ASIC Extends Short Selling Relief for Precious Metal ETP Market Makers

ASIC News & Regulatory Updates

Published February 3rd, 2026

Detected March 16th, 2026

Summary

ASIC has extended conditional short selling relief for appointed market makers in precious metal-backed exchange-traded products. This amendment, effective February 3, 2026, aims to support market liquidity and reduce settlement failure risk for specified structured products.

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What changed

ASIC has amended the ASIC Corporations (Short Selling) Instrument 2018/745 through ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2026/24, effective February 3, 2026. The amendment extends conditional short selling relief to market makers of specified structured products referencing precious metals, including Global X Physical Gold Structured products. This relief allows these market makers to short sell these products under similar conditions to existing ETF market makers, facilitating hedging of risks associated with market making in listed options and specified structured products.

Market makers intending to rely on this exemption must review the amended instrument to understand its application to their activities. The change aims to support market liquidity in these products and reduce settlement failure risk. While the relief is conditional, no specific compliance deadline beyond the effective date is mentioned for market makers to implement changes, but they are expected to adhere to the conditions outlined in the instrument.

What to do next

Review ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2026/24 for market making activities.
Ensure compliance with the conditions for short selling relief for precious metal-backed ETPs.

Source document (simplified)

Newsroom

Print Share ASIC has extended conditional short selling relief for appointed market makers to support market liquidity in exchange-traded options (ETOs) listed over Global X Physical Gold Structured and specified structured products referencing precious metals.

The relief extends existing market maker short selling relief for similar exchange traded products where settlement failure risk is low.

With effect from 3 February 2026, the ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2026/24 amends the ASIC Corporations (Short Selling) Instrument 2018/745 to:

allow market makers of specified structured products that reference precious metals to short sell these products during the course of market making on the same conditions that currently apply to ETF market makers,
include Global X Physical Gold Structured as an approved product that an appointed ETO market maker can short sell to hedge risks arising from making a market in the listed option,
extend the covered short sale transaction reporting relief for ETF market makers to also include market makers of specified structured products, and
reflect current naming conventions for exchange traded products and use market neutral language. Market markets that intend to rely on the conditional exemption should review the amended instrument to understand how it applies to their market making activities.

Further information about the short selling provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 and the Corporations Regulations 2001 is set out in Regulatory Guide 196: Short selling.

ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator.