Choosing between ProShares Ultra Ether ETF (NYSEARCA:ETHT) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (NASDAQ:ETHA) comes down to which product the investor wants, not how much Ether exposure to take. ETHT runs a 2x daily-reset futures strategy for short holding periods; ETHA holds spot Ether in a grantor trust and tracks the coin one-for-one. The year-to-date performance gap shows what that distinction does in a live market.
What each fund is betting on
Physical exposure is the whole point with ETHA: the trust holds Ether in cold storage and delivers the spot return minus fees. The bet is as direct as it gets, ETH rises over the holding period. Because the trust passes through no staking yield, shareholders give up the roughly 3% annual reward a direct holder earns, the built-in cost of a spot-only wrapper. Investors who want that yield inside a fund can now turn to BlackRock’s staked sibling, ETHB, which launched in March 2026 and passes most of its staking rewards through to holders, a choice that reframes how investors weigh spot structure against on-chain yield.
Daily leverage is a different animal. ETHT pays off only when Ether moves sharply in one direction within a single session, using swaps and futures to deliver 2x the daily return of its index before resetting at the close. Hold it longer than a day and the compounding math turns against you whenever ETH chops. Two-times daily does not translate to 2x over time, and in sideways markets the fund can bleed value even if ETH ends the period flat, a classic case of volatility drag overwhelming trend capture.
Where the difference shows up
The 2026 drawdown makes a clean case study. As of June 12, 2026, ProShares Ultra Ether has dropped 77.11% year-to-date, including a 52.21% slide in the most recent month. ETHA has fallen 43.96% YTD and 28.86% over the last month, tracking the spot move plus fee drag and basis.
A naive 2x of ETH’s YTD drop would run about 84%, but ETHT’s actual outcome reflects daily compounding through volatile sessions. Over the past year, ETH has lost 40.31%, while ETHT has shed 82.73%, far worse than 2x the underlying.
Fees, taxes, and structure
| Factor | ETHT | ETHA |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | 2x daily Ether futures/swaps | Spot Ether grantor trust |
| Expense ratio | 0.94% | 0.25% |
| Staking yield | None | None |
| Tax treatment | 1256 contracts, 60/40 long/short | Grantor trust, standard cap gains |
| Intended holding period | Intraday to a few days | Long term |
The tax angle cuts both ways. On ETHT’s futures sleeve, the IRS marks contracts to market each year and taxes gains at 60% long-term and 40% short-term regardless of holding period (the fund’s swap positions follow different rules). ETHA follows standard equity-style capital gains rules, which reward investors who hold more than a year.
Use cases
The two funds answer different questions. ETHA suits an investor who wants spot Ether in a brokerage account and plans to hold across cycles. ETHT suits a trader who expresses a directional view over hours or days and accepts that volatility decay, the 0.94% fee, and daily reset mechanics make it a poor buy-and-hold instrument. The 2026 numbers, with ETHT down nearly 77% against a 42% drop in spot, show what happens when a trader holds the leveraged fund outside its design window. ETHT compounds favorably only in a sustained, low-volatility ETH uptrend; choppy or declining markets are where it breaks down.
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