The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. to list and trade shares of the 3x Bitcoin ETF and the 3x Ether ETF, each a series of VS Trust, under BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4). The approval is Release No. 34-106577, File No. SR-CboeBZX-2026-065. The order is dated October 2, 2026. The public-inspection PDF was filed October 6, 2026 at 8:45 a.m. with a Federal Register publication date of October 7, 2026.
That is listing permission for leveraged commodity-based trust shares. It is not a confirmed first print, not a 1940 Act open-end fund, and not a 3x claim on spot bitcoin sitting in a vault.
Bitcoin (BTC) last printed $85,574 on the CoinGecko snapshot fetched at 2026-10-06T23:57:26+00:00 (−0.26% over 24 hours). Ether (ETH) last printed $2,698.97 (−0.45%) on the same snapshot. Coinbase BTC-USD last was $85,567.71 with a 24-hour high of $86,698.35 and low of $85,100.01 as of about 00:10 UTC on October 7, 2026, a range of roughly 1.9%. The tape did not break. The listing stack did move.
What happened
On August 10, 2026, Cboe BZX filed a Rule 19b-4 proposal to list and trade six series of VS Trust: the 3x Gold ETF, 3x Silver ETF, 3x Bitcoin ETF, 3x Ether ETF, 3x Crude Oil ETF, and 3x Natural Gas ETF. The Commission published that notice as Securities Exchange Act Release No. 106137 (August 14, 2026), 91 FR 53686 (August 19, 2026). The approval order says the Commission received no comments on the proposal.
The public-inspection PDF of 34-106577 states, in so many words, that the proposal is approved. It also flags a naming trap. Each product has “ETF” in the name. The Commission still classifies the shares as Commodity-Based Trust Shares, which are exchange-traded products that register under the Securities Act of 1933 and are not regulated as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Open-end 1940 Act ETFs are a different wrapper.
The sponsor of VS Trust is Volatility Shares LLC. Wilmington Trust, National Association, is the sole trustee. U.S. Bank National Association is the custodian. Those names come from the August notice, which the approval order incorporates.
Each fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to three times (3x) the daily performance of its reference commodity, measured by a specified portfolio of first- and second-month futures. For bitcoin and ether, the August Federal Register notice (2026-16854) says the benchmarks are CME first- and second-month bitcoin futures and CME first- and second-month ether futures. The bitcoin fund “does not invest in physical bitcoin.” The ether fund “does not invest in physical ether.” Rolls run over five business days, beginning on the sixth business day before near-month expiry, at about 20% of the expiring book per day.
If those front-two-month futures become unavailable (price limits, accountability levels, exchange or futures-commission-merchant position limits, margin, or FCM risk rules), each fund may move into later-dated futures, commodity-linked ETFs, commodity-linked ETPs, and listed options on those instruments. That is a substitute stack, not a promise that the 3x daily target still holds when the first-two-month book is closed.
Context
BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4) already has generic listing standards for Commodity-Based Trust Shares. Leveraged and inverse products are carved out of that generic path. Rule 14.11(e)(4)(F) says shares that seek a specified multiple, or an inverse multiple, over a set period cannot list under Rule 19b-4(e) without a full Section 19(b) filing. That is why this 3x cluster needed its own 19b-4 even though gold, silver, bitcoin, ether, crude, and natural gas already sit inside the generic commodity-eligibility list.
The Commission’s fraud-and-manipulation discussion leans on two points. First, the reference commodities still meet the Rule 14.11(e)(4)(D) eligibility tests. Second, leveraged ETPs on those same commodities already list on national securities exchanges. The order points to existing Volatility Shares products that seek 2x daily bitcoin and 2x daily ether, tickered BITX and ETHU in the Commission’s footnote, via a Volatility Shares 485BPOS on EDGAR. Those 2x products are listed ETPs. They are not this 3x series, and they are not a 3x print on BZX.
Sales-practice overlay still applies. The order recites Regulation Best Interest for broker-dealer recommendations to retail customers, the Advisers Act fiduciary duty for advisers, FINRA notices on inverse and leveraged securities, and BZX Rule 3.7 suitability. That language is a reminder that a listing approval does not waive the extra duty for three-times daily products. It is not a Commission blessing of 3x as a buy-and-hold bitcoin proxy.
Spot bitcoin already has a liquid spot ETF complex. This wrapper is different market structure. Exposure here is CME futures, cash, and cash equivalents, with a daily 3x objective that resets. Path dependence, roll costs, and basis between futures and the CoinGecko spot print are the product. Traders who want the history of the coins themselves still start with Bitcoin history and Ethereum history, not with a 3x futures note.
The cash bitcoin market is quiet. A 1.9% Coinbase day-range around $85,100 to $86,698 is not the kind of range break that would make a leveraged listing look like a spot event. Read the snapshot the same way we teach in how to read a crypto market snapshot: timestamp the print, name the venue, and do not treat a regulatory PDF as a last sale.
Our read
Samira Okonkwo: this is a listing-stack win for Volatility Shares and Cboe BZX, not a live 3x bitcoin or ether trade, and not a new spot-bitcoin product. Narrative is cheap here. Exit liquidity is a last sale on BZX, plus a working create/redeem book in CME futures, not an approval PDF with “ETF” in the product name.
I would rather see the 3x bitcoin and 3x ether series sit in the “approved, not printed” bucket until BZX last-sale data or the issuer site shows a regular-way first trade. The 2x BITX and ETHU footnotes prove leveraged crypto ETPs already exist. They do not prove these 3x series have started.
Falsifiable claim: By 2026-10-21 23:59 UTC, Cboe BZX last-sale data, a Volatility Shares or VS Trust issuer page, or an SEC prospectus/8-K names a regular-way first trade dated on or after October 2, 2026 for the 3x Bitcoin ETF series or the 3x Ether ETF series of VS Trust (the “no first print yet” half is wrong); or the Commission or Cboe BZX publishes a withdrawal, stay, or vacatur of SR-CboeBZX-2026-065 / 34-106577 (the “approval stack is in force” half is wrong).
What to watch
Watch BZX for a ticker, a listing circular, and a first print on the 3x Bitcoin ETF and 3x Ether ETF series. Do not invent tickers until the exchange or the sponsor publishes them. The approval order does not assign trading symbols.
Watch the CME front-two-month bitcoin and ether books on listing day. The product’s own substitute stack (later-dated futures, linked ETFs/ETPs, and options) is the tell if the 3x daily objective is running on the advertised benchmark or on a backup mix.
Watch whether any 424B or 8-K for VS Trust or Volatility Shares prices the 3x series, names an inception NAV, or states that shares have begun trading. Until that document or a BZX last sale exists, treat 34-106577 as permission, not as volume.
Keep Bitcoin news next to the listing calendar. A quiet $85,574 snapshot does not need a 3x overlay to look more exciting than it is.