Asset management company Volatility Shares has submitted with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) an application to list a Solana futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). This strategic move comes after a host of asset managers applied to launch a spot Solana ETF earlier this year.
Will Volatility Shares Increase Odds Of Spot ETF Approval?
In a December 27 post on the X platform, ETF Store president Nate Geraci revealed that Volatility Shares has filed for a futures-based Solana ETF with the US SEC. A futures exchange-traded fund provides publicly traded securities that offer exposure to the price movements of a cryptocurrency futures contract (SOL futures contract, in this scenario).
For 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 intends to offer products with three different leverage types, including 1x, 2x, and -1x exposure.
The SOL futures ETF with 1x exposure will track the Solana futures price with no leverage, while funds with 2x exposure will provide leveraged exposure and amplify the price movement by 2x. Meanwhile, Solana ETFs with -1x leverage provide inverse exposure, meaning they gain value when the futures contracts decline.
Source: @NateGeraci/X
According to Geraci, this Volatility Shares’ application might be significant even for SOL spot exchange-traded funds, considering the asset manager’s role in the approval of Ether futures ETFs. The asset management company pushed the Securities and Exchange Commission to greenlight the crypto products in 2023.
The ETF Store president highlighted that the filing specifically states, “Solana futures contracts that trade only on an exchange registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.”
Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas also commented on Volatility Shares’ future-based Solana ETF application, stating that it is a welcome development in the crypto space. According to Balchunas, this latest filing bodes well for the success of the spot SOL ETF application.
This is wild. Solana futures ETF filing bf Solana futures even exist! Oh and let’s do a 2x while we’re. Hard core.. and prob good sign SOL futures on way which arguable bodes well for spot odds. 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, reflecting a 5.5% increase in the past 24 hours. According to CoinGecko data, SOL’s value has jumped by nearly 6% in the past week.
The price of SOL on the daily timeframe | Source: SOLUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from Dreamstime/Aivaras Sakurovas, chart from TradingView
