The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved quadruple leveraged ETFs for trading in the US.
The decision Tuesday means that funds such as one “designed to deliver 400 percent of the daily performance of S&P 500. SPX stock index futures,” Reuters reports, now have the green light.
Previously, “exotic” ETFs of this type has been limited to Europe.
“We’re excited about it,” Sam Masucci, chief executive officer of distributor Exchange Traded Managers Group LLC, told the publication.
He added that while quadruple leverage “wouldn’t be for everybody,” it fulfilled a niche for investors with certain requirements.
The somewhat more risky nature of the latest approvals is food for thought for the cryptocurrency community eagerly awaiting two more important decisions from the regulator.
A rethink of March’s rejection of the first Bitcoin ETF to be presented for market release is running in tandem with consideration of the world’s first Ethereum ETF.
While it is unknown whether the odds are more heavily in favor of the Winklevoss’ Bitcoin offering this time, literature supplied by the Ethereum fund camp highlights several areas in which the altcoin is different.
Not least, Ethereum is a regulated asset under the New York Department of Financial Services.
This week’s other announcement from the SEC, meanwhile, could also have demonstrable effects on which products see the light of day with the agency selecting their new leader Jay Clayton.