ETH aims to track the spot price of ether, less expenses and liabilities. It intends to provide accessibility to ether without the complexities of acquiring, holding, and trading directly through an ether spot market. ETH owns and passively holds actual ether through its custodian. It does not trade, buy, sell or hold ether derivatives, including ether futures. Holdings are valued daily based on the CoinDesk Ether Price Index (ETX), a USD-denominated reference rate for the spot price of ether, which leverages real-time prices from multiple constituent exchanges. Each constituent exchange is weighted proportionally to its trailing 24-hour liquidity with adjustments for price variance and inactivity. At the time of launch, the issuer spun off 10 percent of the assets in ETHE and reduced expense ratio and handle to make the shares more appealing to retail investors. The funds expense ratio and tracking should be reviewed and considered for comparison purposes. Effective January 5, 2026, the fund appended the term staking to its name.