The Volatility Shares 2X Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) is surging, sending assets under management in the fund close to the vaunted $1 billion level.
Since the start of the year, BITX, the first ETF to offer leveraged exposure to bitcoin, is up an incredible 124%, just over double the 61% gain for bitcoin. The cryptocurrency briefly surpassed $69,000 this week, topping the previous record high from November 2021.
BITX uses CME bitcoin futures contracts to get its exposure and was launched in June 2023, seven months before the monumental SEC approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S.
Like most leveraged ETFs, BITX is designed with aggressive traders in mind. Well-timed trades in the ETF can lead to massive returns—just as the fund has delivered over the past eight months.
But ill-timed trades can lead to enormous losses that are compounded by the performance decay that comes from daily rebalancing.
So far, investors haven’t had to worry about the downside. It’s been straight up for BITX since its launch, a windfall for the traders who have thrown money into the ETF.
Since its debut, $541 million has flowed into BITX, with $402 million of that coming since the start of 2024.
Those inflows combined with the fund’s stellar performance pushed assets under management in BITX to $914 million on Wednesday.
7th Biggest ETF Targeting Bitcoin
That makes BITX the seventh-largest ETF targeting bitcoin and the second-largest bitcoin ETF that uses futures, after the $2.9 billion ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO).
BITX’s success has caught the eye of competitors. On February 22, Valkyrie launched a rival product called the Valkyrie Bitcoin Futures Leveraged Strategy ETF (BTFX), which currently has $27 million in AUM.
ProShares, Direxion and T-Rex have also filed with the SEC to launch leveraged bitcoin ETFs, though BITX’s first mover advantage probably means that it will remain the largest fund in the category for a long time.