In brief
- The SEC approved Cboe's request on October 2 to list six 3x funds from Volatility Shares tracking Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas.
- Each fund targets three times the daily performance of futures contracts on its asset, and the order sets no launch date.
- The approval follows SEC warning letters on leverage above 2x in December 2025 and a March 2026 request to avoid 5x products.
The SEC approved a rule change on October 2 that lets the Cboe exchange list six funds built to deliver three times the daily price moves of Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold, silver, crude oil, and natural gas, per the agency's order.
The funds come from Volatility Shares, the firm behind existing 2x Bitcoin and Ethereum products. Shares will trade on Cboe's BZX Exchange like a regular stock.
An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a basket of assets you buy and sell through a brokerage app like a share. A leveraged one uses debt and other financial tools to amplify returns, and losses.
These funds aim for triple. If Bitcoin futures rise 2% in a day, the fund aims to gain 6%. If they fall 2%, it aims to lose 6%.
The funds mainly get that exposure through futures, which are contracts to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a later date.
But there’s a catch in the word "daily." These funds reset every day, so the 3x promise applies to one day at a time. Over longer stretches, results can drift far from three times the asset's move.
So, for example Bitcoin futures drop 10% on Monday, then rise 10% on Tuesday. The asset ends down 1%, while a 3x fund falls 30%, gains 30% and ends down 9%. If you have $100 worth of Bitcoin, a 30% drop takes off 30% of $100, which is $30, leaving you with $70 net. A 30% gain adds 30% of $70, which is $21. You're at $91, overall 9% down after the movement.
→The SEC and FINRA have warned investors about exactly this. Their alert says returns over more than a day can differ significantly from the daily target.
Why the SEC had to vote
Cboe's fast-track listing rules for commodity funds exclude products that chase a multiple of an asset's return, so the exchange needed the SEC to approve these funds individually. Apart from the 3x target, the funds must meet all of Cboe's other listing requirements.
The SEC leaned on existing guardrails. Brokers must act in a retail customer's best interest under Regulation Best Interest, and FINRA, the brokerage industry's self-regulator, requires tougher sales and margin (borrowing) rules for leveraged products.
Volatility Shares launched the first leveraged crypto ETF in the U.S. in 2023, tracking Bitcoin futures. Spot Bitcoin ETFs, which hold the coins directly, arrived in January 2024 after a decade of rejections.
Then the race for more leverage began. In October 2025, Defiance filed for 49 funds with 3x long and short exposure, and Volatility Shares filed for 5x products.
The SEC pushed back. In December 2025 it halted review of products above 2x exposure and sent warning letters to nine issuers, including ProShares. In March 2026, it asked issuers to avoid 5x products.
Volatility Shares kept shipping 2x funds anyway. In April 2026 it launched 2x funds on Cardano, Stellar, and Chainlink, adding to existing 2x products on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
These aren't the first 3x products. Earlier ones tied to silver, crude oil and natural gas, from other issuers, have since left the market, per the order. A 3x gold product from another issuer still trades.
The order sets no launch date. According to Cboe's filing, the shares can't trade until each fund's registration statement takes effect.