SSK Makes Strong Debut as First US Solana Staking ETF, Logs $33M Volume

The first US Solana staking ETF has wrapped up its opening session with significant momentum.

The new fund attracted $12 million in inflows and closed the day with $33 million in trading volume, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

SSK Outperforms Solana, XRP Futures Volume

Trading under the ticker SSK on the Cboe BZX Exchange, the REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF is the first of its kind in the United States, which provides direct exposure to spot Solana while allowing investors to capture staking yields.

The product’s debut comes amid rising interest in crypto-related ETFs but was marked by a performance gap compared to the blockbuster first-day volumes seen with spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs earlier this year.

In the latest tweet, Balchunas also noted that SSK’s launch surpassed the volumes of Solana and XRP futures ETFs and even outpaced the typical ETF launch. Despite this, the fund remained significantly below the $4.6 billion first-day trading activity recorded by spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024.

The ETF’s structure allowed it to move forward without the standard 19b-4 filing process, using the Investment Company Act of 1940.

As Balchunas had previously explained, it achieved this by allocating at least 40% of its assets to other exchange-traded products, primarily outside the US. This approach followed prior regulatory pushback from the SEC, which initially raised concerns about the product’s qualification under securities laws.

As such, Anchorage Digital is tasked with serving as the ETF’s staking and custodian partner.

SSK Off To A “Healthy Start”

Bloomberg’s James Seyffart described the opening as a “healthy start,” and added that $8 million worth of shares traded hands within the first 20 minutes.

The trading debut may help gauge institutional appetite for a potential spot Solana ETF in the country, which analysts believe could receive approval later this year. Balchunas and Seyffart have recently assessed a 95% probability for such approvals before year-end, which reflects optimism in the broader market despite the current subdued volumes in spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.