When the first U.S. bitcoin futures ETF was launched, it made a huge impact. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) was launched on Oct. 18, 2021, and it was the second-highest traded ETF in existence. Turnover was over $1 billion on the first day, while all seven ether futures ETFs traded only $7 million on Oct. 7. But this was a different time. Bitcoin prices were at their peak at over $69,000, and Ethereum prices were similarly at their peak at over $4,800. Mainstream investors were a lot more excited about crypto, and bitcoin futures ETFs were able to ride that wave. Additionally, ether itself has less popularity than bitcoin; the market share for bitcoin is about 51% vs. 17% for ether. But while ether broadly has less demand than bitcoin, this was still a space in the market that needed to be filled – particularly for investors who want to use ETFs to capture the full crypto market in their portfolio.
