SEC clears Cboe listing rules for six 3x Volatility Shares funds

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved listing rules for six 3x Volatility Shares commodity trusts on Oct. 2, 2026, including funds tied to bitcoin and ether futures. The approval came in Release No. 34-106577 under File No. SR-CboeBZX-2026-065, which covers a Cboe BZX rule change for the six products. Unchained reported on Oct. 5 that the order clears the exchange-listing hurdle without authorizing trading itself.

The order is not a launch. The trusts still need effective registration statements before any shares can be sold, and no sale can proceed until that step is complete. CryptoSlate wrote on Oct. 4 that the SEC action addresses exchange rules while the securities registration track runs separately.

The six funds cover 3x Gold, 3x Silver, 3x Bitcoin, 3x Ether, 3x Crude Oil and 3x Natural Gas. Each aims at three times the daily performance of its futures benchmark before fees and costs. The sponsor is Volatility Shares LLC acting for the VS Trust, according to the filing record described by Crypto Briefing on Oct. 2.

Cboe filed the rule proposal on Aug. 10. The Commission published notice of the filing on Aug. 14 in Release No. 34-106137, and the notice appeared in the Federal Register on Aug. 19. No public comments arrived during the comment period, the order states. The Oct. 2 approval was issued under delegated authority.

Each fund plans to hold first-month and second-month futures alongside cash and cash-like collateral. The bitcoin and ether funds plan to use CME futures contracts rather than holding coins directly. The design gives 3x exposure to the daily move in the referenced futures strip, before fees. That structure matches other futures-based commodity trusts rather than spot-coin funds.

The trusts are organized as commodity pools issuing under the Securities Act of 1933 and sit outside the Investment Company Act of 1940. Because of that form, each needed its own rule filing under Section 19(b) of the Exchange Act before an exchange could list it. The order grants that listing permission for the six Volatility Shares products. It does not rule on the later registration statements.

Proposed tickers for the two crypto funds are BITH for the bitcoin product and ETHK for the ether product. Those symbols appeared in a preliminary prospectus dated Aug. 17, CryptoSlate noted. The prospectus states that the trusts cannot sell shares until their registration statements take effect. The order itself sets no first trading date.

At the start, each fund must have at least 100,000 shares outstanding. Net asset value will be struck each day, with creations and redemptions handled through authorized participants in blocks. The release describes standard surveillance and information-sharing arrangements with CME through the exchange's membership in the Intermarket Surveillance Group.

The approval follows a Dec. 2, 2025 staff letter in which SEC staff said funds covered by Rule 18f-4 should not offer more than 200 percent exposure. That position applied to registered investment companies, a category that does not include these 1933-Act commodity trusts. Unchained observed that the distinction left room for exchange-traded commodity pools to seek higher multiples through separate rule filings.

Volatility Shares already offers 2x bitcoin and ether futures products. Its BITX fund gives 2x exposure tied to bitcoin futures, while ETHU gives 2x exposure tied to ether futures. The new filings would extend that set to 3x for investors who want a larger daily multiple. The company has not disclosed a fee schedule or waiver plan for the six new funds in the materials summarized so far.

Daily-reset products carry compounding effects that separate them from buy-and-hold exposure. A 3x fund that rises 10 percent one day and falls 10 percent the next ends below its starting point, even though the benchmark itself is down only 1 percent across the two days. The prospectus language summarized by CryptoSlate warns that returns over periods longer than a day can differ sharply from three times the benchmark's multi-day return.

Roll costs add a second drag. Futures funds must sell expiring contracts and buy later-dated ones, and the gap between those prices can reduce returns when markets sit in contango. Cash collateral offsets part of the cost through interest, but the net effect varies with the curve and with rates. The filings describe those mechanics in the risk section rather than promising any fixed outcome.

Cboe's filing also addresses manipulation and surveillance. The exchange said it can obtain trading data on the CME futures held by the funds through common surveillance arrangements. The SEC order found that the listing standards, disclosure duties and trading halts in BZX rules were consistent with investor-protection requirements. Those findings repeat the standard used for prior commodity-trust listings.

What is left is the registration track. The Aug. 17 preliminary prospectus remains subject to amendment, and the staff review can request changes to disclosure, risk text or fee tables. The trusts cannot offer or sell shares until the Commission declares each registration effective, as the filing states. No effective date had been announced as of Oct. 5.