Asset management company Volatility Shares has filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) an application to list the Solana futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). The strategic move comes after several asset managers filed to launch a spot Solana ETF earlier this year.
Will Volatility Shares Increase Odds Of Spot ETF?
In a December 27 post on the X forum, ETF Store president Nate Geraci revealed that Volatility Shares has filed a futures-based Solana ETF with the US SEC. An exchange-traded fund provides publicly traded securities that provide exposure to the price movements of a cryptocurrency futures contract (the SOL futures contract, in this case).
In context, futures contracts refer to financial derivatives that allow investors to speculate on the future price of an asset without directly owning it. With the Solana futures ETF, Volatility Shares aims to offer products with three different types of intensities, including 1x, 2x, and -1x exposure.
A SOL futures ETF with 1x exposure will track Solana futures value without interest, while funds with 2x exposure will provide stronger exposure and amplify price movements by 2x. Meanwhile, Solana ETFs with -1x leverage provide inverse exposure, meaning they gain value when futures contracts decline.
Source: @NateGeraci/X
According to Geraci, this application of Volatility Shares may be important even for SOL trading funds, considering the asset manager’s role in the authorization of Ether futures ETFs. The asset management company has pushed the Securities and Exchange Commission to greenlight crypto products by 2023.
The president of the ETF Store emphasized that the letter specifically stated, “The Solana futures contract trades only on an exchange registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.”
Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas also commented on the Solana ETF’s application based on Volatility Shares futures, saying it is a welcome development in the crypto space. According to Balchunas, this latest filing reflects the success of the SOL ETF’s local application.
This is wild. A Solana futures ETF that complements bf Solana futures even exists! Oh and let’s do it 2x while we’re at it. A solid foundation.. and a good sign for SOL’s future in an arguable way that bodes well for the possibilities. And this was supposed to be a quiet week!
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) December 28, 2024
Solana Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of SOL stands at around $195, representing a 5.5% increase in the last 24 hours. According to CoinGecko data, the value of SOL jumped by almost 6% last week.
The price of SOL on the daily timeframe | Source: SOLUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from Dreamstime/Aivaras Sakurovas, chart from TradingView