spot Bitcoin ETFs launched. However, he went on to suggest that redemptions could have accounted for some of the trades with investors moving their funds to a Spot BTC ETF.
A report by K33 last year predicted that futures Bitcoin ETFs may not have the same allure as before following the launch of the Spot BTC ETFs. Geraci also shares similar sentiments as he stated that there was no “real need” for these funds now that the “real thing exists.” he made this comment as he revealed that VanEck was closing its BTC futures ETF.