TLDR
- The SEC approved six new 3x leveraged ETFs on October 2, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold, silver, oil, and gas.
- The Bitcoin and Ethereum funds will use regulated futures contracts instead of holding the coins directly.
- Volatility Shares still needs effective S-1 registration statements before trading can begin.
- No launch date has been announced for the new funds.
- The funds reset daily, which can cause returns to differ from three times the long-term price move.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the first 3x leveraged Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the country. The approval was granted on October 2, 2026, through a rule change filed by Cboe BZX.
🚨JUST IN: The SEC just APPROVED a rule change allowing 3x leveraged ETFs tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas from Volatility Shares.
The funds would use regulated FUTURES rather than holding the underlying assets directly.
They are NOT trading… pic.twitter.com/SMiqRONgV4
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 5, 2026
The approval allows Volatility Shares to list six new triple-leveraged funds. These include products tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold, silver, crude oil, and natural gas.
The Bitcoin fund is expected to trade under the ticker BITH. The Ethereum fund is expected to trade under the ticker ETHK.
How the Funds Will Work
Neither fund will hold the underlying coins directly. Instead, they will use regulated futures contracts, including those linked to the CME, to try to match three times the daily price move of Bitcoin or Ethereum.
This means a 1% daily gain in the futures benchmark could produce close to a 3% gain for the fund, before fees. A 1% daily loss could produce a close to 3% loss.
The funds reset their exposure at the end of every trading day. This daily reset is a standard feature of leveraged funds.
Because of this reset, the funds are built to match three times the daily move only. They are not designed to match three times the move over a week, a month, or a year.
Volatility Shares already runs a 2x Bitcoin fund called BITX. The company has experience managing leveraged crypto products before this new approval.
Waiting on Registration Before Trading Begins
Even though the SEC has approved the rule change, the funds cannot start trading yet. Volatility Shares still needs its Form S-1 registration statements to become effective.
There is no confirmed date for when that will happen. The company has not announced a launch date for either fund.
Analysts have pointed out risks tied to how these products behave over time. Because of daily resets, a cryptocurrency that gains value and then loses the same percentage can still produce a loss for the fund larger than the coin’s own loss.
For example, a 10% Bitcoin gain followed by a 10% Bitcoin loss would leave Bitcoin down about 1%. A 3x fund tracking that same move could end up down closer to 9%, due to the effects of daily resetting.
A single-day drop of around 33% in the underlying futures could wipe out the entire value of a 3x fund. This is why these products are generally built for short-term traders who track their positions daily.
Other firms have tried to launch similar triple-leveraged crypto products. GraniteShares attempted to bring 3x XRP funds to market earlier this year but faced delays.
This approval is part of a broader pattern of regulatory activity around crypto products in the United States this year. The SEC has also issued guidance covering staking receipt tokens and other digital asset structures.
Regulators have been reviewing rules on adviser crypto custody and tokenized securities as well. Filings from OKX and ICE involving tokenized NYSE stocks have moved forward under an SEC innovation framework.
Separately, the Treasury has pulled back on earlier plans to regulate crypto mixers. The SEC has also discussed the idea of an innovation exemption for tokenized securities.
As of now, the 3x Bitcoin and 3x Ethereum funds remain unavailable to investors. Trading will not begin until the registration statements are formally declared effective.