04-12-2025, 08:55 AM
This year's top ETF strategy? Shorting Ether — Bloomberg Intelligence
<p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjI1YmUtYzk4NS03OGVmLWI0NzctYjdiY2E5OGRjMWVi.jpg"></p><p><p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjI1YmUtYzk4NS03OGVmLWI0NzctYjdiY2E5OGRjMWVi.jpg" alt="This year's top ETF strategy? Shorting Ether — Bloomberg Intelligence"></p><p>Betting against Ether has been the best performing exchange traded fund (ETF) strategy so far in 2025, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.<p>Two ETFs designed to take two-times leveraged short positions in Ether claimed (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price">ETH</a>) first and second place in a Bloomberg Intelligence ranking of the year’s top-performing funds, Balchunas <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1910014540227698939" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> in a post on the X platform. </p><p>In the year-to-date, ProShares UltraShort Ether ETF (ETHD) and T Rex 2X Inverse Ether Daily Target ETF (ETQ) are up approximately 247% and 219%, respectively, Bloomberg Intelligence data showed. </p><p>The implications for Ether are “brutal,” Balchunas said. Ether itself is down approximately 54% year-to-date on April 11, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price">according to Cointelegraph’s market data</a>. </p><p>Both ETFs use financial derivatives to inversely track Ether’s performance with twice as much volatility as the underlying cryptocurrency. Leveraged ETFs do not always perfectly track their underlying assets. </p><figure><img alt="This year's top ETF strategy? Shorting Ether — Bloomberg Intelligence" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/0196262d-f8fe-72bf-9eb7-f17ac0c823df" title=""><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1910014540227698939" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1910014540227698939"><em>Eric Balchunas</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p><em><strong>Related: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-revenues-rebound-amid-l2-blob-uptick" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-revenues-rebound-amid-l2-blob-uptick"><em><strong>Ethereum fees poised for rebound amid L2, blob uptick</strong></em></a></p><h2>Weak revenue performance</h2><p>With approximately $46 billion in total value locked (TVL), Ethereum is still the most popular blockchain network, according to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum">data</a> from DefiLlama. </p><p>However, its native token performance has <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-weekly-blob-fees-hit-2025-lows" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-weekly-blob-fees-hit-2025-lows">sputtered since March 2024</a>, when Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade — designed to cut costs for users — slashed the network’s fee revenues by roughly 95%.</p><p>The upgrade kept the network’s revenues depressed, largely because of difficulties monetizing its layer-2 (L2) scaling chains, which host an increasingly large portion of transactions settled on Ethereum. </p><p>“Ethereum’s future will revolve around how effectively it serves as a data availability engine for L2s,” arndxt, author of the Threading on the Edge newsletter, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/arndxt_xo/status/1906888194588844113" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://x.com/arndxt_xo/status/1906888194588844113">said</a> in a March X post.</p><figure><img alt="Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Price, Markets, Futures, Ether Price, Ethereum Price, Ethereum ETF, ETF" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/01962634-1b2d-7f83-beb9-041c8f82a19a" title=""><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>Ethereum’s TVL. Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum"><em>DeFiLlama</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p>In the week ending March 30, Ethereum earned only 3.18 ETH from transactions on its layer-2 chains, such as Arbitrum and Base, according to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/etherscan/status/1907029498681520375" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://x.com/etherscan/status/1907029498681520375">data</a> from Etherscan. </p><p>To fully recover Ethereum’s peak fee revenues from before the Dencun upgrade, L2's transaction volumes would need to increase more than 22,000-fold, according to an X <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/JustDeauIt/status/1906815975674028525" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">post</a> by Michael Nadeau, founder of The DeFi Report. </p><p>Meanwhile, smart contract platforms — including Ethereum and Solana — <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoins-bull-market-solana-sputters-vaneck" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoins-bull-market-solana-sputters-vaneck">suffered across-the-board declines</a> in usage during the first quarter of 2025, asset manager VanEck said in an April report. </p><p>The diminished activity reflects <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-bulls-defend-80-k-support-as-world-war-3-of-trade-wars-crushes-us-stocks" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">cooling market sentiment</a> as traders brace for US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and a looming trade war.</p><p><em><strong>Magazine: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/xrp-ripple-bad-actor-no-precedent-legal/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em><strong>XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set</strong></em></a></p><template data-name="subscription_form" data-type="markets_outlook" label="Subscription Form: Markets Outlook"></template><p><br></p></p>
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-year...er_inbound
<p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjI1YmUtYzk4NS03OGVmLWI0NzctYjdiY2E5OGRjMWVi.jpg"></p><p><p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjI1YmUtYzk4NS03OGVmLWI0NzctYjdiY2E5OGRjMWVi.jpg" alt="This year's top ETF strategy? Shorting Ether — Bloomberg Intelligence"></p><p>Betting against Ether has been the best performing exchange traded fund (ETF) strategy so far in 2025, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.<p>Two ETFs designed to take two-times leveraged short positions in Ether claimed (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price">ETH</a>) first and second place in a Bloomberg Intelligence ranking of the year’s top-performing funds, Balchunas <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1910014540227698939" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> in a post on the X platform. </p><p>In the year-to-date, ProShares UltraShort Ether ETF (ETHD) and T Rex 2X Inverse Ether Daily Target ETF (ETQ) are up approximately 247% and 219%, respectively, Bloomberg Intelligence data showed. </p><p>The implications for Ether are “brutal,” Balchunas said. Ether itself is down approximately 54% year-to-date on April 11, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price">according to Cointelegraph’s market data</a>. </p><p>Both ETFs use financial derivatives to inversely track Ether’s performance with twice as much volatility as the underlying cryptocurrency. Leveraged ETFs do not always perfectly track their underlying assets. </p><figure><img alt="This year's top ETF strategy? Shorting Ether — Bloomberg Intelligence" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/0196262d-f8fe-72bf-9eb7-f17ac0c823df" title=""><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1910014540227698939" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1910014540227698939"><em>Eric Balchunas</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p><em><strong>Related: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-revenues-rebound-amid-l2-blob-uptick" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-revenues-rebound-amid-l2-blob-uptick"><em><strong>Ethereum fees poised for rebound amid L2, blob uptick</strong></em></a></p><h2>Weak revenue performance</h2><p>With approximately $46 billion in total value locked (TVL), Ethereum is still the most popular blockchain network, according to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum">data</a> from DefiLlama. </p><p>However, its native token performance has <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-weekly-blob-fees-hit-2025-lows" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-weekly-blob-fees-hit-2025-lows">sputtered since March 2024</a>, when Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade — designed to cut costs for users — slashed the network’s fee revenues by roughly 95%.</p><p>The upgrade kept the network’s revenues depressed, largely because of difficulties monetizing its layer-2 (L2) scaling chains, which host an increasingly large portion of transactions settled on Ethereum. </p><p>“Ethereum’s future will revolve around how effectively it serves as a data availability engine for L2s,” arndxt, author of the Threading on the Edge newsletter, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/arndxt_xo/status/1906888194588844113" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://x.com/arndxt_xo/status/1906888194588844113">said</a> in a March X post.</p><figure><img alt="Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Price, Markets, Futures, Ether Price, Ethereum Price, Ethereum ETF, ETF" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/01962634-1b2d-7f83-beb9-041c8f82a19a" title=""><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>Ethereum’s TVL. Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum"><em>DeFiLlama</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p>In the week ending March 30, Ethereum earned only 3.18 ETH from transactions on its layer-2 chains, such as Arbitrum and Base, according to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/etherscan/status/1907029498681520375" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://x.com/etherscan/status/1907029498681520375">data</a> from Etherscan. </p><p>To fully recover Ethereum’s peak fee revenues from before the Dencun upgrade, L2's transaction volumes would need to increase more than 22,000-fold, according to an X <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/JustDeauIt/status/1906815975674028525" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">post</a> by Michael Nadeau, founder of The DeFi Report. </p><p>Meanwhile, smart contract platforms — including Ethereum and Solana — <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoins-bull-market-solana-sputters-vaneck" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoins-bull-market-solana-sputters-vaneck">suffered across-the-board declines</a> in usage during the first quarter of 2025, asset manager VanEck said in an April report. </p><p>The diminished activity reflects <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-bulls-defend-80-k-support-as-world-war-3-of-trade-wars-crushes-us-stocks" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">cooling market sentiment</a> as traders brace for US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and a looming trade war.</p><p><em><strong>Magazine: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/xrp-ripple-bad-actor-no-precedent-legal/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em><strong>XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set</strong></em></a></p><template data-name="subscription_form" data-type="markets_outlook" label="Subscription Form: Markets Outlook"></template><p><br></p></p>
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-year...er_inbound