Crypto exchange FTX announced the launch of the WallStreetBets index. Allowing users to trade assets that are popular on the Reddit group.
The group has made headlines recently for reportedly pumping money into pump the prices of multiple stocks amidst efforts from larger entities to short those assets. The index assets currently include Blackberry, GameStop, Nokia, AMC Entertainment Holdings, and iShares Silver Trust along with cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
The five assets became popular on the WallStreetBets reddit group, following their strategy to “short-squeeze” low liquidity stocks. Many investors are choosing to spot-hold the most shorted stocks in the hope that others will follow as well.
These assets are equally weighted within the index, accounting for 99% of its total value with FTX’s native cryptocurrency, FTT, accounting for the last 1%. The index is officially trading under the ticker WSB-0326.
FTC WallStreetBets Index
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says that the WSB index futures contract is “cash settled vs the index of tokenized share markets on FTX”. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of the WSB index staying around long-term, noting that “If there’s enough demand we’ll list Junes!”
Bankman-Fried continued on, “WSB-related stocks have been our most requested products ever,” the FTX CEO said to Coinbase. “There’s a ton of interest in trading WSB related stocks and [cryptos] right now … the fact that many platforms are having trouble offering them is creating more demand.”
FTX has been tokenizing a number of assets recently, issuing tokenized versions of Google, Tesla, and Pfizer among other things. They have even attempted to tokenize future events. By facilitating betting on the United States Presidential Election and this year’s Super Bowl.
WallStreetBets has become the most popular active subreddit on the entire website. With 1.1 million active users out of a total of six million. The outstanding success has caused investors to closely monitor the group.
