iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF (PBIT): What BlackRock Filed
BlackRock has filed for a Bitcoin fund that gives up gains above a cap and aims to limit losses, without guaranteeing it. Here is what the filing says the fund will do, what it leaves blank, and how it differs from the Bitcoin ETFs already trading.
Status as of
Filed with the SEC — not yet trading
PBIT exists only as a registration filing. It has no share price, no assets and no disclosed fee, and the filing gives no launch date. Nothing on this page is a quote or a recommendation.
What BlackRock Filed
On October 19, 2026, iShares Trust filed a Form 485APOS with the SEC adding a new series: the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, ticker PBIT. BlackRock Fund Advisors is the investment adviser. The fund's stated objective, verbatim:
“The Fund seeks to provide upside exposure to the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and/or similar bitcoin exposure up to an approximate limit, while seeking to provide a level of downside protection.”
The prospectus is a draft. Its own legend says “The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed,” and that the shares “may not be sold until the registration statement becomes effective.” The key terms as filed:
| Status | Filed with the SEC — not yet trading (as of October 19, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Ticker | PBIT. The listing exchange is left blank in the filing. |
| Fees | Not yet disclosed. The management fee and total annual fund operating expenses are blank (“____%”). |
| Effective date | The cover page selects 75 days after filing (Rule 485(a)(2)). The prospectus date reads “_______, 2027.” |
| Holdings | Options on IBIT (and/or similar bitcoin exposure) plus cash, money market funds and short-term fixed income. No bitcoin and no bitcoin exchange-traded products held directly. |
| Legal wrapper | A series of iShares Trust, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (Form N-1A). It intends to qualify as a regulated investment company for tax purposes. |
On the effective date: counted from October 19, 2026, 75 days lands on January 2, 2027. That is the date the cover page selects, not a launch date, and a later amendment can move it. This page tracks the filing record and will change when PBIT's status does; the EDGAR filing index is the primary record.
How the Strategy Works, Per the Filing
The filing calls it the “Bitcoin Managed Protection Strategy.” It has three parts:
- Buy call options on IBIT that are already in the money, with a strike below IBIT's price when the position opens. These carry the fund's exposure to bitcoin's moves.
- Sell call options on IBIT that are out of the money, with a strike above that price. The premium received helps pay for the calls bought, and the sold strike caps how much of a rise the fund keeps.
- Hold cash and short-term fixed income (money market funds, short-term government obligations and short-term investment-grade fixed-income securities). The interest is meant to help offset the cost of the options.
A bought call paired with a sold call at a higher strike is a call spread. PBIT runs three of them at once, which the filing calls tranches. They overlap, with start dates staggered a month apart across a calendar quarter, so each month one tranche expires and a new one opens. The fund expects to use FLEX Options: exchange-listed, customizable contracts cleared by the Options Clearing Corporation, expected to be European style (exercisable only at expiration). It keeps “broad discretion” to hold more or fewer tranches and to vary expirations.
The options are on IBIT shares, so their strikes are IBIT prices, not Bitcoin prices. Once tranche strikes are published, our IBIT strike-to-BTC guide shows how to read one as the Bitcoin price it implies.
One disclosure worth knowing: because the fund trades options on IBIT, BlackRock's own spot fund, the filing notes that this “may result in additional assets in IBIT and indirectly increase fees to BFA and its affiliates.”
The Cap and the Floor
Two terms set each tranche's range. The Tranche Protection Start Value is the strike of the calls bought. The filing says it is typically set at approximately 90% of the reference asset's value when the options are acquired, which gives that tranche an initial maximum loss exposure of approximately 10%. The filing calls that 10% the Floor, and measures it before fees and expenses. The Tranche Cap Value is the strike of the calls sold. The filing gives no number for it: each cap is set from market conditions when its tranche starts.
FILED · 485APOS
- Source
- iShares Trust Form 485APOS (PBIT prospectus, Principal Investment Strategies), filed October 19, 2026
- As of
- 2026-10-19
Figure quoted from the filing itself — a primary source, not an aggregator or estimate.
For one tranche held from start to expiration, the filing's description works out like this, before fees:
| Where IBIT ends, against the tranche's start | What the tranche does |
|---|---|
| Above the cap | Gains stop at the cap. The sold calls give up any rise beyond their strike. |
| Between about 90% and the cap | The tranche participates in IBIT's moves, up or down. A fall from 100% to about 90% is the investor's loss. |
| Below about 90% | The bought calls are intended to provide “a measure of protection” against further declines, so the tranche's loss is meant to stop near the Floor of about 10%. |
That is a single tranche over its full life. The fund holds several overlapping tranches with different start dates, caps and floors, and the filing is explicit that “the Fund does not provide a fixed Tranche Protection Start Value, Floor or Tranche Cap Value.” Nobody who buys PBIT on a given day gets exactly the outcome in this table. The filing points to iShares.com for each tranche's cap, protection start value and weight.
The Floor moves away as IBIT rises. Take a hypothetical tranche that starts with IBIT at $100, so its bought calls are struck near $90 and its initial loss exposure is about $10, or 10%. If IBIT then climbs to $120, the Tranche Protection Start Value is still near $90. Measured from $120, that tranche can now lose about $30, or 25%, before IBIT reaches the bought calls' strike. The filing says this directly: after a rise, the potential loss for a tranche “measured from the then-current value of the Bitcoin Reference Asset, will exceed the Floor.”
What the Filing Does Not Promise
Plainly: the cap limits the upside, and the protection is not a guarantee. The filing's own words, from its strategy and risk sections:
- “There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective or that the Bitcoin Managed Protection Strategy will operate as intended, and investors may lose some or all of their money.”
- “As a result of the Tranche Cap Value, the Fund will not fully participate in increases in the Bitcoin Reference Asset and may significantly underperform it, while still bearing losses that may be substantial.”
- “Periods of extreme market volatility may significantly reduce the Fund’s potential upside participation and the level of downside protection provided by the Fund’s options positions.”
- Fixed-income holdings “are subject to their own risks and do not ensure protection against losses.”
- The protection levels are measured before fees, and fees “will reduce the upside participation and increase the potential losses experienced by investors in the Fund.” The fund may also close or delay options positions, which can leave less protection than holding them to expiration.
None of this is unusual for an options-based fund, and the filing is candid about it. It does mean the word “protection” in the fund's name describes an aim, with conditions attached, not a promise about what an investor gets back.
How PBIT Differs From Spot and Covered-Call Bitcoin ETFs
Two BlackRock Bitcoin products already trading make good reference points: IBIT, a spot Bitcoin ETF, and BITA, a covered-call fund. Each makes a different trade-off.
| IBIT (spot) | BITA (covered call) | PBIT (as filed) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Trading on Nasdaq | Trading on Nasdaq since June 16, 2026 | Filed October 19, 2026; not yet trading |
| Holds | Bitcoin | Bitcoin and IBIT shares, and sells calls on IBIT | Calls on IBIT, bought and sold, plus cash and short-term fixed income; no bitcoin |
| Upside | Follows bitcoin, less the fee | Partly capped: calls written on 25%–35% of notional | Capped at each tranche's cap; the filing sets no level |
| Downside | Full | Full, less a modest premium cushion | About the first 10% of a tranche's decline, before fees; the bought calls aim to limit losses beyond that. Not guaranteed. |
| Fee | 0.25% | 0.65% | Not yet disclosed |
| Wrapper | Trust, not a 1940 Act investment company; a grantor trust for tax | Trust, not a 1940 Act investment company | 1940 Act fund; intends to be taxed as a regulated investment company |
Against spot ETFs. A spot fund like IBIT holds bitcoin and moves with it, all the way up and all the way down. PBIT, as filed, gives up gains above each tranche's cap and, in return, aims to limit how much each tranche can lose beyond the first 10% or so. It owns no bitcoin, so none of the bitcoin-per-share arithmetic that applies to spot funds applies to it: its value depends on option prices, which also move with volatility, interest rates and time to expiration.
Against covered-call ETFs. A covered-call fund such as BITA, the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, also caps part of the upside, but it sells calls to earn income and keeps bitcoin's downside. PBIT uses its sold calls for a different job: they help pay for the bought calls that set its loss limit. Covered calls trade upside for income; PBIT, as filed, trades upside for an initial limit on each tranche's losses, which it does not guarantee. To see the covered-call trade-off in numbers, try our IBIT covered call calculator.
Taxes. PBIT intends to qualify as a regulated investment company, so it would pay distributions that may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gains. Its general policy is to pay net investment income, if any, at least once a year. IBIT is a grantor trust, which is taxed differently; see how IBIT is taxed.
What Isn't Known Yet
- The fee. Blank in the filing. This page will not estimate it.
- The exchange and the launch date. Both are blank.
- The caps. Each tranche's cap is set when the tranche opens, so the first ones will only be known after launch.
- The final terms. A draft prospectus can change before it takes effect, including the typical 90% start value the filing describes.
FAQ
What is the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF (PBIT)?
A proposed BlackRock ETF that iShares Trust filed with the SEC on October 19, 2026, in a Form 485APOS. Per the filing, it “seeks to provide upside exposure to the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and/or similar bitcoin exposure up to an approximate limit, while seeking to provide a level of downside protection.” It plans to do that with options on IBIT, bought and sold in three overlapping tranches, plus cash and short-term fixed income. It does not hold bitcoin directly.
Is PBIT trading yet?
No. As of October 19, 2026, PBIT is filed with the SEC and not yet trading. The prospectus is marked as not complete, its date and listing exchange are left blank, and its cover page selects effectiveness 75 days after filing. The filing gives no launch date.
What will PBIT cost?
Not disclosed yet. The filing’s fee table leaves the management fee and the total annual fund operating expenses blank. This page will add the fee when a later filing states it.
Does PBIT guarantee against losses?
No. The filing says “investors may lose some or all of their money,” that the fund does not provide a fixed Floor or cap, and that fees, early changes to options positions and extreme volatility can reduce the protection it seeks. Its cash and fixed-income holdings “do not ensure protection against losses.”
Does PBIT hold bitcoin?
No. The filing states that the fund “does not invest directly in bitcoin or bitcoin exchange-traded products.” Its bitcoin exposure comes from options on IBIT and/or similar bitcoin exposure.
Is PBIT a buffer ETF?
The filing never uses the word “buffer.” It describes a “Floor”: each tranche’s options are typically set so that its initial maximum loss exposure is approximately 10%, before fees and expenses, with the purchased calls intended to provide a measure of protection below that point. The first part of a decline is the investor’s; the options are aimed at losses beyond it.
How is PBIT different from BITA, the iShares covered-call Bitcoin ETF?
BITA holds bitcoin and IBIT shares and sells call options on part of that position, so it keeps bitcoin’s downside, less a modest premium cushion, in exchange for option income. PBIT, as filed, holds no bitcoin: it buys and sells options on IBIT and holds fixed income, giving up gains above each tranche’s cap to pay for an initial loss limit on each tranche that it does not guarantee.
Status Log
- : iShares Trust filed Form 485APOS registering PBIT. Status: filed with the SEC, not yet trading. Fees not disclosed.
Sources: iShares Trust Form 485APOS for the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF (filed Oct 19, 2026; EDGAR filing index), SEC EDGAR, accessed October 19, 2026. Wrapper and tax status of IBIT and BITA: the IBIT Form 10-Q and BITA Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, accessed October 19, 2026. BITA's fee and overwrite range are from its prospectus, as cited on our BITA page. Published: . Last updated: .
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice. PBIT is not trading, and its terms may change before it does. Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related products are highly volatile and involve substantial risk of loss. Consult qualified professionals regarding your specific situation before making investment decisions.