BITO Trailed IBIT by $6,240 on $300,000 Over 12 Months. Futures Rolls Are a Big Reason Why

Maybe you bought the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (NYSEARCA:BITO) to hold Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) in your retirement account, expecting it to track the coin. The fund owns no Bitcoin. From November 3, 2025, to November 2, 2026, BITO returned -30.46%. Over the same window, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT), which holds actual Bitcoin, returned -28.38%. Put a hypothetical $300,000 in each, and BITO finished $6,240 behind IBIT.

Both funds lost money. Bitcoin itself fell 27.64% from November 3, 2025 to November 3, 2026. BITO lost more than both the coin and the spot funds.

A Second Spot Fund Shows the Same Gap

One spot fund could be a fluke, so check a second one. The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (CBOE:FBTC) returned -28.3% over the same window. On the same hypothetical $300,000, BITO trailed it by $6,480. Two issuers’ spot funds finished within a fraction of a point of each other, and BITO trailed both.

What You Pay on the Fee Line

BITO’s expense ratio is 0.95%. It comes to $95 a year per $10,000 invested. IBIT’s sponsor fee is 0.25%, or $25 per $10,000. Now say Bitcoin goes nowhere for a decade. On $10,000, the fee gap alone compounds to about $663 over 10 years and about $1,250 over 20 years.

At the $300,000 starting balance, the fee difference comes to roughly $2,100 a year. Fees therefore do not fully explain the performance gap. Much of that traces to a cost no fact sheet lists as a line item.

How Futures Rolls Quietly Drain Your Returns

The fund states plainly: it “does not invest directly in Bitcoin.” Instead, it tracks Bitcoin mainly through futures contracts (agreements to buy later at a set price). Futures expire. Every month, BITO sells contracts that are about to expire and buys ones that expire later. Traders call this the roll.

Picture a monthly subscription where each renewal costs a bit more than the last, and your budget stays the same, so every renewal buys you a little less. Futures work the same way when later contracts trade above expiring ones, a condition called contango (futures priced above spot). Each roll trades a cheaper contract for a pricier one, so the same dollars buy slightly less exposure. That drag shows up as returns that slip behind the coin, with no separate line item on the fee schedule.

IBIT and FBTC hold Bitcoin through a custodian, and because they never roll anything, they never pay this cost.

Where BITO Wins Some Back

The roll explains a big share of the gap, and fees explain more. Other forces push in BITO’s favor. Futures require only a fraction of a contract’s value up front. Most of BITO’s cash sits idle and earns interest.

As of August 31, 2026, 67.95% of BITO’s net assets were in the ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF, according to its SEC filing. That yield partly offsets roll costs. When futures trade below spot, a condition called backwardation, the roll can add to returns.

Taxable investors face one more layer. BITO paid monthly distributions totaling $1.646534 per share over the trailing 12 months. Outside an IRA, those payouts can bring a tax bill in a year the fund lost money. The returns above include distributions but leave out taxes on them.

Cheaper Mirrors Already Trade

IBIT and FBTC track Bitcoin’s price directly, with no roll, and IBIT’s fee runs about a quarter of BITO’s. They do come with trade-offs. BITO is a regulated fund that has traded since October 2021, while spot Bitcoin trusts are set up under different rules. Even so, if all you want is Bitcoin’s price, the extra cost of the futures structure has been avoidable.

Questions Your Retirement Account Should Answer

Your Bitcoin fund may not track the coin itself, so check what it holds: the coin or futures contracts. Then ask how much that structure cost you compared to a spot fund over the past year, and whether you have a reason to use futures. A spot fund holds the coin directly, so it carries no roll cost. The gap on your statement shows what the futures structure has cost you so far.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.