LeverageShares to debut first 3x bitcoin and ether ETFs in Europe amid retail-led crypto selloff

LeverageShares is set to launch the world’s first 3x and –3x bitcoin and ether ETFs in Europe next week, according to a tweet from Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas.

The firm’s four new ETPs — 3x long and –3x short products for both bitcoin and ether — will list on Switzerland’s SIX exchange, expanding a leveraged roster that already includes vehicles tied to semiconductors, AI, blue-chip baskets, and single-stock names. A leveraged ETF uses derivatives and debt to amplify the daily returns of the underlying security.

Balchunas noted the timing is "either really good or really bad depending on your POV," given the current market backdrop.

That backdrop includes a sharp pullback in crypto ETF demand. Retail investors have withdrawn about $4 billion from spot bitcoin and ether ETFs so far in November, already exceeding February's record outflows, according to JPMorgan.

The bank's analysts said bitcoin's drop below their estimated production-cost "support level" of $94,000 has accelerated selling from non-crypto-native retail holders of spot ETFs, even as perpetual-futures deleveraging has stabilized since October.

Meanwhile, retail investors have added roughly $96 billion to equity ETFs this month — including leveraged stock products — even as traditional markets edge lower.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the world’s largest ETF with more than $700 billion in assets, slipped below $600 for the first time in over two months, about 5% off its late-October peak

Crypto markets have been hit far harder: bitcoin is down roughly 35% from its early-October all-time high above $126,000, while ether has fallen more than 43% over the same stretch.