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.