(Bloomberg) —
Bitcoin is on pace for its worst monthly performance since May, but exchange-traded fund investors are still plowing money toward products that track the cryptocurrency’s futures.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (ticker BITO) has taken in more than $40 million so far in December, its third straight monthly infusion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Similarly, investors have added $6.5 million to the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) since the end of November, also its third consecutive month of inflows.
That comes amid a crypto downturn that’s seen Bitcoin lose 17% during the last month of the year, putting it on pace for its worst performance since May when it shed 35%. Other cryptocurrenices have lost ground too as investors pull away from some of the riskiest corners of the market.
Both BITO and BTF launched in October, the first two Bitcoin-futures funds to trade in the U.S. Both had banner starts, with ProShares’s product in particular seeing massive amounts of investor interest. Still, the recent inflows for both funds pale in comparison to what each saw upon their debuts.
“There had been pent-up demand to gain exposure to the price of Bitcoin through ETFs before the products launched and many investors have a favorable long-term view of the cryptocurrency that is not broken by recent volatility,” Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, wrote in an email. “Investors have stayed loyal in the past month and likely will into 2022.”
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