The REX Shares ETF went live today and garnered $8 million in volume within the first 20 minutes, but SOL is lagging behind other major cryptocurrencies.
Less than a week after Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported that a Solana Staking ETF could launch soon, REX Shares’ Solana ETF went live today. However, SOL is underperforming ETH, despite decent trading volume on the ETF’s launch.
SOL is up 4% today; however, ETH is leading all major tokens today and is up 6.9%, nearly reclaiming the $2,700 mark.
The token’s underperformance may be due to the ETF being treated as a “sell the news” event by holders, or could also be exacerbated by the ETF’s controversial nature.
This ETF in particular is sparking debate on betting markets such as Polymarket, because it launched with “no objection” from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as opposed to a traditional “ S-1 ‘33 Act Spot ETF” approval. Polymarket bettors are still divided over the resolution of related markets. Seyffart said that this is not the first time that Polymarket bets on ETF approvals have faced such dilemmas.
The lack of full SEC approval could potentially act as a deterrent for institutional investors, who require complete regulatory clarity to deploy capital.
REX Shares is also a relatively small ETP issuer compared to behemoths like BlackRock. REX Shares reported just over $5 billion in assets under management (AUM) in 2024, compared to BlackRock’s $11.5 trillion. This could also result in liquidity constraints for the REX Shares SOL Staking ETF.
Despite SOL’s underperformance, the first Solana staking ETF opened the day with more than $8 million in volume over the first 20 minutes, a “healthy start” according to Bloomberg’s James Seyffart.
