Ethereum’s future prospects receive a warm welcome on the first day of trading

The euphoria surrounding the launch of nine new Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) appears to have had little impact on the dollar by comparison.

On October 2, nine new ETF products designed to track futures contracts tied to the price of Ethereum's native currency Ether (ETH) hit the market. Only five of these funds only hold Ether futures, while the other four track Bitcoin and ETH futures.

Eric Balchunas, senior analyst at Bloomberg EFF, wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Oct. 2 was “a beautiful day for audio.”

An unprecedented day today with so many ETFs all launching at once. No clear winner emerged, they all averaged less than I expected, but it's a long time and remember, these hold futures (ETF investors prefer physical over derivatives) https://t.co/fKGOv8T7pP

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 2, 2023

Overall, all nine ETFs witnessed less than $2 million in trading volume as of noon EST on the first day of trading.

The most popular of the ETF futures products was the Valkyrie BTF – which tracks a combination of Bitcoin and Ether – with a total volume of $882,000.

It's worth noting that BTF has been trading as a Bitcoin-only futures ETF since October 2021, but has adjusted its strategy to include ETH.

The first-day trading volume of Ether ETFs pales in comparison to the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which launched in October 2021 on the crypto asset's top market. BITO saw more than 1 billion dollars in trade on the first day.

Related: VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF Set for CBOE Listing

However, Balchunas noted that compared to a typical traditional finance ETF launch, the amount certified was actually “very large”, even though investors prefer ETF products over futures.

Balchunas explained that all products were scheduled to launch on the day the SEC wanted to prevent any one fund from gaining market dominance.

Meanwhile, as various US companies jockey for pole position in the nascent ether futures market, ETF firm Volatility Shares has canceled plans to list a similar product, saying it currently “doesn't see an opportunity”.

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