iShares files the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, PBIT, with no fixed floor
The Monday filing is preliminary, the fee and the exchange are blank, and the shares cannot be sold before Jan. 2 at the earliest.
Key takeaways
On Monday, Oct. 19, iShares Trust filed to register PBIT, a proposed fund that would seek bitcoin-linked gains up to an approximate limit and a level of protection on declines, without a fixed floor for the fund.
The shares are not for sale. The prospectus says its information is incomplete and may be changed, that the securities cannot be sold before the registration becomes effective, and that the Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved them.
iShares Trust is already registered. This filing adds a new series and asks that the amendment become effective 75 days after the Oct. 19 filing, which falls on Jan. 2, 2027. That date can be delayed.
What a buyer would hold
PBIT would not hold bitcoin, and it would not track an index. The reference in the objective is the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, IBIT, or similar bitcoin exposure.
These products are called defined-outcome funds. Some buffer the first losses. This filing is built as a floor.
A tranche, which is what the prospectus calls a batch of options, is set up to take about the first 10% of a decline and to seek protection against a deeper drop.
The fund would generally hold three of those tranches at once, overlapping, with one typically replaced each month, plus fixed-income holdings. Those holdings are there to earn interest that helps pay for the options and add a layer of protection against losses.
A typical tranche would buy calls struck at about 90% of the reference asset's value when the tranche opens, and sell higher-strike calls. Those bought calls set an initial maximum loss for that tranche of about 10% of the starting value, before fees and expenses.
The sold calls help pay for the bought calls, and their strike sets an approximate cap on that tranche's gains. The prospectus gives no typical cap. Each cap is set when the tranche opens, from option prices at the time.
A buyer who comes in later does not inherit that opening floor. Say the reference asset is at 100 when a tranche opens and the bought calls are struck at 90. From that starting price, the tranche's exposure to a decline is 10%, before fees and expenses.
If the reference asset later stands at 120, the strike is still 90. From 120 down to 90 is a 25% drop.
That buyer would also hold the other two tranches the fund generally keeps open, each from a different month, at its own strike and its own cap. The shares are that mix.
The prospectus says the fund does not set one starting value, one floor or one cap for the shares a buyer holds, and that the buyer should not expect the result of holding a single tranche from start to finish.
Fees and expenses reduce the upside and increase potential losses. The prospectus says extreme volatility may significantly reduce both the upside and the protection, and that an investor may lose some or all of the investment.
The filing says the number of tranches, the option periods and the protection-start level may all be changed.
The management-fee line is blank. So is the listing exchange. Until a fee is filled in, the proposal cannot be priced against funds that already name a floor.
Nothing in the filing changes IBIT. That fund holds bitcoin. It has $65.7 billion in assets.
iShares already runs an options product on IBIT for income. The iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, BITA, launched on June 9 and sells call options on IBIT. It has $97.3 million in assets.
Two examples that name a floor
Two listed funds are examples, not the whole field. Both state a floor, and that floor holds only for a buyer who enters on the reset day and stays through the outcome period.
The Calamos Bitcoin 90 Series Structured Alt Protection ETF - January, CBXJ, is designed to track bitcoin's positive price return up to a cap and to protect against a loss exceeding 10% over one year. It has $16.4 million in assets and a 0.69% expense ratio. Anyone who buys or sells during the year gets a different result from the one stated for the full year.
The Innovator Uncapped Bitcoin 20 Floor ETF - Quarterly, QBF, has $12.8 million and targets a maximum loss of 20% over three months, on those same full-period terms.
A supplement to its prospectus, dated Oct. 1, says trading will stop at the close on Dec. 31, 2026, and the fund will be liquidated at the close on Jan. 8, 2027.
A buyer who wants the floor those funds state has to enter on the reset day and hold to the end. This filing never names that day. The filing describes a rolling mix, and the protection depends on when the shares are bought.
A registration can also die before a share is sold. On Sept. 29, Innovator ETFs Trust asked the SEC to withdraw a proposed Innovator Bitcoin 10 Buffer ETF - Quarterly that it had filed in November 2024, saying it no longer intended to complete the registration and that no shares had been sold.
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ETFs in this story
Frequently asked questions
Can investors buy the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF now?
No, the shares are not for sale and cannot be sold before registration becomes effective, which the filing seeks for Jan. 2, 2027, a date that can be delayed.
Does the proposed fund hold bitcoin?
No, it would not hold bitcoin or track an index, and the reference in the objective is the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF or similar bitcoin exposure.
Is there one floor for every buyer?
No, the prospectus says the fund does not set one starting value, one floor or one cap for the shares a buyer holds.
How do the listed examples differ?
Both state a floor that holds only for a buyer who enters on the reset day and stays through the outcome period, while this filing never names that day.
