Five of the seven worst debuts in the history of the exchange-traded fund industry involve cryptocurrency. According to Morningstar Direct data, the funds were introduced in the heady days of 2021, just in time for them to experience the full force of the market turbulence in 2022.
The performance of leveraged and inverse funds, which are not intended to be held for a long time, is not included in the findings, which are based on data that was exclusively provided for the Financial Times.
Many of the headlines have focused on the highly publicized ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which lost a record $1.2 billion in the twelve months following its eagerly anticipated arrival in October 2021.
Even though their losses in dollar terms were smaller due to their smaller size, a number of smaller ETFs have suffered losses that are higher in percentage terms than BITO's 70.4 percent first-year plunge.
The Melanion BTC Equities Universe Ucits ETF, which invests in cryptocurrency-related businesses like Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, and MicroStrategy, had the worst performance. It debuted in October 2021, the same month as BITO and just weeks before the peak of the global markets but fell by 76.9% in the following 12 months.
The Global X Blockchain ETF (BKCH), which debuted in July of last year and is listed on the US stock exchange, also experienced a 76.7 percent decline in its first year of trading.
Another October 2021 hatchling, Invesco Alerian Galaxy Crypto Economy ETF (SATO), lagged behind with a decline of 73.7%, and First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry and Digital Economy ETF (CRPT) shipped 69.4% in the year prior to this September.
