There was a lot of anticipation and hype around the launch of nine new Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On the contrary, very little of this hype has been converted into investment. The Ethereum (ETH) futures ETF products noticed considerably low trading volumes on the first day of launch.
The futures ETFs were launched on October 2, as they link futures contracts to the value of ETH in the market. Five out of nine ETFs exclusively hold ETH futures, whereas the other four are a combination of BTC and ETH futures contracts.
As Ethereum futures ETFs received an underwhelming response from consumers, many analysts and experts expressed their two cents on the matter. Eric Balchunas tweeted “Pretty meh day of volume” while discussing the performance of these ETFs. As per initial reports, the combined trading volume for all 9 ETFs was less than $2 million.
Pretty meh volume for the Ether Futures ETFs as a group, a little under $2m, about normal for a new ETF but vs $BITO (which did $200m in first 15min) it is low. Tight race bt VanEck and ProShares in the single eth lane. pic.twitter.com/F9AHtrVcVf
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 2, 2023
Concerning Performance of Ethereum Futures ETFs, What’s Next?
Among the newly launched ETF products, Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF was the highest performer with a volume of $882,000. It has a combination of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Back in 2021, this was a Bitcoin-only futures ETF, however, it was recently altered to include ETH as well.
Market analysts compared the performance of ETH ETFs to ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. This ETF was launched in October 2021 during a bullish market and noticed more than $1 billion in trading volume on the first day of its launch.
On the other hand, Balchunas further explained that investors often prefer spot ETFs rather than futures ETFs. This could be a reason for an underwhelming investor response to the recent launch. Moreover, all 9 Ethereum Futures ETFs were scheduled for launch on the same day, as emphasized by the SEC to prevent any one ETF from gaining market domination over the other. Due to these reasons, the launch also had no meaningful impact on the price of ETH in the market as well.
Unprecedented day today with multiple ETFs all launching at same time. No clear winner has emerged, all of them were pretty average, lower than I would have predicted, but its a long run and remember, these hold futures (ETF investors much prefer physical to derivatives) https://t.co/fKGOv8T7pP
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 2, 2023
Bitcoin spot ETFs have remained a hot topic in the crypto space, as the SEC is continuously delaying their approval. Many experts believe that they will see a Bitcoin ETF this calendar year while others are hoping to see one in the market by the start of next year.
