Market
Cboe Files With SEC for First-Ever 3x Leveraged Bitcoin and Ether ETFs
17 Aug 2026, 07:18
16 views
Admin
Cboe BZX Exchange has proposed listing the first 3x leveraged Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in the US, part of a broader six-fund suite sponsored by Volatility Shares that also covers gold, silver and oil.
Cboe BZX Exchange filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 10 to list and trade the first-ever 3x leveraged Bitcoin ETF in the United States, alongside a matching 3x Ether fund. The filing, designated SR-CboeBZX-2026-065, was published by the SEC on August 14 and is now open for public comment, marking the start of a formal regulatory review process before either product could begin trading.
The Bitcoin and Ether funds are part of a broader six-fund suite that also covers gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas, all sponsored by Volatility Shares LLC, a firm that has built a business around leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products. None of the funds would hold the underlying assets directly. Instead, each is structured to invest primarily in futures contracts traded on the CME and other exchanges, using first- and second-month contracts to construct daily returns intended to track three times the performance of the underlying asset. For the Bitcoin fund specifically, that means the product would aim to deliver daily results equal to three times Bitcoin's price movement, resetting that target each trading day rather than compounding it over longer holding periods, a structural feature that has historically made leveraged ETFs poor vehicles for anything beyond short-term trading.
The regulatory path forward is not straightforward. Because leveraged products don't meet Cboe's generic listing standards, the application requires special SEC approval under the agency's 19b-4 rule-change process, a more involved review than the streamlined path now available to many standard spot and futures-based crypto ETFs. In addition, the fund's related S-1 registration statement must be declared effective by the SEC before any shares can actually begin trading, meaning approval of the exchange listing rule alone would not be sufficient to bring the product to market.
If approved, the funds would represent a meaningful escalation in the range of risk exposure available to US retail investors through the ETF wrapper, building on the growing menu of spot and futures-based crypto products that have launched since the first spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved. Leveraged crypto ETFs carry substantially higher volatility and decay risk than their unleveraged counterparts, particularly during extended sideways or choppy price action, where daily rebalancing can erode returns even if the underlying asset ends up roughly flat over time. The public comment period gives market participants, including potential competitors and investor advocacy groups, an opportunity to weigh in before the SEC issues a final decision on whether the products can proceed to listing.
The Bitcoin and Ether funds are part of a broader six-fund suite that also covers gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas, all sponsored by Volatility Shares LLC, a firm that has built a business around leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products. None of the funds would hold the underlying assets directly. Instead, each is structured to invest primarily in futures contracts traded on the CME and other exchanges, using first- and second-month contracts to construct daily returns intended to track three times the performance of the underlying asset. For the Bitcoin fund specifically, that means the product would aim to deliver daily results equal to three times Bitcoin's price movement, resetting that target each trading day rather than compounding it over longer holding periods, a structural feature that has historically made leveraged ETFs poor vehicles for anything beyond short-term trading.
The regulatory path forward is not straightforward. Because leveraged products don't meet Cboe's generic listing standards, the application requires special SEC approval under the agency's 19b-4 rule-change process, a more involved review than the streamlined path now available to many standard spot and futures-based crypto ETFs. In addition, the fund's related S-1 registration statement must be declared effective by the SEC before any shares can actually begin trading, meaning approval of the exchange listing rule alone would not be sufficient to bring the product to market.
If approved, the funds would represent a meaningful escalation in the range of risk exposure available to US retail investors through the ETF wrapper, building on the growing menu of spot and futures-based crypto products that have launched since the first spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved. Leveraged crypto ETFs carry substantially higher volatility and decay risk than their unleveraged counterparts, particularly during extended sideways or choppy price action, where daily rebalancing can erode returns even if the underlying asset ends up roughly flat over time. The public comment period gives market participants, including potential competitors and investor advocacy groups, an opportunity to weigh in before the SEC issues a final decision on whether the products can proceed to listing.