Tomorrow is finally the day. The first bitcoin (BTC) futures exchange traded fund (ETF), or listed fund, will then launch in the United States. The fund manager ProShares confirms this in a newsletter from DealBook, part of The New York Times and published on October 18.
In today’s DealBook newsletter: @el72champs on the first Bitcoin ETF that will (soon) trade on the NYSE; how Democrats are reacting to Joe Manchin’s climate curveball; David Solomon of Goldman Sachs on the good times to come in deals; and more https://t.co/s0xDuje37N
— DealBook (@dealbook) October 18, 2021
This concerns the ‘Bitcoin Strategy ETF’ of ProShares. The company filed an application for a bitcoin futures ETF last summer. The fund received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday.
The investment product was expected to launch today or tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca, under the stock sticker BITO. The New York Times now confirms that tomorrow, October 19, will be:
“Tomorrow morning, ProShares is launching a highly anticipated exchange-traded fund on the New York Stock Exchange, pegged to Bitcoin futures, the company and the exchange told DealBook.”
The fund is linked to bitcoin futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Such a fund is primarily intended for institutional investors who are not allowed to invest directly in bitcoin. It is usually cheaper for private investors to invest directly in BTC. Nevertheless, the fund is also accessible to private individuals who, for example, do not want to hold BTC themselves.
The high expectations about the ETF recently gave the bitcoin price a boost and it was already on the rise. Bitcoin climbs closer to being all time high (ATH) from mid-May. The market hopes that a listed fund will attract massive institutional investors, but there is a chance that the volume will initially be disappointing and will cause selling pressure.
Still, it will open the doors to more such products in the market. But when we get to see a “real” physical spot bitcoin ETF in the US, the question remains.