ARK Related Funds Set To Launch In European Markets

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest firm has experienced widespread investor interest since its inception, with its ETFs some of the most hotly discussed on Wall Street. In a sorry year for ARK, five of its six actively managed funds are currently down year-to-date (YTD). This marks uncharted territory for the company, as it has previously never experienced losses while the wider stock market was seeing gains.

With the company consistently one of the most talked-about investment firms in the world, the news that European investors will now be able to invest in -- or against -- the company will come as little surprise.

How can European investors get involved?

Leverage Shares, a London-based company that offers exchange-traded products (ETPs) to the European market, is offering products that track three of Ark's funds. These are the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA: ARKK), the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSEARCA: ARKW), and the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (BATS: ARKG) respectively.

An ETP is a type of security that tracks underlying securities. In this case, the ETPs available to the European market will directly track Ark's funds to allow the market to gain exposure. Ark's funds aren't registered in the European markets, so investors can utilize these ETP's instead.

Nine total products are to be made available. Three track each ETF with "1:1 exposure," three aim to treble each ETF with long positions, and three actively bet against each ETF with short positions. All nine ETPs went live on the London Stock Exchange today and will be listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris on Thursday. 

Why does this matter to investors?

The wider market will be keen to see how European investors respond to this access. Woods' investing strategy has been brought into question of late, with short interest in many of her company's funds skyrocketing. 

Despite the funds being targeted at long-term investors, current negative returns are certainly likely to have eyebrows raised across Wall Street as investors look to safeguard their money in the midst of a particularly volatile market.