ProShares Dismisses Concerns Over Cost of Tracking Futures

ProShares, the issuer of the first U.S. bitcoin futures-linked exchange-traded fund (ETF), said concerns that costs associated with trading of the derivatives would lead to tracking errors are unfounded. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy Fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in October, 2021, allowing investors to gain exposure to bitcoin (BTC) without having to actually own the cryptocurrency. The ETF, the world’s largest crypto fund, invests in regulated and cash-settled bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). From the very beginning, observers speculated BITO and other futures-based ETFs would significantly underperform bitcoin due to costs associated with rolling over, or selling expiring futures contracts and buying the next set. “Concerns about the roll costs are misguided; BITO has closely tracked bitcoin’s price since inception,” Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, told CoinDesk in an email interview.