BITI vs BITO

BITICProShares Short Bitcoin ETF

BITOBProShares Bitcoin ETF

In short

BITI The original US short-bitcoin fund. Live since 2022, BITI targets -1x the daily move of the Bloomberg Bitcoin Index without directly shorting any coin, and it resets every day. Cost: 1.02% a year, above the category norm.

BITO The derivatives route to bitcoin: futures and swaps held inside a regular 1940 Act fund, no exchange account, no wallet, no keys. Trading since 2021, heavily traded, and it pushes futures-related gains out as a monthly distribution.

Stated mandate

BITI The Fund seeks daily results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to the inverse of the daily performance of the Bloomberg Bitcoin Index.

BITO The fund seeks capital appreciation through exposure to bitcoin, primarily using bitcoin futures and swaps rather than holding bitcoin directly.

Why people hold it

• BITI The first US ETF built to go short bitcoin, trading since 2022, so there is a multi-year public record behind the mechanism rather than a brand-new launch.businesswire.com
• Short exposure inside an ordinary brokerage account: no margin agreement, no coin borrow, no wallet. The fund uses derivatives and does not directly short bitcoin.proshares.comproshares.com 2
• Actively traded for an inverse crypto product, and it stands in the upper half of its bitcoin-derivatives peer group.
• The collateral behind the position throws off income: the fund intends to distribute income, if any, monthly, and capital gains at least annually.sec.gov

• BITO Bitcoin exposure bought like any stock. The fund uses bitcoin futures and swaps inside a 1940 Act fund wrapper instead of holding coins, so there is no crypto exchange account or private key to manage.proshares.com
• At 0.95% a year it undercuts the typical fee in its bitcoin-derivatives group, and it stands among the stronger implementations in that small cohort.
• One of the busiest tickers in the bitcoin-derivatives corner, and a multi-billion-dollar fund. Liquidity like that usually means you get in and out without fighting the spread.
• A 2021 launch, which makes it one of the longer-running bitcoin funds on a US exchange. ProShares also runs the inverse version, BITI, if you want the other side of the trade.

Worth knowing

• BITI Daily reset. Over longer stretches the result is each day's return compounded, which can differ in size and even direction from -1x the index over that same span.sec.gov
• The prospectus is blunt about the edges: a flat index over time still loses money here, and the full value of an investment can be lost within a single day.sec.govproshares.com
• At 1.02% a year it costs above the typical fund in its category, and more than its long-side sibling BITO at 0.95%.

• BITO You own futures and swaps, not bitcoin. Results follow the futures market, and the cost of rolling contracts forward can leave the fund behind spot bitcoin over long stretches.
• The monthly payout comes from futures-related gains, not from an interest-paying asset, so the amount moves around with the futures book rather than arriving on a set schedule of size.
• Bitcoin-linked swings are severe, and roughly 1% a year in fees compounds on top of that. This is the sharp end of the risk spectrum, not a core holding by design.

Full BITI profile⁠

Full BITO profile⁠