The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Fund Name   Ticker Symbol (Exchange)
     
Simplify MBS ETF   [TBAS (NYSE Arca, Inc.)]
Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF   [SPQ (NYSE Arca, Inc.)]

 

 

each a series of Simplify Exchange Traded Funds

 

 

PROSPECTUS

 

[*], 2023

 

Advised by:

Simplify Asset Management Inc.

222 Broadway

22nd Floor

New York, NY 10038

   
www.simplify.us/etfs phone: 1 (855) 772-8488

 

This Prospectus provides important information about the Funds that you should know before investing. Please read it carefully and keep it for future reference.

 

These securities have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission or Commodity Futures Trading Commission nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission or Commodity Futures Trading Commission passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

Each Fund’s shares are listed and traded on the respective Exchange listed above.

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

FUND SUMMARY – SIMPLIFY MBS ETF   1
FUND SUMMARY – SIMPLIFY US Equity plus QIS ETF   7
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RELATED RISKS   14
Investment Objective   14
Principal Investment Strategies   14
Principal Investment Risks   17
Portfolio Holdings Disclosure   23
Cybersecurity   23
MANAGEMENT   23
Investment Adviser   23
Portfolio Managers   24
HOW SHARES ARE PRICED   25
HOW TO BUY AND SELL SHARES   26
FREQUENT PURCHASES AND REDEMPTIONS OF FUND SHARES   27
DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICE PLAN   27
DIVIDENDS, OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS AND TAXES   27
FUND SERVICE PROVIDERS   29
OTHER INFORMATION   29
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS   31

 

i

 

 

FUND SUMMARY - SIMPLIFY MBS ETF

 

 

Investment Objective: The Simplify MBS ETF (the “Fund” or “TBAS”) seeks to provide total return, consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund: This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. Investors purchasing or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market may be subject to costs (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker. These costs are not included in the expense table or example below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
 
Management Fees [0.25%]
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses [0.25%]
Fee Waiver(1) [0.10%]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver [0.15%]

 

(1) The Fund’s adviser has contractually agreed, until at least [          ], 2025, to waive its management fees to 0.15% of the Fund’s average daily net assets. This agreement may be terminated only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees on 60 days’ written notice to the Fund’s adviser.

 

Example: This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year 3 Years
$[     ] $[     ]

 

Portfolio Turnover: The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund is a new fund and has no portfolio turnover information as of the date of this Prospectus.

 

1

 

 

Principal Investment Strategies:

 

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in mortgage related fixed income instruments including residential mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”). The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund that seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing primarily in MBS’s issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (“GNMA”), Federal National Mortgage Association (“FNMA”) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“FHLMC”). These agencies securitize pools of mortgage loans that meet the underwriting standards of the relevant agency. The Fund may also purchase MBS on a when-issued basis, (commonly referred to as “To Be Announced” or “TBAs”); and gain exposure to MBS through derivatives such as options or swap agreements. These are included as MBS for purposes of the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

 

Generally, the adviser constructs the Fund’s portfolio by selecting instruments that it believes will produce the highest yield while maintaining a medium-term effective duration portfolio. The adviser considers price, coupon, expected prepayment rate and maturity to calculate a security’s expected yield. Effective duration measures the interest rate sensitivity of a security including the borrower’s option to prepay its mortgage loan. For example, an effective duration of “five years” means that a security’s price would be expected to decrease by approximately 5% with a 1% increase in interest rates. The adviser sells securities to manage effective duration or when a more attractive instrument becomes available.

 

To generate additional returns, the adviser may use a strategy referred to as a dollar roll. In a dollar, the Fund sells, in the TBA market, a security for current month settlement, while simultaneously committing to buy a substantially similar TBA security for next month or a further month settlement. The adviser assesses the relative prices between delivery months as well as interest income on short-term investments to forecast the expected profit of this strategy, which creates investment leverage.

 

The Fund also holds cash and invests in cash-equivalents (money market funds) or high-quality short term fixed income securities as collateral for swaps.

 

Principal Investment Risks: As with all funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund. Many factors affect the Fund’s net asset value and price of shares and performance. The following describes the risks the Fund bears with respect to its investments. As with any fund, there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its goal.

 

Active Management Risk. Each Fund is subject to the risk that its investment management strategy may not produce the intended results. There can be no assurance that the securities selected by the adviser will produce positive returns.

 

Cash or Cash Equivalents Risk. At any time, the Fund may have significant investments in cash or cash equivalents. When a substantial portion of a portfolio is held in cash or cash equivalents, there is the risk that the value of the cash account, including interest, will not keep pace with inflation, thus reducing purchasing power over time. Additionally, in rising markets, holding cash or cash equivalents may adversely affect the Fund’s performance and the Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Counterparty Risk. The Fund may engage in transactions in securities and financial instruments that involve counterparties. Counterparty risk is the risk that a counterparty (the other party to a transaction or an agreement or the party with whom the Fund executes transactions) to a transaction with the Fund may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal, interest or settlement payments, or otherwise honor its obligations. To limit the counterparty risk associated with such transactions, the Fund conducts business only with financial institutions judged by the Adviser to present acceptable credit risk.

 

2

 

 

Derivatives Risk. A Fund’s use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfil its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. Such prices are influenced by numerous factors that affect the markets, including, but not limited to: changing supply and demand relationships; government programs and policies; national and international political and economic events, changes in interest rates, inflation and deflation and changes in supply and demand relationships. Trading derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities including:

 

Dollar Roll Risk. Dollar rolls involve the risk that the Fund’s counterparty will be unable to deliver the mortgage-backed securities underlying the dollar roll at the fixed time. If the buyer files for bankruptcy or becomes insolvent, the buyer or its representative may ask for and receive an extension of time to decide whether to enforce the Fund’s repurchase obligation. In addition, the Fund earns interest by investing the transaction proceeds during the roll period. Dollar roll transactions have the effect of creating leverage in the Fund’s portfolio.

 

Early Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may prevent a Fund from buying or selling certain securities or financial instruments. In these circumstances, a Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and may incur substantial trading losses.

 

ETF Structure Risk: Each Fund is structured as an ETF and will invest in underlying ETFs. As a result, each Fund is subject to special risks, including:

 

  Not Individually Redeemable. A Fund’s Shares (“Shares”) are not redeemable by retail investors and may be redeemed only by the Authorized Participant at net asset value (“NAV”) and only in Creation Units. A retail investor generally incurs brokerage costs when selling shares.

 

  Trading Issues. Trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable, such as extraordinary market volatility. There can be no assurance that Shares will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Exchange, which may result in a Fund’s shares being delisted. An active trading market for the Shares may not be developed or maintained. If the Shares are traded outside a collateralized settlement system, the number of financial institutions that can act as Authorized Participants that can post collateral on an agency basis is limited, which may limit the market for the Shares.

 

  Market Price Variance Risk. Individual Shares of a Fund that are listed for trading on the Exchange can be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The market prices of Shares will fluctuate in response to changes in NAV and supply and demand for Shares. There may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly and you may pay more than NAV when buying Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive less than NAV when you sell those Shares. The market price of Shares, like the price of any exchange-traded security, includes a “bid-ask spread” charged by the exchange specialists, market makers or other participants that trade the particular security. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread often increases significantly. This means that Shares may trade at a discount to NAV and the discount is likely to be greatest when the price of Shares is falling fastest, which may be the time that you most want to sell your Shares. A Fund’s investment results are measured based upon the daily NAV of a Fund over a period of time. Investors purchasing and selling Shares in the secondary market may not experience investment results consistent with those experienced by those Authorized Participants creating and redeeming directly with a Fund.

 

3

 

 

  In times of market stress, market makers may step away from their role market making in shares of ETFs and in executing trades, which can lead to differences between the market value of Shares and the Fund’s NAV.

 

  The market price for the Shares may deviate from a Fund’s NAV, particularly during times of market stress, with the result that investors may pay significantly more or significantly less for Shares than a Fund’s NAV, which is reflected in the bid and ask price for Fund shares or in the closing price.

 

  In stressed market conditions, the market for the Shares may become less liquid in response to the deteriorating liquidity of a Fund’s portfolio. This adverse effect on the liquidity of the Shares may, in turn, lead to differences between the market value of the Shares and a Fund’s NAV.

 

  Authorized Participant Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Fund. A Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as an Authorized Participant on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to a Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, a Fund’s shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

 

Fixed Income Securities Risk. Fixed income risk factors include credit risk (the debtor may default) and prepayment risk (the debtor may pay its obligation early or later than expected, potentially reducing the amount of interest payments or extending time to principal repayment). These risks could affect the value of a particular investment possibly causing the Fund’s share price and total return to be reduced and fluctuate more than other types of investments. When a Fund invests in fixed income securities the value of your investment in a Fund will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of fixed income securities. In general, the market price of debt securities with longer maturities will increase or decrease more in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term securities. If the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) raises the federal funds interest rate target, interest rates across the U.S. financial system may rise. However, the magnitude of rate changes across maturities and borrower sectors is uncertain. Rising rates may decrease liquidity and increase volatility, which may make portfolio management more difficult and costly to a Fund and its shareholders. Additionally, default risk increases if issuers must borrow at higher rates. Generally, these changing market conditions may cause a Fund’s share price to fluctuate or decline more than other types of equity investments.

 

Leverage Risk. Using derivatives can create leverage, which can amplify the effects of market volatility on each Fund’s share price and make a Fund’s returns more volatile. The use of leverage may cause a Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not be advantageous to do so in order to satisfy its obligations. The use of leverage may also cause a Fund to have higher expenses than those of other funds that do not use such techniques.

 

Limited History of Operations. The Funds are new ETFs and therefore do not yet have a history of operations for investors to evaluate. Investors in a Fund bear the risk that a Fund may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies, may be unable to implement certain of its investment strategies or may fail to attract sufficient assets, any of which could result in a Fund being liquidated and terminated at any time without shareholder approval and at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders and will cause shareholders to incur expenses of liquidation. The adviser may not achieve its intended result in managing a Fund.

 

4

 

 

Market and Geopolitical Risk. The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in a Fund’s portfolio may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, international conflicts, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the forced or voluntary closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may impact your investment.

 

Mortgage-Related Risks. MBS represent interests in “pools” of mortgages and often involve risks that are different from or possibly more acute than risks associated with other types of debt instruments. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, the Fund may exhibit additional volatility since individual mortgage holders are less likely to exercise prepayment options, thereby putting additional downward pressure on the value of these securities and potentially causing the Fund to lose money. This is known as extension risk. MBS can be highly sensitive to rising interest rates, such that even small movements can cause an investing Fund to lose value. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund may have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates.

 

Options Risk. When the Fund purchases a call option, it receives, in return for the premium it pays, the right to buy from the writer of the option the underlying security at a specified price at any time before the option expires. The Fund purchases call options in anticipation of an increase in the market value of securities that it intends ultimately to buy. During the life of the call option, a Fund is able to buy the underlying security at the exercise price regardless of any increase in the market price of the underlying security. In order for a call option to result in a gain, the market price of the underlying security must exceed the sum of the exercise price, the premium paid, and transaction costs.

 

Over-the-Counter Market Risk. Securities and options traded in over-the-counter markets may trade less frequently and in limited volumes and thus exhibit more volatility and liquidity risk, and the prices paid by a Fund in over-the-counter transactions may include an undisclosed dealer markup. Each Fund is also exposed to default by the over-the-counter option writer who may be unwilling or unable to perform its contractual obligations to a Fund.

 

Prepayment Risk. Mortgage borrowers may be able to prepay principal early, particularly during periods of declining interest rates. Securities subject to prepayment risk generally offer less potential for gains when interest rates decline, and may offer a greater potential for loss when interest rates rise. When obligations are prepaid, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with a lower yield. Prepayment risk is a major risk of mortgage-backed securities.

 

Swap Risk. Swaps are subject to tracking risk because they may not be perfect substitutes for the instruments they are intended to hedge or replace. Over the counter swaps are subject to counterparty default. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s losses.

 

TBA Securities Risk. In a TBA transaction, a seller agrees to deliver a security at a future date, but does not specify the particular security to be delivered. Instead, the seller agrees to accept any security that meets specified terms. TBA transactions involve the risk that the securities received may have less favorable characteristics than what was anticipated when the Fund entered into the transaction. TBA transactions are also subject to counterparty risk and will be exposed to changes in the value of the underlying investments during the term of the agreement.

 

5

 

 

Performance: Because the Fund has only recently commenced investment operations, no performance information is presented for the Fund at this time. In the future, performance information will be presented in this section of the Prospectus. Also, shareholder reports containing financial and performance information will be mailed to shareholder semi-annually. Updated performance information will be available at no cost by visiting www.simplify.us or by calling 1 (855) 772-8488.

 

Investment Adviser: Simplify Asset Management Inc. (the “Adviser”).

 

Portfolio Managers: Paul Kim, Chief Executive Officer of the Adviser; David Berns, Chief Investment Officer of the Adviser; Harley Bassman, Managing Partner & Convexity Maven of the Adviser, and Ken Miller, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, serve as portfolio managers of the Fund. Mr. Kim, Mr. Berns, Mr. Bassman and Mr. Miller have each served the Fund as a portfolio manager since it commenced operations and are jointly and primarily responsible for the management of the Fund.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: The Fund will issue and redeem Shares at NAV only in large blocks of 25,000 Shares (each block of Shares is called a “Creation Unit”). Creation Units are issued and redeemed primarily in-kind for securities but may include cash. Individual Shares may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Except when aggregated in Creation Units in transactions with Authorized Participants, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and trade at market prices rather than NAV. Shares of the Fund may trade at a price that is greater than, at, or less than NAV.

 

Tax Information: The Fund’s distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income or long-term capital gains. A sale of Shares may result in capital gain or loss.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

6

 

 

FUND SUMMARY – SIMPLIFY US EQUITY PLUS QIS ETF

 

 

Investment Objective: The Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF (the “Fund” or “SPQ”) seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund: This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. Investors purchasing or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market may be subject to costs (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker. These costs are not included in the expense table or example below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
 
Management Fees [0.50%]
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses [0.00%]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(1) [0.50%]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses [1.00%]

 

(1) Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies. The operating expenses in this fee table will not correlate to the expense ratio in the Fund’s financial highlights because the financial statements include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Fund.

 

Example: This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year 3 Years
$[     ] $[     ]

 

Portfolio Turnover: The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund is a new fund and has no portfolio turnover information as of the date of this Prospectus.

 

7

 

 

Principal Investment Strategies:

 

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of U.S. entities. The Fund defines equity securities as common stock, preferred stock, and futures on common stock. Additionally, the Fund defines U.S. entities as those organized in the U.S.; having a class of securities whose principal securities market is in the U.S.; or deriving more than 50% of its total revenues or earnings from goods produced, sales made, or services provided in the U.S., or maintaining more than 50% of its employees, assets, investments, operations, or other business activity in the U.S.

 

The adviser believes that, based upon its historical research, that allocations to a combination of US equity strategies and multiple quantitative investment strategies across equity, fixed income, commodity, currency, and volatility markets may achieve long-term capital appreciation and mitigate asset-class and single-strategy risks.

 

US Equity Strategies

 

The adviser believes that, based upon its historical research, a base allocation to equities will make a significant contribution to long-term capital appreciation, while providing dividend income to help offset Fund operating expenses. The Fund invests in equity securities of U.S. entities primarily through (i) equity securities of U.S. companies, (ii) ETFs that primarily invest in the equity securities of U.S. companies, and (iii) exchange-traded equity futures contracts. The Fund invests in companies without restriction as to capitalization. The adviser evaluates expected return, expenses, management, and leveraging effects when choosing between specific stocks, ETFs, and futures. Through a combination of securities and futures, the adviser targets an allocation equivalent to 100% of Fund net assets to the US equity strategy. The adviser reduces equity exposure when it believes the QIS strategy will produce higher returns and changes allocations among specific stocks, ETFs, and futures to those with the highest expected return.

 

QIS Strategies (i.e. multiple quantitative investment strategies)

 

This component of the Fund’s strategy is designed to identify the optimal allocation among quantitative investment strategies to achieve positive returns and mitigate asset-class and single-strategy risks. The adviser evaluates multiple strategies and selects the individual strategies based on multiple qualitative and quantitative considerations, including portfolio diversification, scalability, expected risk adjusted returns and correlation to one another. The adviser evaluates these strategies on a quarterly basis and makes adjustments to the strategy allocations when the adviser believes an alternative strategy would provide better returns. The adviser executes the QIS strategy primarily by investing in the Simplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF (the “QIS Fund”), which is a US domiciled and US exchange-traded fund managed by the adviser. Through the QIS Fund, the Fund may indirectly invest in foreign issuers (including emerging markets), on foreign exchanges, and in debt of any quality.

 

The QIS Fund invests in multiple quantitative investment strategies across equity, fixed income, commodity, currency, and volatility markets. The quantitative investment strategies in which the QIS Fund invests are third-party investment strategies that analyse historical quantitative data and use models to identify investments that, based on historical results, can provide attractive risk adjusted returns. When it believes conditions are favorable for the QIS strategy, the adviser may allocate up to 50% of the Fund’s net assets to the QIS Fund.

 

The Fund also holds cash and invests in cash-like instruments or high-quality short term fixed income securities as collateral for futures. The collateral may consist of (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) fixed income ETFs; and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by companies that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality.

 

8

 

 

Temporary Defensive Positions

 

From time to time, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions, which are inconsistent with the Fund’s principal investment strategies, in attempting to respond to adverse market, economic, political, or other conditions. For example, the Fund may hold all or a portion of its assets in money market instruments, including cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities, other investment grade fixed income securities, certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances, commercial paper, money market funds and repurchase agreements. While the Fund is in a defensive position, the opportunity to achieve its investment objective will be limited. If the Fund invests in a money market fund, the shareholders of the Fund generally will be subject to duplicative management fees. Although the Fund would do this only in seeking to avoid losses, the Fund will be unable to pursue its investment objective during that time, and it could reduce the benefit from any upswing in the market.

 

Principal Investment Risks: As with all funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund. Many factors affect the Fund’s net asset value and price of shares and performance. The following describes the risks the Fund bears with respect to its investments. As with any fund, there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its goal.

 

Derivatives Risk. Trading derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s losses if the derivative strategy is ineffective.

 

Total Return Swap Risk. Leverage inherent in derivatives such as total return swaps will tend to magnify the Fund’s losses if the reference asset or assets declines in price.

 

Futures Risk. The Fund’s use of futures involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) leverage risk (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the futures contract may not correlate perfectly with the underlying index. Investments in futures involve leverage, which means a small percentage of assets invested in futures can have a disproportionately large impact on the Fund. This risk could cause the Fund to lose more than the principal amount invested. Futures contracts may become mispriced or improperly valued when compared to the adviser’s expectation and may not produce the desired investment results. Additionally, changes in the value of futures contracts may not track or correlate perfectly with the underlying index because of temporary, or even long-term, supply and demand imbalances and because futures do not pay dividends unlike the stocks upon which they are based.

 

Counterparty Risk. Total return swaps and other derivative instruments are made with counterparties that are privately negotiated in the over-the-counter market. These contracts involve exposure to credit risk because contract performance depends, in part, on the financial condition of the counterparty. If the creditworthiness of the counterparty declines, the Fund may not receive payments owed under the contract, or such payments may be delayed and the value of agreements with the counterparty can be expected to decline, potentially resulting in losses to the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. The use of leverage by the Fund will cause the Fund to incur additional expenses and magnify the Fund’s gains or losses.

 

Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value. The equity securities held by the Fund may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is subject to the risk that the investment management strategy may not produce the intended results and may negatively impact Fund performance.

 

Cash or Cash Equivalents Risk. At any time, the Fund may have significant investments in cash or cash equivalents. When a substantial portion of a portfolio is held in cash or cash equivalents, there is the risk that the value of the cash account, including interest, will not keep pace with inflation, thus reducing purchasing power over time. Additionally, in rising markets, holding cash or cash equivalents may adversely affect the Fund’s performance and the Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

9

 

 

Commodity Risk. Investments linked to commodity derivatives can be highly volatile compared to investments in traditional securities, and funds holding instruments linked to commodity derivatives may experience large losses. The value of instruments linked to commodity derivatives may be affected by market movements, commodity benchmarks, volatility, changes in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular industry, or commodity.

 

Early Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may prevent the Fund from buying or selling certain securities or financial instruments. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and may incur substantial trading losses.

 

Emerging Markets Risk. Investing in emerging markets involves not only the risks described below with respect to investing in foreign securities, but also other risks, including exposure to economic structures that are generally less diverse and mature, limited availability and reliability of information material to an investment decision, and exposure to political systems that can be expected to have less stability than those of developed countries.

 

ETF Structure Risks. The Fund is structured as an ETF and will invest in underlying ETFs. As a result, the Fund is subject to special risks, including:

 

Not Individually Redeemable. The Fund’s shares (“Shares”) are not redeemable by retail investors and may be redeemed only by Authorized Participants at net asset value (“NAV”) and only in Creation Units. A retail investor generally incurs brokerage costs when selling shares.

 

Trading Issues. Trading in Shares on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”) may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable, such as extraordinary market volatility. There can be no assurance that Shares will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Exchange which may result in the Shares being delisted. An active trading market for the Shares may not be developed or maintained. If the Shares are traded outside a collateralized settlement system, the number of financial institutions that can act as Authorized Participants that can post collateral on an agency basis is limited, which may limit the market for the Shares.

 

Market Price Variance Risk. The market prices of Shares will fluctuate in response to changes in NAV and supply and demand for Shares and will include a “bid-ask spread” charged by the exchange specialists, market makers or other participants that trade the Shares. There may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly. This means that Shares may trade at a discount to NAV.

 

In times of market stress, market makers may step away from their role market making in the Shares and in executing trades, which can lead to differences between the market value of the Shares and the Fund’s NAV.

 

The market price of the Shares may deviate from the Fund’s NAV, particularly during times of market stress, with the result that investors may pay significantly more or significantly less for the Shares than the Fund’s NAV, which is reflected in the bid and ask price for the Shares or in the closing price.

 

In stressed market conditions, the market for the Shares may become less liquid in response to the deteriorating liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio. This adverse effect on the liquidity of the Shares may, in turn, lead to differences between the market value of the Shares and the Fund’s NAV.

 

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Authorized Participant Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as an Authorized Participant on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to net asset value and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

 

Fixed Income Securities Risk. When the Fund invests in fixed income securities, the value of your investment in the Fund will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of fixed income securities owned by the Fund. In general, the market price of fixed income securities with longer maturities will increase or decrease more in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term securities. Other risk factors include credit risk (the debtor may default), extension risk (an issuer may exercise its right to repay principal on a fixed rate obligation held by the Fund later than expected), and prepayment risk (the debtor may pay its obligation early, reducing the amount of interest payments).

 

Foreign Currency Risk. The Fund holds investments that provide exposure to non-U.S. currencies, currency exchange rates or interest rates denominated in such currencies. Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of non-U.S. currencies will affect the value of the Fund’s investment and the value of Fund shares. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning and your investment in the Fund may experience losses.

 

Foreign Exchange Risk. Because options held by the Fund may trade on foreign exchanges that are closed when the Fund’s primary listing exchange is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of a security and the security’s last quoted price from the closed foreign market. This may result in premiums and discounts that are greater than those experienced by domestic ETFs.

 

Junk Bond Risk. Lower-quality bonds, known as “high yield” or “junk” bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce the Fund’s ability to sell its bonds. Longer maturity and longer duration bond prices will decline more in response to rising interest rates. The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund’s share price.

 

Large Capitalization Risk. Large-capitalization companies may be less able than smaller capitalization companies to adapt to changing market conditions. Large-capitalization companies may be more mature and subject to more limited growth potential compared with smaller capitalization companies. During different market cycles, the performance of large capitalization companies has trailed the overall performance of the broader securities markets.

 

Limited History Risk. The Fund is a new ETF and does not yet have a history of operations for investors to evaluate.

 

Market and Geopolitical Risk. The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in the Fund’s portfolios may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, climate change or climate-related events, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, international conflicts, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets. The coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the forced or voluntary closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may impact your Fund investment.

 

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Over-the-Counter Market Risk. Securities and options traded in over-the-counter markets may trade less frequently and in limited volumes and thus exhibit more volatility and liquidity risk, and the prices paid by the Fund in over-the-counter transactions may include an undisclosed dealer markup. The Fund is also exposed to default by the over-the-counter option writer who may be unwilling or unable to perform its contractual obligations to the Fund.

 

Small and Medium Capitalization Risk. The earnings and prospects of small and medium sized companies are more volatile than larger companies and may experience higher failure rates than larger companies. Small and medium sized companies normally have a lower trading volume than larger companies, which may tend to make their market price fall more disproportionately than larger companies in response to selling pressures and may have limited markets, product lines, or financial resources and lack management experience.

 

Underlying Fund Risk. ETFs in which the Fund invests are subject to investment advisory and other expenses, which will be indirectly paid by the Fund. As a result, the cost of investing in the Fund will be higher than the cost of investing directly in the ETFs and may be higher than other funds that invest directly in stocks and bonds. Each of the ETFs is subject to its own specific risks, but the adviser expects the principal investments risks of such ETFs will be similar to the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Affiliated Fund Risk. The Fund may invest in an affiliated underlying fund (the QIS Fund). The adviser, therefore, is subject to conflicts of interest in allocating the Fund’s assets among the affiliated fund and other assets. The adviser will receive more revenue to the extent it selects the affiliated fund rather than an unaffiliated fund or other investment vehicle for inclusion in the Fund’s portfolio.

 

U.S. Treasury and Agency Market Risk. The U.S. Treasury and agency market can be volatile, and the value of instruments correlated with these markets may fluctuate dramatically from day to day. U.S. Treasury and agency obligations may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other debt instruments, U.S. Treasury and agency obligations are subject to debt instrument risk and interest rate risk. In addition, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. Government may cause the value of U.S. Treasury and agency obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government and are generally considered to have negligible credit risk. Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies or authorities and U.S. government-sponsored instrumentalities or enterprises may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

 

Volatility Risk. Significant short-term price movements could adversely impact the performance of the Fund. The Fund’s performance may be volatile, which means that the Fund’s performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes up or down.

 

Performance: Because the Fund has only recently commenced investment operations, no performance information is presented for the Fund at this time. In the future, performance information will be presented in this section of the Prospectus. Also, shareholder reports containing financial and performance information will be mailed to shareholder semi-annually. Updated performance information will be available at no cost by visiting www.simplify.us or by calling 1 (855) 772-8488.

 

Investment Adviser: Simplify Asset Management Inc. (the “Adviser”).

 

Portfolio Managers: Paul Kim, Chief Executive Officer of the Adviser; David Berns, Chief Investment Officer of the Adviser; John Downing, Managing Director of the Adviser; and David Jackson, Vice President Portfolio Management of the Adviser serve as portfolio managers of the Fund. Mr. Kim, Mr. Berns, Mr. Downing and Mr. Jackson have each served the Fund as a portfolio manager since it commenced operations and are jointly and primarily responsible for the management of the Fund.

 

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Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: The Fund will issue and redeem Shares at NAV only in large blocks of 25,000 Shares (each block of Shares is called a “Creation Unit”). Creation Units are issued and redeemed primarily in-kind for securities but may include cash. Individual Shares may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Except when aggregated in Creation Units in transactions with Authorized Participants, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and trade at market prices rather than NAV. Shares of the Fund may trade at a price that is greater than, at, or less than NAV.

 

Tax Information: The Fund’s distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income or long-term capital gains. A sale of Shares may result in capital gain or loss.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RELATED RISKS

 

 

Investment Objective:

 

Fund Investment Objective
TBAS Total return, consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management
SPQ Long-term capital appreciation

 

Each Fund’s investment objective may be changed by the Board of Trustees upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

 

Principal Investment Strategies:

 

Simplify MBS ETF

 

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in mortgage related fixed income instruments including residential mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”). The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund that seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing primarily in MBS s issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (“GNMA”), Federal National Mortgage Association (“FNMA”) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“FHLMC”). These agencies securitize pools of mortgage loans that meet the underwriting standards of the relevant agency. Securities issued or guaranteed by GNMA are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, while securities issued by FNMA and FHLMC are solely the obligation of the issuer and generally do not carry any express guarantee from the U.S. Government. The Fund may also purchase MBS on a when-issued basis, (commonly referred to as “To Be Announced” or “TBAs”); and gain exposure to MBS through derivatives such as options or swap agreements. These are included as MBS for purposes of the Fund’s 80% investment policy. The TBA market allows investors to gain exposure to mortgage-backed securities with certain broad characteristics (maturity, coupon, etc.) with delivery of the actual securities on a standard settlement day, which is once every month.

 

Generally, the adviser constructs the Fund’s portfolio by selecting instruments that it believes will produce the highest yield while maintaining a medium-term effective duration portfolio. The adviser considers price, coupon, expected prepayment rate and maturity to calculate a security’s expected yield. Effective duration measures the interest rate sensitivity of a security including the borrower’s option to prepay its mortgage loan. For example, an effective duration of “five years” means that a security’s price would be expected to decrease by approximately 5% with a 1% increase in interest rates. The adviser sells securities to manage effective duration or when a more attractive instrument becomes available.

 

To generate additional returns, the adviser may use a strategy referred to as a dollar roll. In a dollar, the Fund sells, in the TBA market, a security for current month settlement, while simultaneously committing to buy a substantially similar TBA security for next month or a further month settlement. The adviser assesses the relative prices between delivery months as well as interest income on short-term investments to forecast the expected profit of this strategy, which creates investment leverage.

 

The Fund also holds cash and invests in cash-equivalents (money market funds) or high-quality short term fixed income securities as collateral for swaps. The collateral may consist of (i) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (ii) money market funds; (iii) fixed income ETFs; and/or (iv) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by companies that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality.

 

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Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF

 

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of U.S. entities. The Fund defines equity securities as common stock, preferred stock, and futures on common stock. Additionally, the Fund defines U.S. entities as those organized in the U.S.; having a class of securities whose principal securities market is in the U.S.; or deriving more than 50% of its total revenues or earnings from goods produced, sales made, or services provided in the U.S., or maintaining more than 50% of its employees, assets, investments, operations, or other business activity in the U.S. The adviser believes that, based upon its historical research, that allocations to a combination of US equity strategies and multiple quantitative investment strategies across equity, fixed income, commodity, currency, and volatility markets may achieve long-term capital appreciation and mitigate asset-class and single-strategy risks. The adviser increases allocations to both the US equity strategies and multiple quantitative investment strategies when it believes market conditions, in general, are favorable. The adviser changes allocations between the strategies to reduce overall market risk and may increase allocation to the quantitative strategies when it believes diversification has become more important.

 

US Equity Strategies

 

The adviser believes that, based upon its historical research, a base allocation to equities will make a significant contribution to long-term capital appreciation, while providing dividend income to help offset Fund operating expenses. The Fund invests in equity securities of U.S. entities primarily through (i) equity securities of U.S. companies, (ii) ETFs that primarily invest in the equity securities of U.S. companies, and (iii) exchange-traded equity futures contracts. The Fund invests in companies without restriction as to capitalization. The adviser evaluates expected return, expenses, management, and leveraging effects when choosing between specific stocks, ETFs, and futures. Through a combination of securities and futures, the adviser targets an allocation equivalent to 100% of Fund net assets to the US equity strategy. The adviser reduces equity exposure when it believes the QIS strategy will produce higher returns and changes allocations among specific stocks, ETFs, and futures to those with the highest expected return.

 

QIS Strategies (i.e. multiple quantitative investment strategies)

 

This component of the Fund’s strategy is designed to identify the optimal allocation among quantitative investment strategies to achieve positive returns and mitigate asset-class and single-strategy risks. The adviser evaluates multiple strategies and selects the individual strategies based on multiple qualitative and quantitative considerations, including portfolio diversification, scalability, expected risk adjusted returns and correlation to one another. The adviser evaluates these strategies on a quarterly basis and makes adjustments to the strategy allocations when the adviser believes an alternative strategy would provide better returns. The adviser executes the QIS strategy primarily by investing in the Simplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF (the “QIS Fund”), which is a US domiciled and US exchange-traded fund managed by the adviser. Through the QIS Fund, the Fund may indirectly invest in foreign issuers (including emerging markets), on foreign exchanges, and in debt of any quality.

 

The QIS Fund invests in multiple quantitative investment strategies across equity, fixed income, commodity, currency, and volatility markets. The quantitative investment strategies in which the QIS Fund invests are third-party investment strategies that analyse historical quantitative data and use models to identify investments that, based on historical results, can provide attractive risk adjusted returns. The QIS Fund invests through total return swaps that provide the returns of third-party quantitative strategies which provide access to model portfolios. The strategies underlying the swaps are selected by the QIS Fund’s adviser using its proprietary investment models. When it believes conditions are favorable for the QIS strategy, the adviser may allocate up to 50% of the Fund’s net assets to the QIS Fund.

 

The Fund also holds cash and invests in cash-like instruments or high-quality short term fixed income securities as collateral for futures. The collateral may consist of (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) fixed income ETFs; and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by companies that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality.

 

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Temporary Defensive Positions

 

From time to time, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions, which are inconsistent with the Fund’s principal investment strategies, in attempting to respond to adverse market, economic, political, or other conditions. For example, the Fund may hold all or a portion of its assets in money market instruments, including cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities, other investment grade fixed income securities, certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances, commercial paper, money market funds and repurchase agreements. While the Fund is in a defensive position, the opportunity to achieve its investment objective will be limited. If the Fund invests in a money market fund, the shareholders of the Fund generally will be subject to duplicative management fees. Although the Fund would do this only in seeking to avoid losses, the Fund will be unable to pursue its investment objective during that time, and it could reduce the benefit from any upswing in the market.

 

Manager-of-Managers Order

 

The Trust and the adviser have received an exemptive order from the SEC that permits the adviser, with the Board approval, to enter into sub-advisory agreements with one or more sub-advisers without obtaining shareholder approval. The exemptive order permits the adviser, subject to the approval of the Board to replace sub-advisers or amend sub-advisory agreements, including fees, without shareholder approval whenever the adviser and the Board believe such action will benefit the Fund and its shareholders.

 

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Principal Investment Risks:

 

The Following chart identifies the principal risks of each Fund. The Funds are listed in the chart below by their respective ticker symbol.

 

  TBAS SPQ
Active Management Risk X X
Affiliated Fund Risk   X
Cash or Cash Equivalents Risk X X
Commodity Risk   X
Counterparty Risk X X
Derivatives X X
Dollar Roll Risk X  
Early Close/Trading Halt Risk X X
Emerging Markets Risk   X
Equity Securities Risk   X
ETF Structure Risk X X
Fixed Income Securities Risk X X
Foreign Currency Risk   X
Foreign Exchange Risk   X
Futures Risk   X
Junk Bond Risk   X
Large Capitalization Risk   X
Leverage Risk X X
Limited History Risk X X
Market and Geopolitical Risk X X
Mortgage-Related Risks X  
Options Risk X  
Over the Counter Market Risk X X
Prepayment Risk X  
Small and Medium Capitalization Risk   X
Swap Risk X  
TBA Securities Risk X  
Underlying Fund Risk   X
US Treasury and Agency Market Risk   X
Volatility Risk   X

 

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Active Management Risk. Each Fund is subject to the risk that its investment management strategy may not produce the intended results. There can be no assurance that the securities selected by the adviser will produce positive returns.

 

Affiliated Fund Risk. The Fund may invest in an affiliated underlying fund (the QIS Fund). The adviser, therefore, is subject to conflicts of interest in allocating the Fund’s assets among the affiliated fund and other assets. The adviser will receive more revenue to the extent it selects the affiliated fund rather than an unaffiliated fund or other investment vehicle for inclusion in the Fund’s portfolio.

 

Cash or Cash Equivalents Risk. At any time, the Fund may have significant investments in cash or cash equivalents. When a substantial portion of a portfolio is held in cash or cash equivalents, there is the risk that the value of the cash account, including interest, will not keep pace with inflation, thus reducing purchasing power over time. Additionally, in rising markets, holding cash or cash equivalents may adversely affect the Fund’s performance and the Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Commodity Risk. Investments linked to commodity derivatives can be highly volatile compared to investments in traditional securities, and funds holding instruments linked to commodity derivatives may experience large losses. The value of instruments linked to commodities may be affected by market movements, commodity prices or benchmarks (as the case may be), volatility, changes in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular industry, commodity. For example, commodity prices may be affected by numerous factors, including drought, floods, fires, weather, livestock disease, pipeline ruptures or spills, embargoes, tariffs and international, economic, political or regulatory developments. In particular, trading in financial instruments linked to natural gas has historically been very volatile and can be expected to be very volatile in the future. High volatility may have an adverse impact on the Fund.

 

Counterparty Risk. A Fund may engage in transactions in securities and financial instruments that involve counterparties. Counterparty risk is the risk that a counterparty (the other party to a transaction or an agreement or the party with whom the Fund executes transactions) to a transaction with the Fund may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal, interest or settlement payments, or otherwise honor its obligations. To limit the counterparty risk associated with such transactions, the Fund conducts business only with financial institutions judged by the Adviser to present acceptable credit risk.

 

Derivatives Risk. A Fund’s use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfil its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. Such prices are influenced by numerous factors that affect the markets, including, but not limited to: changing supply and demand relationships; government programs and policies; national and international political and economic events, changes in interest rates, inflation and deflation and changes in supply and demand relationships.

 

Dollar Roll Risk. Dollar rolls involve the risk that the Fund’s counterparty will be unable to deliver the mortgage-backed securities underlying the dollar roll at the fixed time. If the buyer files for bankruptcy or becomes insolvent, the buyer or its representative may ask for and receive an extension of time to decide whether to enforce the Fund’s repurchase obligation. In addition, the Fund earns interest by investing the transaction proceeds during the roll period. Dollar roll transactions have the effect of creating leverage in the Fund’s portfolio.

 

Early Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may prevent a Fund from buying or selling certain securities or financial instruments. In these circumstances, a Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and may incur substantial trading losses.

 

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Emerging Markets Risk. The Fund may invest in countries with newly organized or less developed securities markets. Investments in emerging markets typically involves greater risks than investing in more developed markets. Generally, economic structures in these countries are less diverse and mature than those in developed countries and their political systems tend to be less stable. Emerging market countries may have different regulatory, accounting, auditing, and financial reporting and record keeping standards and may have material limitations on PCAOB inspection, investigation, and enforcement. Therefore, the availability and reliability of information, particularly financial information, material to an investment decision in emerging market companies may be limited in scope and reliability as compared to information provided by U.S. companies. Emerging market economies may be based on only a few industries. As a result, security issuers, including governments, may be more susceptible to economic weakness and more likely to default. Emerging market countries also may have relatively unstable governments, weaker economies, and less-developed legal systems with fewer security holder rights. Investments in emerging markets countries may be affected by government policies that restrict foreign investment in certain issuers or industries. The potentially smaller size of securities markets in emerging market countries and lower trading volumes can make investments relatively illiquid and potentially more volatile than investments in developed countries, and such securities may be subject to abrupt and severe price declines. Due to this relative lack of liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price or may not be able to sell a portfolio security at all. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect the Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to meet cash obligations or take advantage of other investment opportunities.

 

Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value. The equity securities held by a Fund may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors affecting securities markets generally, the equity securities of a particular sector, or a particular company.

 

ETF Structure Risk: Each Fund is structured as an ETF and will invest in underlying ETFs. As a result, each Fund is subject to special risks, including:

 

Not Individually Redeemable. A Fund’s Shares (“Shares”) are not redeemable by retail investors and may be redeemed only by the Authorized Participant at net asset value (“NAV”) and only in Creation Units. A retail investor generally incurs brokerage costs when selling shares.

 

Trading Issues. Trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable, such as extraordinary market volatility. There can be no assurance that Shares will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Exchange, which may result in a Fund’s shares being delisted. An active trading market for the Shares may not be developed or maintained. If the Shares are traded outside a collateralized settlement system, the number of financial institutions that can act as Authorized Participants that can post collateral on an agency basis is limited, which may limit the market for the Shares.

 

Market Price Variance Risk. Individual Shares of a Fund that are listed for trading on the Exchange can be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The market prices of Shares will fluctuate in response to changes in NAV and supply and demand for Shares. There may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly and you may pay more than NAV when buying Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive less than NAV when you sell those Shares. The market price of Shares, like the price of any exchange-traded security, includes a “bid-ask spread” charged by the exchange specialists, market makers or other participants that trade the particular security. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread often increases significantly. This means that Shares may trade at a discount to NAV and the discount is likely to be greatest when the price of Shares is falling fastest, which may be the time that you most want to sell your Shares. A Fund’s investment results are measured based upon the daily NAV of a Fund over a period of time. Investors purchasing and selling Shares in the secondary market may not experience investment results consistent with those experienced by those Authorized Participants creating and redeeming directly with a Fund.

 

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In times of market stress, market makers may step away from their role market making in shares of ETFs and in executing trades, which can lead to differences between the market value of Shares and the Fund’s NAV.

 

The market price for the Shares may deviate from a Fund’s NAV, particularly during times of market stress, with the result that investors may pay significantly more or significantly less for Shares than a Fund’s NAV, which is reflected in the bid and ask price for Fund shares or in the closing price.

 

In stressed market conditions, the market for the Shares may become less liquid in response to the deteriorating liquidity of a Fund’s portfolio. This adverse effect on the liquidity of the Shares may, in turn, lead to differences between the market value of the Shares and a Fund’s NAV.

 

Authorized Participant Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Fund. A Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as an Authorized Participant on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to a Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, a Fund’s shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

 

Fixed Income Securities Risk. Fixed income risk factors include credit risk (the debtor may default) and prepayment risk (the debtor may pay its obligation early or later than expected, potentially reducing the amount of interest payments or extending time to principal repayment). These risks could affect the value of a particular investment possibly causing the Fund’s share price and total return to be reduced and fluctuate more than other types of investments. When a Fund invests in fixed income securities the value of your investment in a Fund will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of fixed income securities. In general, the market price of debt securities with longer maturities will increase or decrease more in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term securities. If the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) raises the federal funds interest rate target, interest rates across the U.S. financial system may rise. However, the magnitude of rate changes across maturities and borrower sectors is uncertain. Rising rates may decrease liquidity and increase volatility, which may make portfolio management more difficult and costly to a Fund and its shareholders. Additionally, default risk increases if issuers must borrow at higher rates. Generally, these changing market conditions may cause a Fund’s share price to fluctuate or decline more than other types of equity investments.

 

Foreign Currency Risk. The Fund holds investments that provide exposure to non-U.S. currencies, currency exchange rates or interest rates denominated in such currencies. Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of non-U.S. currencies will affect the value of the Fund’s investment and the value of Fund shares. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning and your investment in the Fund may experience losses.

 

Foreign Exchange Risk. Because options held by the Fund may trade on foreign exchanges that are closed when the Fund’s primary listing exchange is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of a security and the security’s last quoted price from the closed foreign market. This may result in premiums and discounts that are greater than those experienced by domestic ETFs.

 

Futures Risk. The Fund’s use of futures involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) leverage risk (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the futures contract may not correlate perfectly with the underlying index. Investments in futures involve leverage, which means a small percentage of assets invested in futures can have a disproportionately large impact on the Fund. This risk could cause the Fund to lose more than the principal amount invested. Futures contracts may become mispriced or improperly valued when compared to the adviser’s expectation and may not produce the desired investment results. Additionally, changes in the value of futures contracts may not track or correlate perfectly with the underlying index because of temporary, or even long-term, supply and demand imbalances and because futures do not pay dividends unlike the stocks upon which they are based.

 

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Junk Bond Risk. Lower-quality bonds, known as “high yield” or “junk” bonds, present a significant risk for loss of principal and interest. These bonds offer the potential for higher return, but also involve greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased possibility that the bond’s issuer, obligor or guarantor may not be able to make its payments of interest and principal (credit quality risk). If that happens, the value of the bond may decrease, and the Fund’s share price may decrease and its income distribution may be reduced. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates (interest rate risk) could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce the Fund’s ability to sell its bonds (liquidity risk). Such securities may also include “Rule 144A” securities, which are subject to resale restrictions. The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund’s share price.

 

Large Capitalization Risk. Large-capitalization companies may be less able than smaller capitalization companies to adapt to changing market conditions. Large-capitalization companies may be more mature and subject to more limited growth potential compared with smaller capitalization companies. During different market cycles, the performance of large capitalization companies has trailed the overall performance of the broader securities markets.

 

Leverage Risk. Using derivatives can create leverage, which can amplify the effects of market volatility on each Fund’s share price and make a Fund’s returns more volatile. The use of leverage may cause a Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not be advantageous to do so in order to satisfy its obligations. The use of leverage may also cause a Fund to have higher expenses than those of other funds that do not use such techniques.

 

Limited History of Operations. The Funds are new ETFs and therefore do not yet have a history of operations for investors to evaluate. Investors in a Fund bear the risk that a Fund may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies, may be unable to implement certain of its investment strategies or may fail to attract sufficient assets, any of which could result in a Fund being liquidated and terminated at any time without shareholder approval and at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders and will cause shareholders to incur expenses of liquidation. The adviser may not achieve its intended result in managing a Fund.

 

Market and Geopolitical Risk. The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in a Fund’s portfolio may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, international conflicts, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the forced or voluntary closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may impact your investment.

 

Mortgage-Related Risks. MBS represent interests in “pools” of mortgages and often involve risks that are different from or possibly more acute than risks associated with other types of debt instruments. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, the Fund may exhibit additional volatility since individual mortgage holders are less likely to exercise prepayment options, thereby putting additional downward pressure on the value of these securities and potentially causing the Fund to lose money. This is known as extension risk. MBS can be highly sensitive to rising interest rates, such that even small movements can cause an investing Fund to lose value. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund may have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates.

 

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Options Risk. When the Fund purchases a call option, it receives, in return for the premium it pays, the right to buy from the writer of the option the underlying security at a specified price at any time before the option expires. The Fund purchases call options in anticipation of an increase in the market value of securities that it intends ultimately to buy. During the life of the call option, a Fund is able to buy the underlying security at the exercise price regardless of any increase in the market price of the underlying security. In order for a call option to result in a gain, the market price of the underlying security must exceed the sum of the exercise price, the premium paid, and transaction costs.

 

Over-the-Counter Market Risk. Securities and options traded in over-the-counter markets may trade less frequently and in limited volumes and thus exhibit more volatility and liquidity risk, and the prices paid by a Fund in over-the-counter transactions may include an undisclosed dealer markup. Each Fund is also exposed to default by the over-the-counter option writer who may be unwilling or unable to perform its contractual obligations to a Fund.

 

Prepayment Risk. Mortgage borrowers may be able to prepay principal early, particularly during periods of declining interest rates. Securities subject to prepayment risk generally offer less potential for gains when interest rates decline, and may offer a greater potential for loss when interest rates rise. When obligations are prepaid, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with a lower yield. Prepayment risk is a major risk of mortgage-backed securities.

 

Small and Medium Capitalization Risk. The stocks of small and medium capitalization companies involve substantial risk. These companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, and they may be dependent on a limited management group. Stocks of these companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than those of larger, more established companies or the market averages in general.

 

Swap Risk. Swaps are subject to tracking risk because they may not be perfect substitutes for the instruments they are intended to hedge or replace. Over the counter swaps are subject to counterparty default. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s losses.

 

TBA Securities Risk. In a TBA transaction, a seller agrees to deliver a security at a future date, but does not specify the particular security to be delivered. Instead, the seller agrees to accept any security that meets specified terms. TBA transactions involve the risk that the securities received may have less favorable characteristics than what was anticipated when the Fund entered into the transaction. TBA transactions are also subject to counterparty risk and will be exposed to changes in the value of the underlying investments during the term of the agreement.

 

Underlying Fund Risk. ETFs in which the Fund invests are subject to investment advisory and other expenses, which will be indirectly paid by the Fund. As a result, the cost of investing in the Fund will be higher than the cost of investing directly in the Underlying Funds and may be higher than other funds that invest directly in stocks and bonds. Each of the ETFs is subject to its own specific risks, but the adviser expects the principal investments risks of such ETFs will be similar to the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

U.S. Treasury and Agency Market Risk. The U.S. Treasury and agency market can be volatile, and the value of instruments correlated with these markets may fluctuate dramatically from day to day. U.S. Treasury and agency obligations may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other debt instruments, U.S. Treasury and agency obligations are subject to debt instrument risk and interest rate risk. In addition, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. Government may cause the value of U.S. Treasury and agency obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government and are generally considered to have negligible credit risk. Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies or authorities and U.S. government-sponsored instrumentalities or enterprises may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

 

Volatility Risk. Significant short-term price movements could adversely impact the performance of a Fund. Market conditions in which significant price movements develop, but then repeatedly reverse, could cause substantial losses due to prices moving against the Fund’s long or short volatility-based strategy positions. The performance of a Fund could be based in part on the prices of one or more of the VIX futures in which the Fund invests. Securities markets and VIX futures are affected by a variety of factors and may change unpredictably, affecting the value of such securities and VIX futures and, consequently, the value and the market price of a Fund’s Shares.

 

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Portfolio Holdings Disclosure: A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures regarding the release of portfolio holdings information is available in the Funds’ Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).

 

Cybersecurity: The computer systems, networks and devices used by the Funds and their service providers to carry out routine business operations employ a variety of protections designed to prevent damage or interruption from computer viruses, network failures, computer and telecommunication failures, infiltration by unauthorized persons and security breaches. Despite the various protections utilized by the Funds and their service providers, systems, networks, or devices potentially can be breached. Each Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result of a cybersecurity breach.

 

Cybersecurity breaches can include unauthorized access to systems, networks, or devices; infection from computer viruses or other malicious software code; and attacks that shut down, disable, slow, or otherwise disrupt operations, business processes, or website access or functionality. Cybersecurity breaches may cause disruptions and impact each Fund’s business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses; interference with each Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV; impediments to trading; the inability of each Fund, the adviser, and other service providers to transact business; violations of applicable privacy and other laws; regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs; as well as the inadvertent release of confidential information.

 

Similar adverse consequences could result from cybersecurity breaches affecting issuers of securities in which the Funds invest; counterparties with which the Funds engage in transactions; governmental and other regulatory authorities; exchange and other financial market operators, banks, brokers, dealers, insurance companies, and other financial institutions (including financial intermediaries and service providers for a Fund’s shareholders); and other parties. In addition, substantial costs may be incurred by these entities in order to prevent any cybersecurity breaches in the future.

 

MANAGEMENT

 

 

Investment Adviser: Simplify Asset Management Inc., located at 222 Broadway, 22nd Floor, New York NY 10038, serves as each Fund’s investment adviser (the “Adviser”). The Adviser is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, and manages all other series in the Trust.

 

Subject to the oversight of the Board of Trustees, the Adviser is responsible for managing the Funds’ investments, placing trade orders and providing related administrative services and facilities under an advisory agreement between each Fund and the Adviser.

 

The Adviser is paid a monthly management fee at an annual rate (stated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund) as stated below. The management agreement between the Fund and the Adviser provides that the Adviser will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except for any interest expenses, taxes, brokerage expenses, future Rule 12b-1 fees (if any), acquired fund fees and expenses, expenses incidental to a meeting of a Fund’s shareholders.

 

Fund Management Fee
TBAS [0.25]%
SPQ [0.50]%

 

The Fund’s adviser has contractually agreed, until at least [          ], 2025, to waive its management fees to 0.15% of TBAS’s average daily net assets. This agreement may be terminated only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees on 60 days’ written notice to the Fund’s adviser.

 

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Portfolio Managers

 

David Berns, PhD, is the chief investment officer and co-founder of the Adviser. Prior to co-founding the Adviser in 2020, he founded Portfolio Designer, LLC, a company that specializes in portfolio design and from 2018 to 2019 was a managing director at Nasdaq Dorsey Wright. Prior to joining Nasdaq Dorsey Wright, Inc., he founded and developed a company that specializes in proprietary trading. He has specialized in developing asset allocation, portfolio management, and risk management systems for managing private and institutional wealth. Mr. Berns has a PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of Quantum Computation.

 

Paul Kim is the chief executive officer and co-founder of the Adviser. Prior to co-founding the Adviser in 2020, he was a portfolio manager and managing director at Principal Global Investors from 2015 to 2020, where he founded and led Principal’s ETF business segment. Mr. Kim has a Bachelors degree from Dartmouth and a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

John Downing has served as a Managing Director of the Adviser since May 2022. From 2015 to 2022, Mr. Downing served as Chief Investment Officer for RDC Capital Partners. From 2006 to 2015, Mr. Downing served as Portfolio Manager at Convexity Capital Management. From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Downing served as an Analyst in emerging market fixed income at Harvard Management Company.

 

David Jackson has served as a Trader and Portfolio Manager of the Adviser since March 2022. From 2010 to 2021, Mr. Jackson served as Vice President on the Equities Trading and Portfolio Management teams at Pacific Investment Management Company, covering a wide variety of both passive and active investment strategies for retail and institutional clients.

 

Harley Bassman is a managing partner of the Adviser. In 2017, he founded and served as the chief investment officer for the Bassman Family Office and served as the editor for Convexity Maven, a macro-economic commentary. From 2014 to 2017, he was an executive vice-president at PIMCO, where he was responsible for PIMCO?s liquid alternatives and macro investment strategy.

 

Ken Miller is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of the Adviser. Prior to joining the Adviser, Mr. Miller was a Portfolio Manager at Longtail Alpha where he formulated both absolute return strategies for unconstrained accounts and tail-risk hedge solutions to add alpha versus passive hedge benchmarks. Prior to Longtail Alpha, Mr. Miller was an Executive Vice President at PIMCO where he managed G10 bond portfolios and traded equity, fixed income, and FX derivatives across the firm’s accounts. Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley and a Master of Business Administration from the Marshall School at the University of Southern California.

 

Mr. Kim, Mr. Berns, Mr. Bassman, and Mr. Miller are jointly and primarily responsible for the management of the Simplify MBS ETF.

 

Mr. Kim, Mr. Berns, Mr. Downing, and Mr. Jackson are jointly and primarily responsible for the management of the Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF.

 

The SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers’ compensation, other accounts managed and ownership of Fund shares.

 

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HOW SHARES ARE PRICED

 

 

The NAV of each Fund is determined at the close of regular trading (normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on each day the Exchange is open for business. NAV is computed by determining, the aggregate market value of all assets of the applicable Fund, less its liabilities, divided by the total number of shares outstanding ((assets-liabilities)/number of shares = NAV). The Exchange is closed on weekends and New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day (“Exchange Close”). The NAV takes into account, the expenses and fees of each Fund, including management, administration, and distribution fees, which are accrued daily. The determination of NAV for each Fund for a particular day is applicable to all applications for the purchase of shares, as well as all requests for the redemption of Creation Units, received by each Fund (or an authorized broker or agent, or its authorized designee) before the close of trading on the Exchange on that day.

 

Generally, each Fund’s portfolio securities, including securities issued by ETFs, are valued each day at the last quoted sales price on each security’s primary exchange. Securities traded or dealt in upon one or more securities exchanges (whether domestic or foreign) for which market quotations are readily available and not subject to restrictions against resale shall be valued at the last quoted sales price on the primary exchange or, in the absence of a sale on the primary exchange, at the mean between the current bid and ask prices on such exchange. Securities primarily traded in the National Association of Securities Dealers’ Automated Quotation System (“NASDAQ”) National Market System for which market quotations are readily available shall be valued using the NASDAQ Official Closing Price. Securities that are not traded on any securities exchange (whether domestic or foreign) and for which over-the-counter market quotations are readily available generally shall be valued at the last sale price or, in the absence of a sale, at the mean between the current bid and ask price on such over-the-counter market. Debt securities not traded on an exchange may be valued at prices supplied by a pricing agent(s) based on broker or dealer supplied valuations or matrix pricing, a method of valuing securities by reference to the value of other securities with similar characteristics, such as rating, interest rate and maturity.

 

If market quotations are not readily available, securities will be valued at their fair market value as determined using the “fair value” procedures approved by the Board. Fair value pricing involves subjective judgments and it is possible that the fair value determined for a security may be materially different than the value that could be realized upon the sale of that security. The fair value prices can differ from market prices when they become available or when a price becomes available. The Board has delegated execution of these procedures to a fair value committee composed of one or more representatives from the Adviser. The Adviser may enlist third party consultants such as an audit firm or financial officer of a security issuer on an as-needed basis to assist in determining a security-specific fair value. The Board reviews and ratifies the execution of this process and the resultant fair value prices at least quarterly to assure the process produces reliable results.

 

The Funds may use independent pricing services to assist in calculating the value of each Fund’s portfolio securities. In addition, market prices for foreign securities are not determined at the same time of day as the NAV for the Funds.

 

In computing the NAV, the Funds value foreign securities held by a Fund at the latest closing price on the exchange in which they are traded immediately prior to closing of the Exchange. Prices of foreign securities quoted in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at current rates. If events materially affecting the value of a security in a Fund’s portfolio, particularly foreign securities, occur after the close of trading on a foreign market but before a Fund prices its shares, the security will be valued at fair value. For example, if trading in a portfolio security is halted and does not resume before a Fund calculates its NAV, the Adviser may need to price the security using the Funds’ fair value pricing guidelines. Without a fair value price, short-term traders could take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity and dilute the NAV of long-term investors. Fair valuation of a Fund’s portfolio securities can serve to reduce arbitrage opportunities available to short-term traders, but there is no assurance that fair value pricing policies will prevent dilution of a Fund’s NAV by short term traders. The determination of fair value involves subjective judgments. As a result, using fair value to price a security may result in a price materially different from the prices used by other mutual funds to determine NAV, or from the price that may be realized upon the actual sale of the security.

 

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HOW TO BUY AND SELL SHARES

 

 

Shares of the Funds are listed for trading on the respective Exchanges, as stated below. Share prices are reported in dollars and cents per Share. Shares can be bought and sold on the secondary market throughout the trading day like other publicly traded shares, and Shares typically trade in blocks of less than a Creation Unit. There is no minimum investment required. Shares may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market when the Exchange is open for trading. The Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays, as observed: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

 

When buying or selling Shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered price in the secondary market on each leg of a round trip (purchase and sale) transaction.

 

Authorized Participants that have entered into a contract with the Funds’ distributor may acquire Shares from the Funds, and Authorized Participants may tender their Shares for redemption directly to the Funds, at NAV per Share only in large blocks, or Creation Units, of 25,000 Shares. Purchases and redemptions directly with the Funds must follow each Fund’s procedures, which are described in the SAI.

 

The Funds may be liquidated and terminated at any time without shareholder approval.

 

Fund Name   Ticker Symbol (Exchange)
     
Simplify MBS ETF   TBAS (NYSE Arca, Inc.)
Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF   SPQ (NYSE Arca, Inc.)

 

Share Trading Prices

 

The approximate value of Shares, an amount representing on a per share basis the sum of the current market price of the securities accepted by the Funds in exchange for Shares and an estimated cash component, will be disseminated every 15 seconds throughout the trading day through the facilities of the Consolidated Tape Association. This approximate value should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV per Share because the approximate value may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day. The Funds are not involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of the approximate value of the Shares, and the Funds do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these values.

 

Book Entry

 

Shares are held in book entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding Shares and is recognized as the owner of all Shares for all purposes.

 

Investors owning Shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all Shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of Shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have Shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of Shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of Shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book entry or “street name” form.

 

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FREQUENT PURCHASES AND REDEMPTIONS OF FUND SHARES

 

 

Shares can only be purchased and redeemed directly from the Funds in Creation Units by Authorized Participants that have entered into a contract with the Funds’ distributor. The vast majority of trading in Shares occurs on the secondary market. Because the secondary market trades do not directly involve the Fund, it is unlikely those trades would cause the harmful effects of market timing, including dilution, disruption of portfolio management, increases in the Funds’ trading costs and the realization of capital gains. With regard to the purchase or redemption of Creation Units directly with the Funds, to the extent effected in-kind (i.e., for securities), those trades do not cause the harmful effects that may result from frequent cash trades. To the extent trades are effected in whole or in part in cash, those trades could result in dilution to the Funds and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact a Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. However, direct trading by Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that Shares trade at or close to NAV. The Funds also employ fair valuation pricing to minimize potential dilution from market timing. In addition, the Funds impose transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Shares to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by the Funds in effecting trades. These fees increase if an investor substitutes cash in part or in whole for securities, reflecting the fact that a Fund’s trading costs increase in those circumstances. Given this structure, the Trust has determined that it is not necessary to adopt policies and procedures to detect and deter market timing of the Shares.

 

DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICE PLAN

 

 

The Funds have adopted a distribution and service plan (“Plan”) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Under the Plan, the Funds are authorized to pay distribution fees to the distributor and other firms that provide distribution and shareholder services (“Service Providers”). If a Service Provider provides these services, the Fund may pay fees at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of average daily net assets, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the1940 Act.

 

No distribution or service fees are currently paid by the Funds and will not be paid by the Funds unless authorized by the Trust’s Board. There are no current plans to impose these fees. In the event Rule 12b-1 fees were charged, over time they would increase the cost of an investment in the Funds.

 

DIVIDENDS, OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS AND TAXES

 

 

Shares are traded throughout the day in the secondary market on a national securities exchange on an intra-day basis and are created and redeemed in-kind and/or for cash in Creation Units at each day’s next calculated NAV. In-kind arrangements are designed to protect ongoing shareholders from the adverse effects on a Fund’s portfolio that could arise from frequent cash redemption transactions. In a conventional mutual fund, redemptions can have an adverse tax impact on taxable shareholders if the mutual fund needs to sell portfolio securities to obtain cash to meet net fund redemptions. These sales may generate taxable gains for the ongoing shareholders of the mutual fund, whereas the Shares’ in-kind redemption mechanism generally will not lead to a tax event for the Funds or its ongoing shareholders.

 

Ordinarily, dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid monthly by Simplify MBS ETF and quarterly for Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF. The Funds distribute their net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders annually. The Funds may also pay a special distribution at the end of a calendar year to comply with federal tax requirements.

 

No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Funds. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service for use by beneficial owners of the Funds for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the Funds purchased in the secondary market.

 

Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole Shares only if the broker through whom you purchased Shares makes such option available.

 

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Taxes

 

As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in Shares will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in Shares.

 

Unless your investment in Shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an individual retirement account, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when:

 

A Fund makes distributions,

 

You sell your Shares listed on the Exchange, and

 

You purchase or redeem Creation Units.

 

Taxes on Distributions

 

Distributions from each Fund’s net investment income, including net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income, except that each Fund’s dividends attributable to its “qualified dividend income” (i.e., dividends received on stock of most domestic and certain foreign corporations with respect to which the Fund satisfies certain holding period and other restrictions), if any, generally are subject to federal income tax for non-corporate shareholders who satisfy those restrictions with respect to their Shares at the rate for net capital gain. A part of each Fund’s dividends also may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction allowed to corporations -- the eligible portion may not exceed the aggregate dividends each Fund receives from domestic corporations subject to federal income tax (excluding Real Estate Investment Trusts) and excludes dividends from foreign corporations -- subject to similar restrictions. However, dividends a corporate shareholder deducts pursuant to that deduction are subject indirectly to the federal alternative minimum tax.

 

In general, your distributions are subject to federal income tax when they are paid, whether you take them in cash or reinvest them in the Funds (if that option is available). Distributions reinvested in additional Shares through the means of a dividend reinvestment service, if available, will be taxable to shareholders acquiring the additional Shares to the same extent as if such distributions had been received in cash. Distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Shares.

 

Distributions in excess of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits are treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of your basis in the Shares and as capital gain thereafter. A distribution will reduce a Fund’s NAV per Share and may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gain (as described above) even though, from an investment standpoint, the distribution may constitute a return of capital.

 

By law, the Funds are required to withhold 28% of your distributions and redemption proceeds if you have not provided the Fund with a correct Social Security number or other taxpayer identification number and in certain other situations.

 

Taxes on Exchange-Listed Share Sales

 

Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Shares is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for one year or less. The ability to deduct capital losses from sales of Shares may be limited.

 

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Taxes on Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units

 

An Authorized Participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or a loss equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the sum of the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus any Cash Component it pays. An AP who exchanges Creation Units for securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the aggregate market value of the securities received plus any cash equal to the difference between the NAV of the Shares being redeemed and the value of the securities. The Internal Revenue Service (“Service”), however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales” or for other reasons. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.

 

Any capital gain or loss realized upon redemption of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for one year or less.

 

If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many Shares you purchased or sold and at what price. See “Tax Status” in the SAI for a description of the newly effective requirement regarding basis determination methods applicable to Share redemptions and each Fund’s obligation to report basis information to the Service.

 

The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the possible consequences under current federal tax law of an investment in the Funds. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice. Consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in the Shares under all applicable tax laws. See “Tax Status” in the SAI for more information.

 

FUND SERVICE PROVIDERS

 

 

Bank of New York Mellon is the Funds’ administrator, transfer agent, custodian and fund accountant. It has its principal office at 240 Greenwich St., New York, NY 10286, and is primarily in the business of providing administrative, fund accounting and transfer agent services to retail and institutional mutual funds.

 

Foreside Financial Services, LLC (the “Distributor”), located at Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100, Portland, ME 04101, is the distributor for the shares of the Funds. The Distributor is a registered broker-dealer and member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”).

 

Thompson Hine LLP, 41 South High Street, 17th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215, serves as legal counsel to the Trust.

 

[               ], located at [                 ], serves as the Funds’ independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the Funds.

 

OTHER INFORMATION

 

 

Continuous Offering

 

The method by which Creation Units of Shares are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units of Shares are issued and sold by the Funds on an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), may occur at any point. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the Securities Act.

 

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For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent Shares and sells the Shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new Shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for Shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a characterization as an underwriter.

 

Broker dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary trading transactions), and thus dealing with Shares that are part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the Securities Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker dealer firms should note that dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with Shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section 4(3)(A) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to Shares are reminded that, under Rule 153 of the Securities Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Exchange is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is only available with respect to transactions on an exchange.

 

Dealers effecting transactions in the Shares, whether or not participating in this distribution, are generally required to deliver a Prospectus. This is in addition to any obligation of dealers to deliver a Prospectus when acting as underwriters.

 

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FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

Because each of the Funds has only recently commenced investment operations, no financial highlights are available for the Fund at this time. In the future, financial highlights will be presented in this section of the Prospectus.

 

31

 

 

Adviser

 

Simplify Asset Management Inc.

222 Broadway
22nd Floor

New York, NY 10038

 

Distributor

Foreside Financial Services, LLC

Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100,

Portland, ME 04101

Custodian,
Administrator &
Transfer Agent

 

Bank of New York Mellon

240 Greenwich St.

New York, NY 10286

 

Legal Counsel

Thompson Hine LLP

41 South High Street, Suite 1700

Columbus, OH 43215

 

Independent Registered
Public Accounting Firm

 

 

[          ]

 

   

 

Additional information about the Funds is included in the Funds’ SAI dated __, 2023. The SAI is incorporated into this Prospectus by reference (i.e., legally made a part of this Prospectus). The SAI provides more details about the Funds’ policies and management. Additional information about the Funds’ investments is also available in the Funds’ Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to Shareholders. In the Funds’ Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Funds’ performance during the last fiscal year.

 

To obtain a free copy of the SAI and the Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to Shareholders, or other information about the Funds, or to make shareholder inquiries about the Funds, please call 1 (855) 772-8488. You may also write to:

 

Simplify Exchange Traded Funds

222 Broadway 22 Floor

New York, NY 10038

 

Reports and other information about the Funds are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s Internet site at http://www.sec.gov.

 

Investment Company Act File # 811-23570