Ethereum ETFs Topped Gains Last Week; VOO Led Flows

Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds topped last week's gainers, as rising anticipation that a spot fund is nearing approval propelled the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency higher.

In terms of flows, last week's leader and loser repeated, with the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO) leading inflows and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) tops in outflows for the second straight week. VOO's $2.7 billion in inflows brings its assets under management to $424.4 billion and narrows the gap with SPY, the world's oldest and biggest ETF, whose $3.52 billion in outflows brought its AUM to $505.6 billion.

Ethereum futures funds led all products higher as the No. 2 cryptocurrency soared 15% in the past seven days on hopes that a spot ethereum fund is next to market following the wildly successful launch of spot bitcoin ETFs in January (see tables below). Spot bitcoin ETFs now hold $55.5 billion, according to Bloomberg data, and investors appear to be betting approval and a successful launch of a spot ethereum ETF in the coming months will bring in billions. 

The four-month-old ARK 21Shares Active Ethereum Futures Strategy ETF (ARKZ), with $9.6 million in assets, topped all ETFs with a 9.5% gain. That was followed by the Bitwise Ethereum Strategy ETF (AETH)'s 9.4% gain; a 9.3% jump in the ProShares Ether Strategy ETF (EETH) and an 8% increase in the VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF (EFUT). EETH is the largest in the group with $76.3 million in assets.

Regarding VOO and SPY, both track the S&P 500. VOO, with $16 billion in inflows so far this year, is often seen as a proxy for momentum toward long-term trading, while SPY may be used more in short-term trades. VOO's management fee of 0.03% undercuts SPY's 0.09% and VOO permits dividend reinvestments.

SPY's outflows may show caution on the part of short-term traders and other market timers, etf.com senior analyst Sumit Roy said last week.

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.