Shares of Cantor Equity Partners Inc ( CEP ) are trading higher by 18.6% to $38.84 during Wednesday’s session and

have surged 100% 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 meanwhile 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.

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Mallers has also advised policymakers on digital asset regulation and spoke at major events like the Bitcoin 2021 Conference, where he unveiled El Salvador’s historic move.

Strike has expanded into multiple countries, offering low-cost remittances and lightning-powered payments that aim to undercut traditional financial intermediaries.

Twenty One, currently holding 42,000 Bitcoin, aims to increase its stake further, backed by $585 million raised for additional Bitcoin purchases and operations. The company will focus on Bitcoin-native financial tools, capital markets and media, introducing novel metrics like “Bitcoin Per Share.”

Pending shareholder approval, the combined entity plans a Nasdaq listing under the ticker “XXI,” potentially signaling a new era for institutional Bitcoin investment.

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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 $38.0 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 2.63 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 $42.00 and a 52-week low of $9.99.