On 28 September, the leveraged MicroStrategy (MSTR) exchange-traded fund (ETF) crossed the $400 million mark in net assets this week, according to data, as retail investors continue to flock to the extremely volatile bitcoin ETF trade.
Asset manager Defiance ETFs launched its first leveraged MSTR ETF in August, and rivals REX Shares and Tuttle Capital Management launched more leveraged offerings in September, kicking off what Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has called a ‘hot sauce arms race’.
MicroStrategy began as a business intelligence firm, but transformed into a de facto cryptocurrency hedge fund in 2020 when founder Michael Saylor began using the company's balance sheet to buy bitcoin.