The crypto area is on the verge of one other probably historic second with the primary Ethereum Futures ETF within the US. Volatility Shares, a pioneer within the ETF area, has introduced its intention to launch the Ether Strategy ETF (Ticker: ETHU) on October 12, 2023. If all goes as deliberate, this might mark the primary Ether primarily based alternate traded fund (ETF) within the United States.
First Ethereum Futures ETF Is Set To Launch In The US
Volatility Shares has positioned the ETF round cash-settled Ethereum futures contracts buying and selling on the CBOE. Notably, the ETF avoids direct funding in Ether itself. “The Fund is an exchange-traded fund that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing its assets principally in cash-settled contracts referencing Ether… The Fund does not invest directly in Ether,” reads the SEC submitting.
Stuart Barton, the CIO of Volatility Shares, voiced his optimism, saying, “Volatility Shares successfully launched the first 2x Bitcoin-linked ETF (BITX) in July and believes that ETHU is the next logical step before turning our forces to spot markets.”
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF Analyst for Bloomberg, weighed in on the audacity of Volatility Shares’ aggressive timeline: “VolatilityShares announcing they intend to list their Ether Futures ETF on Oct 12th (which would be a day or two ahead of the rest of pack (if the 75 days is adhered to).. they did same thing w $BITX”.
When prompted on the chance of SEC’s approval, he remarked, “Well, there’s been no withdrawals so SEC looks to be okay with them … he’s probably just pushing the envelope like he did w BITX”.
While Volatility Shares leads the pack, they’re not alone on this pursuit. A complete of 13 heavyweight monetary establishments, together with names like Bitwise, VanEck, Vakyrie, Roubhill, ProfessionalShares, and Grayscale, have sought the US SEC’s blessings for his or her Ether Futures ETFs. However, as of now, the SEC hasn’t given its inexperienced sign to any.
Will Ether Echo BTC’s 2021 Surge?
Remarkably, the primary Bitcoin futures ETF within the US was launched again on October 19, 2021. At that point, ProfessionalShares gained the race for the primary mover impact. And this has paid off. The complete assets in Bitcoin futures ETFs accounts to $1.3 billion. Of that, almost $1.1 billion is within the ProfessionalShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO). The second largest ETF is the ProfessionalShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF with $73 million. No different ETF has greater than $50 million in property beneath administration.
When the primary Bitcoin futures ETF was launched, BTC was within the midst of the 2021 bull run. In the run-up to the futures ETF launch, BTC placed on a 60% rally from Oct. 1 to Oct. 19, rising 60% to $66,970. In the subsequent seven subsequent days, BTC noticed a correction of about 14% earlier than Bitcoin continued its rally to the all-time excessive close to $69,000.
Whether the ETH value will expertise the same euphoria as Bitcoin in 2021 stays to be seen. At least the atmosphere is totally different. While BTC was in a full blown bull market, the crypto market is presently in a section of stagnation, probably earlier than the beginning of a brand new bull market. However, definitely, the primary Ethereum Futures ETF has the potential to be a catalyst for the ETH value.
At the time of writing, ETH was buying and selling at $1,826, simply above the important thing help of the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement stage.
Featured picture from iStock, chart from TradingView.com