A share in a crypto ETF is not the coin. It is a claim on the coin, held through a sponsor, priced on an exchange, and the price of that claim can and does drift from the price of what sits underneath it. Of the 39 spot crypto ETFs ETFIQ can measure as of September 28, 2026, 28 finished within a point of their coin, and the typical difference across the group is 0.60%. That number is the fee, the custody cost, the mechanics of creating and redeeming shares, and whatever the market itself paid for the shares rather than the coin, all folded together. It is also the one number here that no sponsor publishes.
Bitcoin is where the mechanism shows most cleanly. Twelve of 12 measurable Bitcoin funds land within a point of the coin, and the median difference is +0.1%, against a median coin return of −23.9%. VanEck's HODL comes closest, at −23.6% versus the coin's −23.9%, a gap of +0.3%. Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust, Franklin's EZBC, iShares' IBIT, CoinShares' BRRR, Fidelity's FBTC, Bitwise's BITB and Ark's ARKB all cluster at −23.8%, each a tenth of a point from the coin. Grayscale's original GBTC, still trading as a trust rather than the newer ETF structure, sits apart at −24.8%, a difference of −0.9%, the widest gap among the Bitcoin group.
Ether tells a similar story with more spread. Ten of 11 measurable Ether funds are within a point, median difference −0.5%, median coin return −33.4%. Grayscale's Ethereum Staking Mini ETF actually beats the coin, at −32.6% against −33.4%, a difference of +0.7%, and 21Shares' TETH matches the coin almost exactly. The rest of the mainline Ether funds, iShares' ETHA, Fidelity's FETH, VanEck's ETHV, Franklin's EZET, Invesco's QETH, sit together at −33.9%, each half a point behind.
Solana and XRP separate more. Solana funds are within a point on 6 of 8, median difference −0.7%, against a median coin return of +58.3%; Invesco's QSOL trails furthest at −1.6%. XRP shows the widest coin-level median gap on the desk, −3.2%, with 0 of 3 measurable funds within a point of the coin, coin return +41.5%, and 21Shares' TOXR, Grayscale's GXRP and Franklin's XRPZ all landing between −3.0% and −3.2% behind it. Two Avalanche and Dogecoin-adjacent trusts trade thinly enough, closing unchanged on more than one day in twenty, that ETFIQ shows their numbers without ranking them.
Thirty-six fund-windows compound too far for simple subtraction to mean anything: $ETHE since January 2020 returned +627.8% against Ether's own +1,854.4%, a gap that only makes sense stated as a compounded difference of −62.8%, which is what the site prints for those windows instead.
A reader can check any fund's current difference against its coin, and against the other funds on the same coin, on the live desk.