
On this episode of “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi’s Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth joined Chuck Jaffe of Money Life to talk about the Calamos Bitcoin Structured Alt Protection ETF – January (CBOJ).
Chuck Jaffe: One fund, on point for today; the expert to talk about it. Welcome to the ETF of the Week. Yes, this is the ETF of the Week, where we examine trending, new, newsworthy, unique, and intriguing exchange traded funds with Todd Rosenbluth, the head of research at VettaFi. And at VettaFi.com, you’ll find all the tools you need to make yourself a better investor in ETFs.
Todd Rosenbluth, great to chat with you again.
Todd Rosenbluth: It’s great to be back.
Chuck Jaffe: Your ETF of the week is….
Todd Rosenbluth: The Calamos Bitcoin Structured Alt Protection ETF (CBOJ).
Chuck Jaffe: CBOJ, the Calamos Bitcoin Structured Alt Protection ETF. By the way, we should probably throw in there that it’s the January edition. We’ll have to explain how that works too. This is a new fund and a new-fangled fund. So why this fund now? Is this all about explaining it, or is this all about, “Now that we’ve got bitcoin funds, this is a pretty cool way to own bitcoin”?
Todd Rosenbluth: So, we’re one year into having spot bitcoin ETFs. They were extremely successful in 2024. We think they’re going to continue to be successful in 2025. And bitcoin has been top of mind for many folks. But what we’re seeing is that many advisors, many investors have stayed on the sidelines. They’ve stayed on the sideline for a number of reasons. But volatility and worry about the downside is top of mind. This Calamos ETF solves a couple of those problems in one easy ETF wrapper. And as we’ll talk about how it’s structured and how the series comes out, Calamos is the right partner to be talking with.
Chuck Jaffe: Why is that?
Todd Rosenbluth: Well, Calamos has, I think decades — I think 30 years, but I want to go with decades — of experience in using options-based strategies. They are the leader in convertible strategies. Many folks know them more in the mutual fund world. They entered the ETF marketplace a couple of years ago. They’ve been focused on downside protection using options-based ETFs. Now they’ve rolled out a bitcoin version of those strategies.
There’s going to be three products, by the time people are listening to this, that will have come out or are about to come out. The one we’re focusing on, CBOJ, has 100% downside protection. So, it’s using options to make sure that there is zero downside, if you buy at the price where it’s at now. And it has a cap of around 11%.
So, that feels like it’s a free lunch. It’s not a free lunch. There’s a chance to get exposure to bitcoin in a very low risk manner. And there are other products that are coming out that give more downside, or they allow more downside, in exchange for more upside. CBOJ is the product that’s live today. It has roughly $40 million. We think it’s compelling to take a closer look at.
Chuck Jaffe: When we say it’s got $40 million, this is a fund that has that money basically right at the beginning, because every day that you don’t buy this fund, as it moves, your risk picture changes just a little bit. In other words, people are going to hear you have 100% protection, which means you have zero downside risk. But if you wait to February to do your due diligence and buy this, you will have at least some downside risk buying it then, as opposed to having bought it when it was brand new, out of the box.
You still have the cap on your earnings, although that cap would actually go up, because, again, you might have experienced some loss, right? That’s how it all works? It’s not quite as pure as — depending on when you buy this — you will never lose money.
Todd Rosenbluth: That’s right. I’m glad you set that up so that I can just agree with you. So first of all, the best way to know what we’re talking about is to go to Calamos’s website. And on there they tell you what the downside is from its current price and its upside — potential downside and its upside potential.
So, we’re talking about this fund a few days after it launched. It launched on January 22. It’s good — it’s a little over 12 months this time around. It’s good until end of January in 2026. That’s the 12-month time period that this is available. We’re talking about this on Monday, and the price of bitcoin and spot Bitcoin ETFs was down 5% at the time that I came into the studio with you.
The price, or the net asset value and the price for this Calamos ETF was flat. So it’s working. But if you buy this in a month or two, this product — CBOJ — you might have some downside… There’ll be a new product, a new version of this product is likely to come out in April. But if you’re buying this partway through the period, there is some downside potential and there is less upside potential, depending upon when it is you purchase and at what price you buy it at.
Chuck Jaffe: It is super important to understand the rules and maybe the ladder, if that’s what you want to do, because there will be additional flavors of this. Now that said, there are going to be some folks who say, okay, you know, bitcoin — as we discuss this again on Monday, January 27, bitcoin is trading at around 100,000, just under 100,000. And capping your gains at 11%?
Well, most people aren’t buying bitcoin to get 11% gains over the course of a year. They’re buying bitcoin to get 11% gains next month. So is there a bit of cross purposes here? Like, I want to participate in bitcoin, but I am so tamping down the risk that I make it that the reward is dramatically less than what most people would want when they’re going towards crypto?
Todd Rosenbluth: So, if you are a crypto enthusiast and you already have crypto exposure, the use case for you for CBOJ is to combine with that. And so you provide some downside protection. It’s 100% downside protection for what you put into the ETF. But if you already own a long-only spot bitcoin ETF, or you own bitcoin directly, you can pair it with CBOJ and mitigate your risk.
If you have zero exposure to bitcoin — and the reason you have zero exposure to bitcoin, either through an ETF or directly, is because you are worried about the volatility — this is a product worth taking a closer look at. If you want some additional upside in exchange for some additional downside, Calamos is going to have other products.
As we’re talking about it today, they’re not live. So I don’t want to necessarily steer people to go buy a product that if, when they hear this or consider buying your product when they hear this, they can’t do anything with it. But if you are a believer in bitcoin and you believe it has significant upside potential — I’m not saying it does, I’m not saying it doesn’t. Yet if you believe that, then this is a product that can pair to reduce that risk. But it should not be the only way you get exposure, because you’re limiting your upside.
Chuck Jaffe: Let’s also talk about the fact that, normally, if you and I are discussing a new fund, we’re talking about, does it have critical mass, etc.? That’s not our concern at all here. But the one theoretical concern is this fund and the methodology. Even though they’ve been doing option strategies, etc., for a long time at Calamos, this fund is still very new.
Is there any reason somebody would want to wait and say, “They’re going to have another one in April. They’re probably going to have another one in June. I can wait a little while and see how this one does before I decide I want to put my money into a product like this"? Again, it might not be CBOJ. It’ll be the sister.
Todd Rosenbluth: So, as always with this, we do this on a weekly basis. There’s no way that people should be buying everything that we’re talking about. I’m not necessarily encouraging them to buy today. Everything that we’re talking about, this is to get funds on the radar for investors, for advisors, and hope that from the educational standpoint, it helps them think clearly about how they want to build a portfolio using ETFs.
It makes a lot of sense. I think people should take a closer look if today they want to have exposure to bitcoin, or they want to reduce the risk profile. But it’s okay to watch. As you noted, in three months there’ll be another product — or a suite of products that’s out here — with a range of different upside and downside. Keep Calamos on your radar. They are an ETF provider to watch in the options space.
Chuck Jaffe: Absolutely. And again, if you want to watch them now, what you might be looking at is the CBOJ. The Calamos Bitcoin Structured Alt Protection ETF, the January mintage. That’s why it’s the CBOJ, and of course it is the ETF of the week…
The ETF of the Week is a joint production of VettaFi and Money Life with Chuck Jaffe. And yeah, I am Chuck Jaffe. Why don’t you check out my hourlong weekday podcast on your favorite podcast app by going to the MoneyLifeShow.com if you want to check out your favorite ETFs, or maybe the ones that will become your favorite, go to VettaFi.com, where they’ve got a full suite of tools that will help you do just that.
They’re on X @Vetta_Fi, and Todd Rosenbluth, my guest, their head of research, he’s on X too. He’s @ToddRosenbluth
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