ProShares Discusses the Impact of Spot Bitcoin ETFs on BITO Futures
ProShares is an asset management firm based out of Bethesda, Maryland USA. The firm is responsible for listing the first ever Bitcoin futures ETF listing in the United States called BITO in 2021.
The officials at ProShares recently talked about the positive impact of Bitcoin spot ETF for its Bitcoin futures ETPs. Speaking to the journalists at Cointelegraph, senior investment strategist Simeon Hyman noted that approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs does not pose a threat to Bitcoin futures ETPs.
Additionally, the executive also noted that Bitcoin spot ETF is a positive movement in terms of operational and commercial progress.
He was speaking with the media reporters on 2nd February 2024. ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF listed under ticker BITO is viewed as effective in terms of generating massive trading volumes at the time of Bitcoin spot ETF listings. Hyman noted that the firm was very happy and satisfied with the impact of Bitcoin spot ETFs thus far.
At the same time, the executive retained that the BITO was trading at two basis points or 2/100th of its total value. However, the sr. strategist noted that the firm was expecting an average premium or discount on spot ETFs of about 36 basis points.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Vs Futures ETPs
ProShares executive noted that the introduction of spot ETFs has contributed towards the consistent improvement of Bitcoin futures markets. He highlighted that the crypto ETFs have remained a sector with sufficient regulatory backing, adding to its reliability.
However, the market conditions have improved significantly more since the introduction of Bitcoin spot ETFs. His feedback is in line with the BITO trading volume graph during the past few months. Notable trading volume spikes were noted in the first decade of January, 2024 around the time when Bitcoin spot ETFs were launched.
Yahoo Finance data projections indicate that BITO trading volume rose to as high as $2 billion on 11th January. For the pre-spot ETF months, the total trading volume for the product remained within $600 million.
Since the listing of Bitcoin spot ETFs, BITO continued to trade at standard trading volumes during 2023. As of 2nd February, BITO handled around $180 million in trading volume. For the duration of December and November 2023, BITO respectively generated similar trading volumes around $200 million and $112 million.
A spokesperson for ProShares noted that BITO’s mean trading volume for 2023 was recorded to be around $177.8 million. BITO printed an ATH of $41.12 on 12th November, 2021 as per Google Finance data projections.
ProShares Launches 5 Leveraged and Inverse Bitcoin ETFs
ProShares filed a series of new Bitcoin ETF listings last month. As per reports, the firm filed for 5 Bitcoin ETF applications with two leveraged and three inverse ETFs. The titles of these funds are ProShares Ultra Bitcoin ETF, ProShares Plus Bitcoin ETF, ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF, ProShares ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF, and ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF.
The official filing document indicates that one of these ETFs will project daily investment volume before fees and expenses in the same fashion as the 2x of daily inflows of the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index. ProShares officials have retained in the filing that two of the ETFs do not track spot price of Bitcoin while three others do not short Bitcoin directly. The firm filed for the additional 5 Bitcoin ETFs days after the approval of 10 Bitcoin spot ETFs in the USA.
