Bitcoin’s price surged Tuesday to a six-month high, climbing once$ as ProShares’ much- anticipated, futures-focused exchange- traded fund (ETF) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). 

 

 The largest cryptocurrency has climbed 33 over the once month on prospects theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would authorize the exchange- traded fund, which invests in futures contracts tied to the cryptocurrency. 

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF started trading at 930a.m. ET as the bell chimed to open the day’s session on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock ticker is$ BITO. 

 

 First- day trading volume in$ BITO appeared strong, with at least1.89 million shares of the ETF changing hands in the first couple hours, or further than$ 770 million worth. 

As of press time at 1732 coordinated universal time (1352p.m. ET) the$ BITO share price was trading at$41.36, up3.4 from the original net asset value of$ 40. Over the same timeframe, bitcoin was over2.3 to$. 

 

 Request impact 

 The first of its kind in theU.S., the ETF offers investors the occasion to gain exposure to returns of BTC with the ease of buying a stock in a brokerage account. The SEC approved the ETF on Friday, and several other pending ETF proffers could win blessing from the Securities and Exchange Commission latterly this week. 


 The big question for cryptocurrency dealers is how important fresh upward price pressure might come from the debut of the new ETF. 

 

 Michele Schneider, managing director at MarketGauge, said on CoinDeskTV Tuesday she likes to stay at least a week coming out of the gate with a new stock immolation to estimate whether it’s successful. 


 “ So if we get good volatility, good liquidity and we develop some kind of ongoing interest and we see the coin itself continue to move over, also I suppose that would presumably be enough substantiation,” said Schneider. 

 

 The ProShares ETF is structured to invest in bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago- grounded CME, rather than investing in the cryptocurrency directly. So the ETF by itself wo n’t introduce any new demand for bitcoin. Still, dealers might buy further bitcoin as they look to barricade against the futures price or take advantage of pricing difference. 


 Dave Nadig, director of exploration at ETF Trends, twittered that trading in$ BITO appeared “ orderly” and “ stable” in the early moments after the ETF went live.