Ethereum ETFs fail to live up to hype: combined trading volume amounts to just $1.7 million

Ethereum Futures ETF was anticipated to launch with significant bullishness from investors across the crypto and traditional finance market. The outcome, however, was quite disappointing as the collective slew of ETH ETFs fell short of expectations.

Read more - Grayscale submits request to SEC to turn Ethereum Trust into an ETF

Ethereum ETFs turned out below par

The first few minutes when an exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches are usually critical to gauge whether the investment vehicle delivered on the investors’ interest, and in the case of Ethereum this was disappointing. Following the market opening on October 2, Ethereum Futures ETFs noted no more than $2 million worth of trading volume in the first 15 minutes.

The volume was below average and rather underwhelming when compared to actual Ethereum’s trading volume. In the same duration, the cryptocurrency observed about $50 million worth of trading. Against this figure, the ETH ETFs volume makes up for less than 3.5% of the total ETH traded.

Ethereum Futures ETF trading volume

As highlighted by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), launched in October 2021, observed a trading volume of more than $200 million in the first 15 minutes. This is nearly 9,900% higher than the trading volume generated by all the Ethereum futures ETFs combined today.

Furthermore, over the past day, the launch of Ethereum ETFs did not observe much interest on social platforms either. To put this into perspective, note that Bitcoin, as a keyword, noted significantly higher social volume than the Ethereum ETF keywords. “Ethereum ETF” accounted for only 1.79% of the entire social volume, while Bitcoin still stood at a solid 4.9%.

Ethereum ETF keyword social interest

Institutional interest continues to wane

Not only did the cryptocurrency observe a lack of interest from retail investors, but institutional investors also have been sidelining Ethereum since the beginning of the year. As per the CoinShares digital asset fund flow report, ETH has noted more than $114 million in outflows year-to-date, making it the worst-performing asset.

Ethereum institutional interest 

Bitcoin, on the other hand, has recorded inflows of $168 million since January 2023 and still added another $20 million in the week ending September 29. Thus, Ethereum is fundamentally losing traction among crypto investors, which might spell trouble for the price going forward.