Psychological price milestones, such as bitcoin’s (BTC) $100,000 mark, often energize anything tied to the asset—and the ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF (SBIT) is no exception.
On Nov. 13, as bitcoin surged past $90,000 for the first time, the Nasdaq-listed ETF recorded an unprecedented trading volume of over 8 million shares, according to TradingView data. This surge in activity bolsters the case for BTC potentially breaking into six figures before year-end. Since then, bitcoin has stabilized between $90,000 and $100,000, while SBIT’s daily trading volume has averaged over 5 million shares—more than double the sub-2 million levels seen in prior months.
The ETF is designed to deliver twice the inverse of bitcoin’s daily price performance, rising by 2% for every 1% decline in BTC. This makes it an appealing tool for leveraged bearish bets on the cryptocurrency.
The recent spike in SBIT’s volume could be tied to investors exiting positions taken earlier in the year, expecting a BTC downturn that didn’t materialize. Alternatively, it may indicate bulls hedging their long positions in spot and futures markets, anticipating potential pullbacks as bitcoin nears the psychologically significant $100,000 level. Evidence suggests the latter explanation, as inflows into the ETF have increased notably. On Friday, the fund saw net inflows of $17.7 million, its largest single-day gain since launching in April, per ETF.com data.
Despite this activity, bitcoin bulls remain optimistic. Spot bitcoin ETFs have accumulated over $2.5 billion in net inflows since Nov. 13, according to data from Farside Investors, underscoring sustained demand for the cryptocurrency as it edges closer to a historic milestone.
