VanEck’s new Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBT) has attracted a huge amount of attention on its launch day. However, the volume of trading is considerably lower than BITO’s and many people appear to be confused as to what this product actually does.

The “bitcoin etfs” is a new ETF that tracks the price of bitcoin. The launch day volume for this ETF was only about $1.7 million, whereas the BITO’s volume on its first day was $2.8 billion.

The VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF) had a “respectable” trading volume on its first day of trading on Nov. 16, but it paled in contrast to comparable debuts.

Bitcoin futures ETFs provide investors exposure to possible future Bitcoin values without requiring them to own any Bitcoin.

According to investing.com, at market closure on the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE), XBTF had roughly $9.5 million in assets under management (AUM) and $4.6 million in daily trading activity. This is a small fraction of the $1 billion in first-day trading activity that the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) saw on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 19. Since then, BITO has risen to the top 2% of all ETFs in terms of overall trading volume.

Tommy Horan, Swyftx’s Head of Corporate Partnerships, said the launch had been “very modest,” but VanEck shouldn’t be concerned. Over the next quarter, their [reduced] fees should draw a steady stream of inflows.

“After all the fanfare surrounding ProShares’ $1.1 billion debut, this was always going to be a bit of a non-event, and it follows the pattern we saw with Valkyrie’s ETF.”

Despite its $78 million in trading volume, Valkyrie’s Bitcoin futures ETF, BTF, had a poor start, with BTF losing 3% in price in the first hour of trading on Nasdaq on Oct. 22.

In a tweet on Nov. 17, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, said that XBTF’s trading volume would typically be high, but that it has been massively eclipsed by BITO.

On Day One, $XBTF traded for around $5 million. Normally, it would be very impressive, perhaps in the top 10% of this year’s launches. It’s merely overshadowed by $BITO’s insane $1 billion bet, not to mention $BTF’s $78 million. pic.twitter.com/bjqrUnThzr

November 16, 2021 — Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas)

The SEC rejected VanEck’s proposal for a spot Bitcoin ETF, resulting in reduced trading activity on XBTF. A spot ETF, as opposed to a futures ETF, would enable investors to obtain exposure to the current price of Bitcoin without having to own it.

Overall, Horan praised the XBTF debut, but believes crypto ETFs won’t take off until a spot ETF is approved: “It’s excellent for the industry to see crypto funds obtaining regulatory permission, but no one is going to be getting over their ski tips until a spot ETF is allowed.”

The SEC is apparently rejecting Valkyrie’s leveraged Bitcoin ETF.