A new kind of bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) is available for enthusiasts and hardcore traders to enjoy. Switzerland-based venture Amun AG has unveiled its new 21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP set to be traded on the Swiss SIX Stock Exchange.
Amun Has Set Its Sights on Predicting Bitcoin’s Next Move
The Short Bitcoin ETP is a tracker that claims to monitor the “opposite performance” of bitcoin. In other words, wherever bitcoin is going at press time – either up or down – the product will examine how things can change.
If bitcoin is traveling north, the tracker will look to see what could happen that might ultimately lead to bearish activity, whereas if bitcoin is traveling south, the product will look to see if things could change and potentially become more bullish. This is designed to give institutional investors a break and decide where or how they should move their money before the currency takes any drastic steps.
At press time, bitcoin – the world’s leading cryptocurrency by market cap – has shed roughly $300 from its recent price and is now trading at just over $8,300. The currency initially gained traction early in the month as a result of tension between both the United States and Iran.
While those tensions began to subside, CME Group launched its new bitcoin futures contracts for institutional traders to great attention, which may have led to the currency sustaining higher momentum.
Overall, bitcoin jumped from about $6,900 on January 2 to $8,600. It has since incurred a drop of just over three percent, leaving some to wonder if trouble is brewing for the globe’s primary form of digital money.
Amun managing director Laurent Kssis explains how the product will work:
In contrast to shorting, which is usually associated with high lending costs or margin calls, the inverse ETP is reset at the end of each day, and the performance is not rolled over to the next day. It is ideally suited to capture short term price movements of bitcoin for a short [recommended] period. With the SBTC tracker, investors can immediately and securely capitalize on falling adverse price movement of the largest and most liquid digital asset.
Switzerland is a Crypto Haven
Amun currently manages nearly a dozen other crypto based ETPs including the Amun Crypto Basket Index, Amun XRP (based on Ripple’s cryptocurrency), the Amun bitcoin cash ETP, and the Amun Bitcoin Suisse ETP. CEO Hany Rashwan explains:
We have worked hard to be in a position to launch the first inverse bitcoin ETP on a regulated trading venue here in Switzerland.
Switzerland is among the most crypto-friendly regions in the world, and is home to the affectionately named, “Crypto Valley” given the region’s host of numerous crypto and blockchain-based startups. The area takes its name from Silicon Valley in northern California, which houses several of the world’s leading tech companies like Google and Facebook.