Toronto-based Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. and its affiliate, AlphaPro Management Inc., have launched an ETF that provides investors with long and short exposure to a diversified portfolio of global currencies.

Horizons Absolute Return Global Currency ETF will generally hold Canadian short-term securities and will primarily use short-term financial instruments to gain exposure to selected global currency markets, according to the announcement on Tuesday.

Toronto-based CIBC Asset Management Inc., which has approximately $28 billion in currency-related assets under management as of Dec. 30, 2016, is subadvising the new ETF. The subadvisor will use its proprietary active investment process in order to select currencies that are expected to strengthen or weaken on a relative basis.

Horizons Absolute Return Global Currency ETF “allows for shorting of currencies for which the subadvisor has a negative outlook together with the typical use of notional leverage that goes along with a long/short investment vehicle,” says Steve Hawkins, president and co-CEO of Horizons ETFs, in a statement. “While this introduces an increase in overall portfolio risk, we believe the addition of these two features significantly increases the return potential for the strategy.”

The ETF is currently trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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