✍️ Author: Karel Havlíček · 📅
Where fees actually sit
Competition among European issuers has pushed the total expense ratio down sharply. 0.25% per year has become the market rate for physically backed bitcoin ETPs, with CoinShares, WisdomTree and Invesco all cutting to that level.
Some go lower, and this is where reading carefully pays:
| Product | Fee now | From 1 January 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| iShares Bitcoin ETP | 0.15% through 31 December 2026 | 0.25% |
| Bitwise Core Bitcoin ETP | 0.05% until 31 December 2026 | 0.14% |
| Market rate (several issuers) | 0.25% | 0.25% |
Both of the low headline numbers expire on the same date. A comparison table that lists 0.05% against 0.25% is accurate today and misleading about next year. If you are choosing a product to hold for a decade, the number that matters is the one that applies after the promotion ends — 0.14% and 0.25% respectively.
This is not a criticism of the issuers, who publish the end dates plainly. It is a criticism of how the numbers get reproduced elsewhere.
The three costs that are not the fee
The TER is the only cost anyone advertises, and for a long-term holder it is usually not the largest. Three others apply:
1. The bid-ask spread. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, and the gap is a real cost paid twice — once on the way in, once on the way out. On a widely traded product during market hours it is small; on a thin one, or outside main trading hours, it is not. Someone trading in and out repeatedly pays it every time, which can dwarf an annual fee measured in hundredths of a percent.
2. Broker commission and custody fees. Charged by your broker, not the issuer, and entirely separate from the TER. A flat per-trade commission is proportionally brutal on small regular purchases — the exact pattern most long-term investors use.
3. Tracking difference. The gap between the product's return and the underlying asset's return. Pricing typically reflects the reference rate — for instance the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate — after fees and expenses. Tracking difference captures the total real-world drag, which is why it is a more honest measure than the TER alone.
How to compare two products honestly
A method that takes ten minutes and beats any comparison table:
- Use the post-promotion fee, not today's headline, if you intend to hold beyond the end date.
- Check the spread yourself, in your own broker, at the time you would actually trade — not at midday in the deepest hour of the session.
- Add your broker's commission on the transaction size you would really use, then express it as a percentage of that amount.
- Compare tracking difference over a full year where the issuer publishes it, rather than comparing TERs.
One perspective worth keeping, though, before optimising too hard. At 0.25% a year, fees are no longer the dominant variable in this decision. The structural questions matter more: whether you hold a fund or a claim on an issuer, who the custodian is, and whether you want price exposure in a brokerage account or the asset itself with your own keys. A tenth of a percent is a rounding error next to those.
Those questions are covered in ETF, ETP, ETN and ETC explained and what «physically backed» actually means.
❓ Frequently asked questions
How much does a bitcoin ETP cost in Europe?
Around 0.25% per year has become the market rate for physically backed bitcoin ETPs, with CoinShares, WisdomTree and Invesco all cutting to that level. Some products advertise less — the iShares Bitcoin ETP is 0.15% through 31 December 2026 and the Bitwise Core Bitcoin ETP 0.05% until the same date — but both rise on 1 January 2027, to 0.25% and 0.14% respectively.
Do the low advertised fees expire?
In several cases yes. The iShares Bitcoin ETP fee of 0.15% applies through 31 December 2026 and rises to 0.25% from 1 January 2027; the Bitwise Core Bitcoin ETP is 0.05% until 31 December 2026 and 0.14% thereafter. If you intend to hold beyond those dates, the post-promotion rate is the number to compare.
What costs are there besides the annual fee?
Three: the bid-ask spread, which you pay both on entry and exit; broker commission and any custody fees, which are separate from the issuer's fee and proportionally heavy on small regular purchases; and tracking difference, the gap between the product's return and the underlying asset's return after fees and expenses.
Is tracking difference more useful than the TER?
Generally yes, because it captures the total real-world drag rather than one component of it. Product pricing typically reflects a reference rate such as the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate after fees and expenses, so comparing tracking difference over a full year tells you more than comparing headline fees.
This page is educational and is not investment advice or a recommendation of any product. Named products appear as published examples of a pricing pattern, not as suggestions. Fees and terms change and several figures here have scheduled end dates — always read the current issuer documentation before investing. Based on publicly available information as of July 2026.