Shares of Cantor Equity Partners Inc ( CEP ) have surged 139% to $31.36 over the past week following the announcement of a merger with Bitcoin-focused startup Twenty One.

What To Know: The merger, which values the combined entity at $3.6 billion, would make it the third-largest public holder of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), behind only Strategy and Tether. Twenty One is backed by major players including Tether, SoftBank and Strike founder Jack Mallers, who will take the helm as CEO of the merged company.

Mallers is best known as the founder of Strike, a prominent Bitcoin payments platform that played a key role in El Salvador's Bitcoin adoption. A vocal Bitcoin advocate, he has been instrumental in advancing Bitcoin-native financial infrastructure on a global scale.

Twenty One currently holds 42,000 Bitcoin and aims to increase that position further. It also raised $585 million to fund additional Bitcoin purchases and business operations. The company plans to focus on Bitcoin-native financial tools, capital markets products and media, highlighting innovative metrics like "Bitcoin Per Share."

Pending shareholder approval, the newly combined company will trade under the ticker symbol "XXI" on the Nasdaq, signaling a bold new chapter in institutional Bitcoin exposure.

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How To Buy CEP Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Cantor Equity Partners ( CEP ) – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

In the case of Cantor Equity Partners ( CEP ), which is trading at $32.55 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 3.07 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, CEP has a 52-week high of $39.29 and a 52-week low of $9.99.