ck0001833032-20211231
ASYMshares™ASYMmetric
S&P 500® ETF
Listed
on NYSE Arca, Inc.
Ticker:
ASPY CUSIP: 04651A101
April 30,
2022
The
Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these
securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to
the contrary is a criminal offense.
The
ASYMshares™
ASYMmetric
S&P 500®
ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”). This means that shares of
the Fund are listed on a national stock exchange, the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the
“Exchange”), and trade at market prices. The market price for the Fund’s shares
may be different from their net asset value per share (“NAV”).
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SUMMARY
INFORMATION |
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OVERVIEW |
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DESCRIPTION
OF THE PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES OF THE FUND |
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ADDITIONAL
INVESTMENT STRATEGIES |
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DESCRIPTION
OF PRINCIPAL RISKS OF THE FUND |
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CONTINUOUS
OFFERING |
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CREATION
AND REDEMPTION OF CREATION UNITS |
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MANAGEMENT |
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OTHER
SERVICE PROVIDERS |
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FREQUENT
TRADING |
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DISTRIBUTION
AND SERVICE PLAN |
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DETERMINATION
OF NET ASSET VALUE (NAV) |
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PREMIUM/DISCOUNT
AND BID/ASK SPREAD INFORMATION |
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DIVIDENDS,
DISTRIBUTIONS, AND TAXES |
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CODES
OF ETHICS |
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PORTFOLIO
HOLDINGS INFORMATION |
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HOUSEHOLDING |
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INDEX
PROVIDER AND DISCLAIMERS |
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FINANCIAL
HIGHLIGHTS |
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PRIVACY
POLICY |
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FOR
MORE INFORMATION |
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ASYM®,
ASYMshares™, ASYMshares MAKE SENSE and Design™, ASYMmetric ETFs™, ASYMmetric
Risk Management Technology™, and PriceVol™ are trademarks of ASYMmetric
Investment Solutions, LLC
SUMMARY
INFORMATION
ASYMshares™
ASYMmetric
S&P 500®
ETF
Investment Objective
ASYMshares™
ASYMmetric
S&P 500®
ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and
expenses, of the ASYMmetric 500 Index (the
“Index”).
Fees and Expenses
The
following table describes the fees and expenses that you may incur if you buy,
hold or sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”).
Investors purchasing Shares in the secondary market may pay costs (including
customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker, which are not
reflected in the table and example below.
Annual
Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your
investment):
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Management
Fee |
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0.95% |
Distribution
and/or Service (12b-1) Fees |
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0.00% |
Other
Expenses |
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0.00% |
Total
Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
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0.95% |
Example. This example is
intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of
investing in other 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 return
of 5% each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the
same. Although your actual costs may be higher
or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would
be:
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One
Year |
Three
Years |
Five
Years |
Ten
Years |
$97 |
$303 |
$525 |
$1,166 |
Portfolio
Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction
costs, including 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 Shares are held in a taxable account.
These costs, which are not reflected in the annual fund operating expenses or in
the example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the fiscal period March 9, 2021
(commencement of operations) through December 31, 2021, the Fund's
portfolio turnover rate was 41% of the average value of its
portfolio.
Principal Investment
Strategies
The
Fund employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to
track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The
Index is based on proprietary ASYMmetric Risk Management Technology developed
and maintained by ASYMmetric Investment Solutions, LLC (the “Index Provider”),
an affiliate of ASYMmetric ETFs, LLC, the Fund’s investment adviser (the
“Adviser”).
The
Index seeks to deliver a return that is asymmetric to the S&P 500 Index. It
is an asymmetric version of the S&P 500 Index. Asymmetric returns are
defined as the ability to generate positive returns in bear markets and to
capture the majority of the upside in a bull market.
The
Index is a rules-based, quantitative long/short hedging strategy that seeks to
provide protection against bear market losses, by being net short, and to
capture the majority of bull market gains, by being net long, with respect to
the S&P 500 Index. The Index is powered by the Index Provider’s ASYMmetric
Risk Management Technology, which relies on mathematical formulas to dynamically
manage the Index’s net exposure in three market risk environments:
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Risk-On:
Market prices are trending up and have low volatility as determined by
actual price fluctuations over a prior period (“realized volatility”),
which is termed a “Risk-On” market
environment; |
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Risk-Elevated:
Market prices are trending down and have low realized volatility, which is
termed a “Risk-Elevated” market environment; and
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Risk-Off:
Market prices are trending down and have high realized volatility, which
is termed a “Risk-Off” market environment.
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The
ASYMmetric Risk Management Technology is designed to dynamically manage, as of
each monthly Index rebalancing and reconstitution date, the Index’s net exposure
to its market to:
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Capture
the majority of the upside of the market in a bull market, by being net
long; |
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Protect
capital by paring back net exposure during periods of heightened market
uncertainty, by being market neutral; and |
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Profit
in bear markets, by being net short. |
The
Index achieves its long exposure through investment in securities in the S&P
500 Index that have low volatility relative to the index as a whole (the “Long
Book”). These securities are sorted according to Global Industry Classification
Standard (“GICS”) sector and ranked from lowest to highest volatility within
each sector. The weights of each sector in the Long Book match the sector
weights of the S&P 500 Index. The weightings of each Long Book sector
multiplied by the Index’s target of 50 Index components equals the number of
securities within each sector of the Long Book (rounded to the nearest whole
number). Thus, a fixed number of securities from each sector will compose the
Long Book. Each Long Book sector’s fixed number of securities is drawn from
those with the lowest realized volatility in the corresponding GICS sector.
These securities are then equal weighted within each sector of the Long Book.
While the Long Book is initially targeted to have 50 component equity
securities, rounding effects in the weighting process will cause the actual
number of Index components to range from approximately 48 to 52 component
securities.
In
order to effect its short exposure to the market, the Index utilizes
cash-settled short selling of shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (“SPY”)
(the “Short Book”). Hypothetical proceeds from the Index’s short sales are
maintained in cash. The Index’s net exposure to its market ranges between 75%
long and -25% short where net exposure is the difference between the Index’s
Long Book and its Short Book.
The
Index always maintains a Long Book. Using the Index Provider’s ASYMmetric Risk
Management Technology, the Index’s Short Book and resulting cash position are
increased or decreased in accordance with the congruency of two indicators of
market risk environment as described below. The Index’s cash position represents
proceeds from hypothetical short sales plus the cash portion of the Long Book,
if any, when the Long Book securities’ weight is less than 100%.
Price
Indicator Determination of Market Risk Environments.
Market risk environments are quantitatively determined by the congruence of two
proprietary price-based indicators that measure, monitor and quantify market
risk. These indicators are called the “Price Momentum Indicator” and the “Price
Volatility Indicator.”
The
Price Momentum Indicator is driven by the 200-business day moving average of the
S&P 500 Index. The Price Momentum Indicator is designed to identify
historical market price trends (up or down).
The
Price Volatility Indicator is driven by the Index Provider’s PriceVol™
proprietary measure of the realized (i.e.,
historical as opposed to anticipated) volatility of the Index’s market. PriceVol
measures the dispersion of prices of the securities comprising the S&P 500
Index. PriceVol is engineered to measure market risk (high or low) based on
actual market price movements and not expected price movements. In contrast to
PriceVol, the Cboe Volatility Index (“VIX Index”) is an example of a measure of
expected, as opposed to realized, volatility where the VIX Index reflects price
movements of options with a 30-day average maturity on the performance of the
S&P 500 Total Return Index (“S&P 500 Index”).
The
congruence of the output of the Price Momentum and Price Volatility Indicators
is used to classify monthly the Index’s market condition as either Risk-On,
Risk-Elevated, or Risk-Off market environments, as outlined in the table below.
The market is in a Risk-On environment when the market is trending up - above
its 200-business day moving average - and realized volatility is low. The market
is in a Risk-Elevated environment when the market is below its 200-business day
moving average, but realized volatility has not spiked. The market is in a
Risk-Off environment when the market is trending down, below its 200-business
day moving average, and realized volatility has spiked.
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Price
Momentum
Indicator |
Price
Volatility
Indicator |
Indicated
Market
Risk Environment |
Market
Trending Up |
Realized
Volatility Low |
Risk-On
(Bull Market) |
Market
Trending Down |
Realized
Volatility Low |
Risk-Elevated
(Uncertain Market) |
Market
Trending Down |
Realized
Volatility High |
Risk-Off
(Bear Market) |
Index
Net Exposure Determination.
The market risk environment classification systematically determines the
targeted net exposure of the Index. In the Risk-On environment, the targeted net
exposure of the Index is 75%. In the Risk-Elevated environment, the targeted net
exposure of the index is 0%. In the Risk-Off environment, the targeted net
exposure of the Index is -25%.
Weightings
of Index Components.
The weighting of the Index’s Long Book, Short Book, and cash component are
formulaically determined based on the table below, which indicates the various
weighting outcomes in each of the three potential market risk environments. The
cash component of the Index, which is a neutral risk exposure, is equal to the
hypothetical short sale proceeds of the Short Book plus the cash portion of the
Long Book in a Risk-Elevated or a Risk-Off environment.
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Weighting
of Index Components |
Risk
Environment |
Long
Book
Weight
(Long
Book Securities Component) |
Short
Book
Weight |
Cash
Weight
(Long
Book Cash Component and Short Sale Proceeds) |
Targeted
Net
Exposure |
Risk-On |
100% |
0%
to 25% |
0%
to 25% |
75% |
Risk-Elevated |
35% |
0%
to 35% |
65%
to 100% |
0% |
Risk-Off |
20% |
0%
to 45% |
80%
to 125% |
-25% |
The
precise weightings of the Long Book securities and the Short Book to gain the
targeted net exposure shown in the table above is determined utilizing a
calculation of the “net beta-adjusted exposure” of the Index’s Long Book
securities where the Long Book exposure is multiplied by a fraction that
represents the volatility correlation or “beta” of the Long Book to the full
Index market. Then the targeted net exposure of the Index is subtracted from the
net beta-adjusted Long Book exposure to establish the actual Short Book
weight.
Under
normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets
in securities and cash included in the Index’s Long Book. In tracking the Index,
the Fund will generally hold its assets in Long Book securities and, when
indicated, a Long Book cash component. To replicate the Index’s Short Book, the
Fund will invest in cash-settled futures on SPY or on the S&P 500 Index and,
to a lesser extent, in cash-settled cleared swaps, options and short sales. The
Fund will replicate the Index’s Long Book cash component by holding cash, which
may be invested in U.S. Treasury bills or notes having less than three months to
maturity or money market funds invested in such U.S. Treasuries (“cash
equivalents”). The Fund will not be replicating the Index’s cash position
representing proceeds from hypothetical short sale transactions unless the Fund
invests in cash-settled short sales.
The
Index was developed by the Index Provider, an affiliate of the Adviser. The
Index Calculation Agent is Solactive AG, which is not affiliated with the Index
Provider, the Fund, the Adviser or the Fund’s sub-adviser, Toroso Investments,
LLC (the “Subadviser”). The Index Calculation Agent provides information to the
Fund about the constituents of the Index and does not provide investment advice
with respect to the desirability of investing in, purchasing or selling
securities.
Principal Investment
Risks
You can lose money on your investment in the
Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or
all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share
(“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its
objectives. The Fund is not a complete investment program. It is important that
investors closely review all of the risks listed below and understand them
before making an investment in the Fund.
Long/Short
Risk
– The performance of the Fund will depend on the difference in the rates of
return between its long positions and short positions. During a rising market,
when most equity securities and long-only equity ETFs are increasing in value,
the Fund’s short positions will likely cause the Fund to underperform the
overall U.S. equity market and such ETFs. However, there is no guarantee that
the returns on the Fund’s long or short positions will produce positive returns,
and the Fund could lose money on either or both of the Fund’s long and short
positions.
Derivatives
Risk
– A
derivative instrument (e.g.,
futures contract, option (both written and purchased), or swap contract)
typically involves leverage and provides exposure to potential gain or loss from
a change in the market price of the underlying asset (or a basket of assets or
an index) in a notional amount that exceeds the amount of cash or assets
required to establish or maintain the derivative instrument. Adverse changes in
the value or price of the underlying asset (or basket of assets or index), which
the Fund may not directly own, can result in a loss to the Fund substantially
greater than the amount invested in the derivative itself. The use of derivative
instruments also exposes the Fund to additional risks and transaction
costs.
Futures
Contract Risk
– Futures contracts are derivative instruments pursuant to a contract where the
parties agree to a fixed price for an agreed amount of securities or other
underlying assets at an agreed date. The use of such derivative instruments may
expose the Fund to additional risks, such as credit risk, liquidity risk, and
counterparty risk, that it would not be subject to if it invested directly in
the securities underlying those derivatives. There can be no assurance that any
strategy used will succeed. There may at times be an imperfect correlation
between the movement in the prices of futures contracts and the value of their
underlying instruments or indexes. There also can be no assurance that, at all
times, a liquid market will exist for offsetting a futures contract that the
Fund has previously bought or sold, and this may result in the inability to
close a futures contract when desired. Futures contracts may experience
potentially dramatic price changes, which will increase the volatility of the
Fund and may involve a small investment of cash (the amount of initial and
variation margin) relative to the magnitude of the risk assumed (the potential
increase or decrease in the price of the futures contract).
Swap
Risk
– In a standard “swap” transaction, two parties agree to exchange the returns
(or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on particular
predetermined investments or instruments. Some swaps are executed through an
organized exchange or regulated facility and cleared through a regulated
clearing organization. The absence of an organized exchange or market for
certain swap transactions may result in difficulties in trading and valuation,
especially in the event of market disruptions. The use of an organized exchange
or market for swap transactions is expected to result in swaps being easier to
trade or value, but this may not always be the case. While cleared swaps are
considered liquid, certain categories of over-the-counter (OTC) swap agreements
often have terms of greater than seven days and may be considered illiquid.
Moreover, the Fund bears the risk of loss of the amount expected to be received
under an OTC swap agreement in the event of the default or bankruptcy of a
counterparty to an OTC swap agreement. New and additional government regulation,
of the swap market could result in higher Fund costs and expenses and could
adversely affect the Fund’s ability, among other things, to terminate existing
swap agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such
agreements.
Options
Risk
– The use of options involves investment strategies and risks different from
those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions and depends on
the ability of the Fund’s portfolio managers to forecast market movements
correctly. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other
things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying
instrument, or in interest or currency exchange rates, including the anticipated
volatility, which in turn are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by
national and international political and economic events. The effective use of
options also depends on the Fund’s ability to terminate option positions at
times deemed desirable to do so. There is no assurance that the Fund will be
able to effect closing transactions at any particular time or at an acceptable
price. In addition, there may at times be an imperfect correlation between the
movement in values of options and their underlying securities and there may at
times not be a liquid secondary market for certain options.
Counterparty
Risk
– The Fund may enter into various types of OTC derivative contracts with a
counterparty that may be 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 the
counterparty agreements can be expected to decline, potentially resulting in
losses to the Fund.
Shorting
Risks
– In order to achieve its investment objective, the Fund may engage in short
sales, which are designed to provide the Fund gains when the price of a
particular security, basket of securities or index declines. When the Fund
shorts securities, including securities of another investment company, it
borrows shares of that security or investment company, which it then sells.
Unlike with a long position, losses on a short position could be much greater if
the value of the security that the Fund is shorting increases because the cost
of covering a short position is potentially unlimited. There is no guarantee the
Fund will be able to borrow the shares of the security or investment company it
seeks to short in order to achieve its investment objective. In addition, shares
of the security or investment company may become hard-to-borrow, generally in
times of heightened market volatility, and cause the Fund to have to pay to
borrow the shares, in addition to financing costs of short positions, which
would negatively impact Fund performance and cause the Fund not to track the
Index. Short positions can be called at any time by the lender, which would
cause the Fund to have greater net exposure than the Index. The Fund typically
closes out a short sale by exchanging agreed-upon cash amounts that represent
settlement in lieu of delivery of the actual underlying security, or, in less
likely circumstances, by purchasing the security that it has sold short and
returning that security to the entity that lent the security.
Volatility
Risk
– The Fund’s investments are designed to respond to historical or realized
volatility based on a proprietary model developed and implemented by the Index
Provider, which is not intended to predict the future volatility of the S&P
500 Index. If the S&P 500 Index is rapidly rising during periods when the
Index Provider’s volatility model has predicted significant volatility, the Fund
may be underexposed to the S&P 500 Index due to its short position, and the
Fund would not be expected to gain the full benefit of the rise in the S&P
500 Index. Additionally, in periods of rapidly changing volatility, the Fund may
not be appropriately hedged or may not respond as expected to current
volatility. In periods of extreme market volatility, the Index’s strategy, and
consequently the Fund, may underperform due to the backward-looking nature of
the Index’s model.
Index
Tracking Risk
– There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation
to the Index and therefore achieve its investment objective. The Fund may have
difficulty achieving its investment objective due to fees, difficulty borrowing
securities, expenses (including rebalancing expenses), and other transaction
costs related to the normal operation of the Fund. These costs that may be
incurred by the Fund are not incurred by the Index, which may make it more
difficult for the Fund to track the Index. Market disruptions, regulatory
restrictions or extreme volatility will also adversely affect the Fund’s ability
to achieve its investment objective.
Passive
Investment Risk
– The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due
to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector,
unless that security is removed from the Index. The Fund invests in securities
included in the Index regardless of the Adviser’s independent analysis of the
investment decision.
Index
Calculation Methodology Risk
– The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to
assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that
may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider,
or the Adviser (as defined below) can offer assurances that the Index’s
calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate
assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can
they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the
Index.
Interest
Rate Risk
– As
interest rates rise, the value of debt securities held by the Fund is likely to
decrease. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest
rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities
with shorter durations. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of
its assets in debt securities with longer-term durations, rising interest rates
may cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. In a low
interest rate environment like that one currently being experienced, the Fund’s
cash and cash equivalent positions, which typically include highly rated and
highly liquid debt securities, are expected to earn correspondingly low
returns.
Market
Disruption Risk –
Geopolitical and other events, including public health crises, natural disasters
and armed conflicts or war have recently led to increased market volatility and
significant market losses. Significant market volatility and market downturns
may limit the Fund’s ability to sell securities. Under such circumstances, the
Fund may have difficulty achieving its investment objective for one or more
trading days, which may adversely impact the Fund’s returns on those days and
periods inclusive of those days. Alternatively, the Fund may incur higher costs
in order to achieve its investment objective. Under those circumstances, the
Fund’s ability to track its Index is likely to be adversely affected, the market
price of Fund shares may reflect a greater premium or discount to net asset
value, and bid-ask spreads on the Fund’s shares may widen, resulting in
increased transaction costs for secondary market purchasers and sellers. The
Fund may also incur additional tracking error due to the use of other securities
that are not perfectly correlated to the Fund’s Index.
U.S.
Treasury Securities Risk –
U.S.
Treasury securities may differ from other securities in their interest rates,
maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Although U.S. Treasury
securities are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the United States, the
U.S. Government does not guarantee the market value of these securities, and
consequently, the market value of such securities may fluctuate. Similar to
other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S.
Government may cause the value of the Fund’s U.S. Treasury securities to
decline.
Interruption
in Trading 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 result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain
securities or financial instruments. In such circumstances, the Fund may be
unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its
investments, may incur significant tracking differences with its Index, and/or
may incur substantial losses and may limit or stop purchases of the
Fund.
Equity
Securities Risk –
Investments in publicly issued equity securities, including common stocks, are
subject to market risks that may cause their prices to fluctuate over time.
Fluctuations in the value of equity securities in which the Fund invests will
cause the net asset value of the Fund to fluctuate.
High
Portfolio Turnover Risk –
At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than
100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater
transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other
transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other
securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to
shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may
negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
Market
Risk –
Market risks include political, regulatory, market and economic developments,
including developments that impact specific economic sectors, industries or
segments of the market, which may affect the Fund’s value. Turbulence in
financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and fixed income
markets may negatively affect many issuers worldwide, which could have an
adverse effect on the Fund.
Cybersecurity
Risk
– Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or its services
providers may cause disruptions and negatively impact the Fund’s business
operations, potentially resulting in financial losses to the Fund. While the
Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems
seeking to address system breaches or failures, these plans and systems are
inherently limited. Further, cybersecurity incidents could also affect issuers
of securities in which the Fund invests, leading to a significant loss of
value.
Operational
Risk –
The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors,
including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors,
errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties,
failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund,
Adviser and Subadviser seek to reduce these operational risks through controls
and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and
may be inadequate to address these risks.
Large-Capitalization
Investing Risk
– The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a
result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of
large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization
companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization
companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore
subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Limited
Operating History Risk –
The Fund is a recently organized, diversified management investment company with
a limited operating history. As a result, prospective investors have a limited
track record or history on which to base their investment decision.
Special
Risks of Exchange-Traded Funds
Authorized
Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk
–
The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In
addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity
providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events
occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly
face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process
creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these
services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or
significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step
forward to perform their functions.
Shares
of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV –
As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary
market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all
traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well
as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected
that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV,
there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV
intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is
heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and
periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary
market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be
significant.
Trading
–
Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities
exchange, such as the Exchange, and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than
the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with
any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the
liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s
underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than
shares of the Fund.
Flash
Crash Risk
– Sharp price declines in securities owned by the Fund may trigger trading
halts, which may result in the Fund’s shares trading in the market at an
increasingly large discount to NAV during part (or all) of a trading day or
cause the Fund itself to halt trading.
Risk
that Short Book Gains May Result in Tax Inefficiencies –
The Fund may be able to manage realized tax gains on its Long Book positions by
arranging for in-kind creation and redemption transactions to remove from its
portfolio securities experiencing such gains in a tax efficient manner. However,
the Fund will be unable to use the creation and redemption process to manage
realized tax gains on its Short Book positions because they are not amenable to
in-kind transfers. Consequently, the Fund may be compelled to recognize Short
Book position gains for tax purposes unless it can offset such gains with
commensurate losses on other positions in its portfolio. The inability of the
Fund to offset such Short Book position gains may cause shareholders to incur
income tax liabilities upon such gain recognition in a manner similar to that
typically experienced by mutual fund shareholders but not by shareholders of
ETFs that do not invest in Short Book positions.
Performance
Information
Performance information for the Fund is not
included because the Fund did not have a full calendar year of performance prior
to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance
information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance
information is available on the Fund's website at www.asymshares.com/aspy.
Management
Investment
Adviser.
ASYMmetric ETFs, LLC
Subadviser.
Toroso Investments, LLC
Portfolio
Managers.
Michael J. Venuto and Charles A. Ragauss, CFA, of Toroso Investments, LLC (each
a “Portfolio Manager”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management
of the Fund. Each of the Portfolio Managers has managed the Fund since March
2021.
Purchase
and Sale of Fund Shares
The
Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund are listed on a national
securities exchange. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold
in the secondary market through a broker or dealer. The price of Fund shares is
based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than
at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than
NAV (a discount). In addition, an investor may incur costs attributable to the
difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase
shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for
shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market
(the “bid-ask spread”). The Fund will only issue or redeem shares that have been
aggregated into blocks of 30,000 shares or multiples thereof (“Creation
Units”)
to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s
distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent. The Fund generally will issue
or redeem Creation Units in return for a designated portfolio of securities and
cash representing securities and cash held in the Fund’s Long Book position (and
a separate balancing amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
Information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and
bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at
www.asymshares.com/aspy.
Tax
Information
The
Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income
or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement,
such as a 401(k) plan or individual retirement account. Withdrawals from such
tax-deferred arrangements may be subject to tax at a later date.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and other Financial Intermediaries
If
you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial
intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund or other related companies may pay the
intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training
programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting
systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. 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.
Index
Information
ASYMmetric
500 Index (the “Derived Index”) is the property of ASYMmetric Investment
Solutions, LLC (“Solutions”), which has contracted with S&P Opco, LLC (a
subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC) (“S&P Dow Jones Indices”) to
license the use of the S&P 500 Index in connection with the Derived Index.
The S&P 500 Index is the property of S&P Dow Jones Indices, its
affiliates and/or their third-party licensors. “S&P®, S&P 500® and
“SPY®” are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC
(“S&P”); Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark
Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”); and these trademarks have been licensed for use by
SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by Solutions. ASYMshares™ ASYMmetric
S&P 500® ETF (the “Fund”) is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by
SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P, any of their respective affiliates. S&P Dow Jones
Indices does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, to the
owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of
investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of
the ASYMmetric 500 Index to track general market performance. S&P Dow Jones
Indices’ only relationship to Solutions with respect to the S&P 500 Index is
the licensing of the S&P Index and certain trademarks, service marks and/or
trade names of S&P Dow Jones Indices and/or its licensors. The S&P 500
Index is determined, composed and calculated by S&P Dow Jones Indices
without regard to Solutions or the Fund. S&P Dow Jones Indices has no
obligation to take the needs of Solutions or the owners of the Fund into
consideration in determining, composing or calculating the S&P 500 Index.
S&P Dow Jones Indices is not responsible for and has not participated in the
determination of the prices, and amount of the Fund or the timing of the
issuance or sale of the Fund or in the determination or calculation of the
equation by which the Fund is to be converted into cash, surrendered or
redeemed, as the case may be. S&P Dow Jones Indices has no obligation or
liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the
Fund. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is not an investment advisor or a broker
dealer. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by
S&P Dow Jones Indices to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it
considered to be investment advice.
S&P
DOW JONES INDICES DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS AND/OR
THE COMPLETENESS OF THE S&P 500 INDEX, ANY INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS WITH
RESPECT TO THE INDEX OR
ANY
DATA RELATED THERETO OR ANY COMMUNICATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ORAL OR
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (INCLUDING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS)
WITH
RESPECT THERETO. S&P DOW JONES INDICES SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES
OR LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR DELAYS THEREIN. S&P DOW JONES
INDICES MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL
WARRANTIES, OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE OR AS
TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY SOLUTIONS, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON
OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE S&P 500 INDEX, INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS WITH
RESPECT TO THE INDEX OR WITH RESPECT TO ANY DATA RELATED THERETO. WITHOUT
LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT WHATSOEVER SHALL S&P DOW JONES
INDICES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFITS, TRADING
LOSSES, LOST TIME OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.
S&P DJI HAS NOT PREPARED, REVIEWED AND/OR CERTIFIED ANY PORTION OF, NOR DOES
S&P HAVE ANY CONTROL OVER, THE LICENSEE ETF REGISTRATION STATEMENT,
PROSPECTUS OR OTHER OFFERING MATERIALS. THERE ARE NO THIRD-PARTY BENEFICIARIES
OF ANY AGREEMENTS OR ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN S&P DOW JONES INDICES AND
SOLUTIONS, OTHER THAN THE LICENSORS OF S&P DOW JONES INDICES.”
OVERVIEW
ASYMshares™
ASYMmetric
S&P 500®
ETF (the “Fund”) is a series of the ASYMmetric ETFs Trust, a Delaware statutory
trust registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of
1940, as amended (“1940 Act”). The Fund will operate as an ETF. ETFs are funds
that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track
an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund
represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and
other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual
fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders
at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed
directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants (“APs”). Also,
unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national
securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that
change throughout the day.
An
index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments,
which is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment
portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the ASYMmetric 500 Index (the
“Index”) may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, asset
valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances
and differences between the Fund’s portfolio and the Index resulting from the
Fund’s use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as
diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Index.
“Tracking error” is the divergence of the performance (return) of the Fund’s
portfolio from that of the Index. ASYMmetric ETFs, LLC the investment adviser to
the Fund (the “Adviser”), expects that, over time, the Fund’s tracking error
will not exceed 5%.
Shares
of the Fund (the “Shares”), upon commencement of operations, will be listed and
traded on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), where the market prices for the
Shares may be different from the intra-day value of the Shares disseminated by
the Exchange from its NAV. Unlike conventional mutual funds, Shares are not
individually redeemable directly with a Fund. Rather, each Fund issues and
redeems Shares on a continuous basis at NAV only in large blocks of Shares
called “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit consists of 30,000 Shares. Creation
Units of the Fund are issued and redeemed in cash and/or in-kind for securities
and portfolio component cash included in the Fund. As a result, retail investors
generally will not be able to purchase or redeem Shares directly from, or with,
each Fund. Most retail investors will purchase or sell Shares in the secondary
market through a broker.
This
Prospectus provides the information you need to make an informed decision about
investing in the Fund. It contains important facts about the Trust and the
Fund.
There
is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and an
investment in the Fund could lose money. The Fund is not a complete investment
program.
Changes
in Investment Objective. The
Fund’s investment objective is not a fundamental policy and may be changed by
the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval.
DESCRIPTION
OF THE PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES OF THE FUND
The
Fund employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to
track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The
Index is based on proprietary ASYMmetric Risk Management Technology developed
and maintained by the Index Provider.
Under
normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets
in securities and cash included in the Index’s Long Book. In tracking the Index,
the Fund will generally hold its assets in Long Book securities, Short Book
futures, swaps, options and short sales positions and cash and cash equivalents
with same weightings as they represent in the Index.
The
Index seeks to deliver a return that is asymmetric to the S&P 500 Index. It
is an asymmetric version of the S&P 500 Index. Asymmetric returns are
defined as the ability to generate positive returns in bear markets and to
capture the majority of the upside in a bull market.
The
Index is a rules-based, quantitative long/short hedging strategy that seeks to
provide protection against bear market losses, by being net short, and to
capture the majority of bull market gains, by being net long, with respect to
the S&P 500 Index. The Index is powered by the Index Provider’s ASYMmetric
Risk Management Technology, which relies on mathematical formulas to dynamically
manage the Index’s net exposure in three market risk environments:
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Risk-On:
Market prices are trending up and have low volatility as determined by
actual price fluctuations over a prior period (“realized volatility”),
which is termed a “Risk-On” market
environment; |
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Risk-Elevated:
Market prices are trending down and have low realized volatility, which is
termed a “Risk-Elevated” market environment; and
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Risk-Off:
Market prices are trending down and have high realized volatility, which
is termed a “Risk-Off” market environment.
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The
ASYMmetric Risk Management Technology is designed to dynamically manage, as of
each monthly Index rebalancing and reconstitution date, the Index’s net exposure
to its market to:
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Capture
the majority of the upside of the market in a bull market, by being net
long; |
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Protect
capital by paring back net exposure during periods of heightened market
uncertainty, by being market neutral; and |
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Profit
in bear markets, by being net short. |
The
Index achieves its Long Book exposure through investment in securities in the
S&P 500 Index that have low volatility relative to the index as a whole.
These securities are sorted according to GICS sector and ranked from lowest to
highest volatility within each sector. The weights of each sector in the Long
Book match the sector weights of the S&P 500 Index. The weightings of each
Long Book sector multiplied by the Index’s target of 50 Index components equals
the number of securities within each sector of the Long Book (rounded to the
nearest whole number). Thus, a fixed number of securities from each sector will
compose the Long Book. Each Long Book sector’s fixed number of securities is
drawn from those with the lowest realized volatility in the corresponding GICS
sector. These securities are then equal weighted within each sector of the Long
Book. While the Long Book is initially targeted to have 50 component equity
securities, rounding effects in the weighting process will cause the actual
number of Index components to range from approximately 48 to 52 component
securities. The table below provides a hypothetical example of how the Long Book
is weighted:
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Weighting
of Long Book Components – Example |
GICS
Sector |
Sector
Weight |
Number
of
Securities |
Security
Weight |
Sector
X |
10% |
50
x 10% = 5 securities |
10%
/ 5 = 2% weight |
In
order to effect its short exposure to the market, the Index utilizes
cash-settled short selling of shares of SPY (the “Short Book”). Hypothetical
proceeds from the Index’s short sales are maintained in cash. The Index’s net
exposure to its market ranges between 75% long and -25% short where net exposure
is the difference between the Index’s Long Book and its Short Book.
The
Index always maintains a Long Book. Using the Index Provider’s ASYMmetric Risk
Management Technology, the Index’s Short Book and resulting cash position are
increased or decreased in accordance with the congruency of two indicators of
market risk environment as described below. The Index’s cash position represents
proceeds from hypothetical short sales plus the cash portion of the Long Book,
if any, when the Long Book securities’ weight is less than 100%.
Price
Indicator Determination of Market Risk Environments.
Market risk environments are quantitatively determined by the congruence of two
proprietary price-based indicators that measure, monitor and quantify market
risk. These indicators are called the “Price Momentum Indicator” and the “Price
Volatility Indicator.”
The
Price Momentum Indicator is driven by the 200-business day moving average of the
S&P 500 Index. The Price Momentum Indicator is designed to identify
historical market price trends (up or down).
The
Price Volatility Indicator is driven by the Index Provider’s PriceVol
proprietary measure of the realized (i.e.,
historical as opposed to anticipated) volatility of the Index’s market. PriceVol
measures the dispersion of prices of the securities comprising the S&P 500
Index. PriceVol is engineered to measure market risk (high or low) based on
actual market price movements and not expected price movements. In contrast to
PriceVol, the VIX Index is an example of a measure of expected, as opposed to
realized, volatility where the VIX Index reflects price movements of options
with a 30-day average maturity on the performance of the S&P 500
Index.
The
congruence of the output of the Price Momentum and Price Volatility Indicators
is used to classify monthly the Index’s market condition as either Risk-On,
Risk-Elevated, or Risk-Off market environments, as outlined in the table below.
The market is in a Risk-On environment when the market is trending up - above
its 200-business day moving average - and realized volatility is low. The market
is in a Risk-Elevated environment when the market is below its 200-business day
moving average, but realized volatility has not spiked. The market is in a
Risk-Off environment when the market is trending down, below its 200-business
day moving average, and realized volatility has spiked.
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Price
Momentum Indicator |
Price
Volatility Indicator |
Indicated Market
Risk Environment |
Market
Trending Up |
Realized
Volatility Low |
Risk-On
(Bull Market) |
Market
Trending Down |
Realized
Volatility Low |
Risk-Elevated
(Uncertain Market) |
Market
Trending Down |
Realized
Volatility High |
Risk-Off
(Bear Market) |
Index
Net Exposure Determination.
The market risk environment classification systematically determines the
targeted net exposure of the Index, as referenced in the table below. In the
Risk-On environment, the targeted net exposure of the Index is 75%. In the
Risk-Elevated environment, the target net exposure of the index is 0%. In the
Risk-Off environment, the targeted net exposure of the Index is
-25%.
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Index
Net Exposure |
Market
Risk Environment |
Targeted
Net
Exposure |
Risk-On |
75% |
Risk-Elevated |
0% |
Risk-Off |
-25% |
Weightings
of Index Components.
The weighting of the Index’s Long Book, Short Book, and cash component are
formulaically determined based on the table below, which indicates the various
weighting outcomes in each of the three potential market risk environments. The
cash component of the Index, which is a neutral risk exposure, is equal to the
hypothetical short sale proceeds of the Short Book plus the cash portion of the
Long Book in a Risk-Elevated or a Risk-Off environment.
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Weighting
of Index Components |
Risk
Environment |
Long
Book
Weight
(Long
Book Securities Component) |
Short
Book
Weight |
Cash
Weight
(Long
Book Cash Component and Short Sale Proceeds) |
Targeted
Net
Exposure |
Risk-On |
100% |
0%
to 25% |
0%
to 25% |
75% |
Risk-Elevated |
35% |
0%
to 35% |
65%
to 100% |
0% |
Risk-Off |
20% |
0%
to 45% |
80%
to 125% |
-25% |
The
precise weightings of the Long Book securities and the Short Book to gain the
targeted net exposure shown in the table above is determined utilizing a
calculation of the “net beta-adjusted exposure” of the Index’s Long Book
securities where the Long Book exposure is multiplied by a fraction that
represents the volatility correlation or “beta” of the Long Book to the full
Index market. Then the targeted net exposure of the Index is subtracted from the
net beta-adjusted Long Book exposure to establish the actual Short Book
weight.
The
following table presents an example of the calculation of the beta-adjusted
exposures of the Index under different market risk environments assuming the
Long Book securities correlation to their market is 0.9 (Long Book Portfolio
Beta).
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Beta
Adjusted Exposure - Examples |
Long
Exposure |
Long
Book
Portfolio
Beta |
Beta
Adjusted
Long
Exposure |
Beta
Adjusted
Short
Exposure |
100% |
0.9 |
90% |
90%
- 75% = 15% |
35% |
0.9 |
31.5% |
31.5%
- 0% = 31.5% |
20% |
0.9 |
18% |
18.0%
- (-25%) = 43% |
Under
normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets
in securities and cash included in the Index’s Long Book. In tracking the Index,
the Fund will generally hold its assets in Long Book securities and, when
indicated, a Long Book cash component. To replicate the Index’s Short Book, the
Fund will invest in cash-settled futures on SPY or on the S&P 500 Index and,
to a lesser extent, in cash-settled cleared swaps, options and short sales. The
Fund will replicate the Index’s Long Book cash component by holding cash, which
may be invested in U.S. Treasury bills or notes having less than three months to
maturity or money market funds invested in such U.S. Treasuries (“cash
equivalents”). The Fund will not be replicating the Index’s cash position
representing proceeds from hypothetical short sale transactions unless the Fund
invests in cash-settled short sales.
The
Index was developed by the Index Provider, an affiliate of the Adviser. The
Index Calculation Agent is Solactive AG, which is not affiliated with the Index
Provider, the Fund, the Adviser or the Subadviser. The Index Calculation Agent
provides information to the Fund about the constituents of the Index and does
not provide investment advice with respect to the desirability of investing in,
purchasing or selling securities.
ADDITIONAL
INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
The
additional investment strategies outlined below do not represent and are
distinct from the principal investment strategies of the Fund.
The
Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in instruments that are not included in
the Index, but that the Adviser believes will help the Fund track its index,
including derivatives with a reference asset or index other than SPY or the
S&P 500 Index or securities of other ETFs and investment
companies.
Each
of the policies described herein, including the investment objective of the
Fund, constitutes a non-fundamental policy that may be changed by the Board of
Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”) without shareholder approval upon 60 days
prior written notice to shareholders. Certain fundamental policies of the Fund
are set forth in the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) under
“Investment Restrictions.”
DESCRIPTION
OF PRINCIPAL RISKS OF THE FUND
The
Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any
of which may adversely affect the Fund’s NAV, trading price, yield, total return
and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your
investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other
investments.
Long/Short
Risk
The
performance of the Fund will depend on the difference in the rates of return
between its long positions and short positions. During a rising market, when
most equity securities and long-only equity ETFs are increasing in value, the
Fund’s short positions will likely cause the Fund to underperform the overall
U.S. equity market and such ETFs. However, there is no guarantee that the
returns on the Fund’s long or short positions will produce positive returns, and
the Fund could lose money on either or both of the Fund’s long and short
positions.
Derivatives
Risk
A
derivative instrument (e.g.,
futures contract, option (both written and purchased), or swap contract)
typically involves leverage and provides exposure to potential gain or loss from
a change in the market price of the underlying asset (or a basket of assets or
an index) in a notional amount that exceeds the amount of cash or assets
required to establish or maintain the derivative instrument. Adverse changes in
the value or price of the underlying asset (or basket of assets or index), which
the Fund may not directly own, can result in a loss to the Fund substantially
greater than the amount invested in the derivative itself. The use of derivative
instruments also exposes the Fund to additional risks and transaction
costs.
Futures
Contract Risk
Futures
contracts are derivative instruments pursuant to a contract where the parties
agree to a fixed price for an agreed amount of securities or other underlying
assets at an agreed date. The use of such derivative instruments may expose the
Fund to additional risks, such as credit risk, liquidity risk, and counterparty
risk, that it would not be subject to if it invested directly in the securities
underlying those derivatives. There can be no assurance that any strategy used
will succeed. There may at times be an imperfect correlation between the
movement in the prices of futures contracts and the value of their underlying
instruments or indexes. There also can be no assurance that, at all times, a
liquid market will exist for offsetting a futures contract that the Fund has
previously bought or sold, and this may result in the inability to close a
futures contract when desired. Futures contracts may experience potentially
dramatic price changes, which will increase the volatility of the Fund and may
involve a small investment of cash (the amount of initial and variation margin)
relative to the magnitude of the risk assumed (the potential increase or
decrease in the price of the futures contract).
Swap
Risk
In
a standard “swap” transaction, two parties agree to exchange the returns (or
differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on particular predetermined
investments or instruments. Some swaps are executed through an organized
exchange or regulated facility and cleared through a regulated clearing
organization. The absence of an organized exchange or market for certain swap
transactions may result in difficulties in trading and valuation, especially in
the event of market disruptions. The use of an organized exchange or market for
swap transactions is expected to result in swaps being easier to trade or value,
but this may not always be the case. While cleared swaps are considered liquid,
certain categories of over-the-counter (OTC) swap agreements often have terms of
greater than seven days and may be considered illiquid. Moreover, the Fund bears
the risk of loss of the amount expected to be received under an OTC swap
agreement in the event of the default or bankruptcy of a counterparty to an OTC
swap agreement. New and additional government regulation, of the swap market
could result in higher Fund costs and expenses and could adversely affect the
Fund’s ability, among other things, to terminate existing swap agreements or to
realize amounts to be received under such agreements.
Options
Risk
The
use of options involves investment strategies and risks different from those
associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions and depends on the
ability of the Fund’s portfolio managers to forecast market movements correctly.
The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things,
actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying instrument, or in
interest or currency exchange rates, including the anticipated volatility, which
in turn are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and
international political and economic events. The effective use of options also
depends on the Fund’s ability to terminate option positions at times deemed
desirable to do so. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to effect
closing transactions at any particular time or at an acceptable price. In
addition, there may at times be an imperfect correlation between the movement in
values of options and their underlying securities and there may at times not be
a liquid secondary market for certain options.
Counterparty
Risk
The
Fund may enter into various types of OTC derivative contracts with a
counterparty that may be 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 the
counterparty agreements can be expected to decline, potentially resulting in
losses to the Fund.
Shorting
Risks
In
order to achieve its investment objective, the Fund may engage in short sales,
which are designed to provide the Fund gains when the price of a particular
security, basket of securities or index declines. When the Fund shorts
securities, including securities of another investment company, it borrows
shares of that security or investment company, which it then sells. Unlike with
a long position, losses on a short position could be much greater if the value
of the security that the Fund is shorting increases because the cost of covering
a short position is potentially unlimited. There is no guarantee the Fund will
be able to borrow the shares of the security or investment company it seeks to
short in order to achieve its investment objective. In addition, shares of the
security or investment company may become hard-to-borrow, generally in times of
heightened market volatility, and cause the Fund to have to pay to borrow the
shares, in addition to financing costs of short positions, which would
negatively impact Fund performance and cause the Fund not to track the Index.
Short positions can be called at any time by the lender, which would cause the
Fund to have greater net exposure than the Index. The Fund typically closes out
a short sale by exchanging agreed-upon cash amounts that represent settlement in
lieu of delivery of the actual underlying security, or, in less likely
circumstances, by purchasing the security that it has sold short and returning
that security to the entity that lent the security.
Volatility
Risk
The
Fund’s investments are designed to respond to historical or realized volatility
based on a proprietary model developed and implemented by the Index Provider,
which is not intended to predict the future volatility of the S&P 500 Index.
If the S&P 500 Index is rapidly rising during periods when the Index
Provider’s volatility model has predicted significant volatility, the Fund may
be underexposed to the S&P 500 Index due to its short position and the Fund
would not be expected to gain the full benefit of the rise in the S&P 500
Index. Additionally, in periods of rapidly changing volatility, the Fund may not
be appropriately hedged or may not respond as expected to current volatility. In
periods of extreme market volatility, the Index’s strategy, and consequently the
Fund, may underperform due to the backward-looking nature of the Index’s
model.
Index
Tracking Risk
There
is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the
Index and therefore achieve its investment objective. The Fund may have
difficulty achieving its investment objective due to fees, difficulty borrowing
securities, expenses (including rebalancing expenses), transaction costs, income
items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or
illiquidity in the markets for the securities held by the Fund, the Fund’s
holding of uninvested cash, costs of complying with various new or existing
regulatory requirements, and transactions carried out to minimize the
distribution of capital gains to shareholders and other requirements to maintain
pass-through tax treatment. These costs that may be incurred by the Fund are not
incurred by the Index, which may make it more difficult for the Fund to track
the Index. Market disruptions, regulatory restrictions or extreme volatility
will also adversely affect the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment
objective. Activities surrounding Index reconstitutions and other Index
rebalancing events may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment
objective. In addition, if the Fund uses representative sampling to track the
Index, the Fund may not be as well correlated with the return of the Index as
when the Fund purchases all of the securities in the Index in the proportions in
which they are represented in the Index.
Passive
Investment Risk
The
Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to
current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless
that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that
security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance
with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index
regardless of the Adviser’s independent analysis of the investment
decision.
Index
Calculation Methodology Risk
The
Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess
the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be
based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the
Adviser (as defined below) can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation
methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of
included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee
the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index. A failure in the
management or dissemination of the Index could cause the Fund to become unable
to meet its investment objective, and may result in losses.
Interest
Rate Risk
As
interest rates rise, the value of debt securities held by the Fund is likely to
decrease. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest
rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities
with shorter durations. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of
its assets in debt securities with longer-term durations, rising interest rates
may cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. An
increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income
markets and adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments.
In addition, decreases in fixed-income dealer market-making capacity may also
potentially lead to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity in the
fixed-income markets. In a low interest rate environment like that one currently
being experienced, the Fund’s cash and cash equivalent positions, which
typically include highly rated and highly liquid debt securities, are expected
to earn correspondingly low returns.
Market
Disruption Risk
Geopolitical
and other events, including public health crises, natural disasters and armed
conflicts or war have recently led to increased market volatility and
significant market losses. Significant market volatility and market downturns
may limit the Fund’s ability to sell securities. Under such circumstances, the
Fund may have difficulty achieving its investment objective for one or more
trading days, which may adversely impact the Fund’s returns on those days and
periods inclusive of those days. Alternatively, the Fund may incur higher costs
in order to achieve its investment objective and may be forced to purchase and
sell securities (including other ETFs’ shares) at market prices that do not
represent their fair value (including in the case of an ETF, its net asset
value) or at times that result in differences between the price the Fund
receives for the security and the market closing price of the security. Under
those circumstances, the Fund’s ability to track its Index is likely to be
adversely affected, the market price of Fund shares may reflect a greater
premium or discount to net asset value, and bid-ask spreads on the Fund’s shares
may widen, resulting in increased transaction costs for secondary market
purchasers and sellers. The Fund may also incur additional tracking error due to
the use of other securities that are not perfectly correlated to the Fund’s
Index.
U.S.
Treasury Securities Risk
U.S.
Treasury securities may differ from other securities in their interest rates,
maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Although U.S. Treasury
securities are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the United States, the
U.S. Government does not guarantee the market value of these securities, and
consequently, the market value of such securities may fluctuate. Similar to
other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S.
Government may cause the value of the Fund’s U.S. Treasury securities to
decline. U.S. Treasury Securities are also subject to interest rate risk.
Generally, as interest rates rise, the market value of fixed income securities
tends to decrease. Conversely, as interest rates fall, the market value of fixed
income securities tends to increase. This risk will be greater for long-term
securities than for short-term securities.
Interruption
in Trading 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 result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain
securities or financial instruments. In such circumstances, the Fund may be
unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its
investments, may incur significant tracking differences with its Index, and/or
may incur substantial losses and may limit or stop purchases of the
Fund.
Equity
Securities Risk
Investments
in publicly issued equity securities, including common stocks, are subject to
market risks that may cause their prices to fluctuate over time. These
fluctuations in the market price of equity securities could be caused by general
stock market movements as well as volatile increases or decreases in the value
of certain stocks or sectors as public confidence in and perceptions of certain
issuers change. Fluctuations in the value of equity securities in which the Fund
invests will cause the net asset value of the Fund to fluctuate.
High
Portfolio Turnover Risk
At
times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than
100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater
transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other
transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other
securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to
shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may
negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
Market
Risk
Market
risks include political, regulatory, market and economic developments, including
developments that impact specific economic sectors, industries or segments of
the market, which may affect the Fund’s value. Turbulence in financial markets
and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and fixed income markets may negatively
affect many issuers worldwide, which could have an adverse effect on the
Fund.
Cybersecurity
Risk
Failures
or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or its services providers may
cause disruptions and negatively impact the Fund’s business operations,
potentially resulting in financial losses to the Fund. While the Fund has
established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to
address system breaches or failures, these plans and systems are inherently
limited. Further, cybersecurity incidents could also affect issuers of
securities in which the Fund invests, leading to a significant loss of
value.
Operational
Risk
The
Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors,
including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors,
errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties,
failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund,
Adviser and Subadviser seek to reduce these operational risks through controls
and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and
may be inadequate to address these risks.
Large-Capitalization
Investing Risk
The
Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a
result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of
large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization
companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization
companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore
subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Limited
Operating History Risk
The
Fund is a recently organized, diversified management investment company with a
limited operating history. As a result, prospective investors have a limited
track record or history on which to base their investment decision.
Special
Risks of Exchange-Traded Funds
Authorized
Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration
Risk
The
Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In
addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity
providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events
occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly
face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process
creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these
services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or
significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step
forward to perform their functions.
Shares
of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV
As
with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market
at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded
securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the
current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the
market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there
may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day
(premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). Price differences may be
due to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading
market for Shares will be closely related to, but not identical, the same forces
influencing the prices of the Fund’s portfolio securities. This risk is
heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and
periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary
market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be
significant.
Trading
Although
shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange,
such as the Exchange, and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the
Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any
volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the
liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s
underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than
shares of the Fund.
Flash
Crash Risk
Sharp
price declines in securities owned by the Fund may trigger trading halts, which
may result in the Fund’s shares trading in the market at an increasingly large
discount to NAV during part (or all) of a trading day or cause the Fund itself
to halt trading.
Risk
that Short Book Gains May Result in Tax Inefficiencies
The
Fund may be able to manage realized tax gains on its Long Book positions by
arranging for in-kind creation and redemption transactions to remove from its
portfolio securities experiencing such gains in a tax efficient manner. However,
the Fund will be unable to use the creation and redemption process to manage
realized tax gains on its Short Book positions because they are not amenable to
in-kind transfers. Consequently, the Fund may be compelled to recognize Short
Book position gains for tax purposes unless it can offset such gains with
commensurate losses on other positions in its portfolio. The inability of the
Fund to offset such Short Book position gains may cause shareholders to incur
income tax liabilities upon such gain recognition in a manner similar to that
typically experienced by mutual fund shareholders but not by shareholders of
ETFs that do not invest in Short Book positions.
ADDITIONAL
RISKS OF INVESTING IN THE FUND
Investment
Risk
An
investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or
guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government
agency. When you sell your Shares, they could be worth less than what you paid
for them.
Loss
Mitigation Risk
There
is no guarantee that the strategy utilized by the Index will be successful in
its attempt to mitigate against significant losses.
Other
Investment Companies and ETFs Risk
By
investing in another investment company, including an ETF, the Fund becomes a
shareholder of that investment company and as a result, Fund shareholders
indirectly bear the Fund’s proportionate share of the fees and expenses of the
other investment company, in addition to the fees and expenses of the Fund’s own
operations. The Fund’s performance with respect to these investments depends in
large part on the investment performance of the underlying ETFs and other
investment companies and there can be no guarantee that such underlying funds
will be successful. The Fund’s performance may be magnified positively or
negatively by virtue of its investment in other investment companies. If the
other investment company fails to achieve its investment objective, the value of
the Fund’s investment will not perform as expected, thus affecting the Fund’s
performance and its correlation with the Index. In addition, because shares of
ETFs are listed and traded on national stock exchanges, their shares may trade
at a discount or a premium. Investments in such shares may be subject to
brokerage and other trading costs, which could result in greater expenses to the
Fund.
Securities
Lending Risk
Securities
lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of
the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at
all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of
collateral provided for loaned securities, a decline in the value of any
investments made with cash collateral, or a “gap” between the return on cash
collateral reinvestments and any fees the Fund has agreed to pay a borrower.
These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the
Fund.
Please
refer to the SAI for a more complete discussion of the risks of investing in the
Fund.
CONTINUOUS
OFFERING
The
method by which Creation Units are purchased and traded may raise certain issues
under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold
by the Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a “distribution,” as such term is
used in the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), may occur.
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 and liability
provisions
of the Securities Act. 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 Transfer Agent, breaks them down into individual Shares, and sells such
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
categorization as an underwriter.
Broker-dealer
firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting
transactions in Shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of
Shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the
prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not
available with respect to 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 over-allotment 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 of the Fund 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 such Fund’s
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.
CREATION
AND REDEMPTION OF CREATION UNITS
The
Fund issues and redeems Shares only in bundles of a specified number of Shares.
These bundles are known as “Creation Units”. For the Fund, a Creation Unit is
comprised of 30,000 Shares. The number of Shares in a Creation Unit may change
in the event of a share split, reverse split, or similar revaluation. The Fund
may not issue fractional Creation Units. To purchase or redeem a Creation Unit,
you must be an Authorized Participant or you must do so through a broker,
dealer, bank, or other entity that is an Authorized Participant. An Authorized
Participant is either (1) a “Participating Party”, i.e.,
a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process of the Continuous
Net Settlement System of the NSCC (“Clearing Process”), or (2) a participant of
DTC (a “DTC Participant”), and, in each case, must have executed an agreement
with the Distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent, with respect to
creations and redemptions of Creation Units (each a “Participation Agreement”).
Because Creation Units are likely to cost over one million dollars each, it is
expected that only large institutional investors will purchase and redeem Shares
directly from the Fund in the form of Creation Units. In turn, it is expected
that institutional investors who purchase Creation Units will break up their
Creation Units and offer and sell individual Shares in the Secondary Market.
Although it is anticipated that most creation and redemption transactions for
the Fund will be made on an “in-kind” basis, from time to time they may be made
partially or wholly in cash. In
determining whether the Fund will sell or redeem Creation Units entirely on a
cash or in-kind basis (whether for a given day or a given order) the key
consideration will be the benefit that would accrue to the Fund and its
investors. Under certain circumstances, tax considerations may warrant in-kind,
rather than cash, redemptions.
Retail
investors may acquire Shares in the Secondary Market (not from the Fund) through
a broker or dealer. Shares are listed on the Exchange and are publicly-traded.
For information about acquiring Shares in the Secondary Market, please contact
your broker or dealer. If you want to sell Shares in the Secondary Market, you
must do so through your broker or dealer.
When
you buy or sell Shares in the Secondary Market, your broker or dealer may charge
you a commission, market premium or discount, or other transaction charge, and
you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered price for
each purchase or sale transaction. Unless imposed by your broker or dealer,
there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of
Shares you must buy in the Secondary Market. In addition, because transactions
in the Secondary Market occur at market prices, you may pay more than NAV when
you buy Shares and receive less than NAV when you sell those
Shares.
The
creation and redemption processes discussed above are summarized, and such
summary only applies to Shareholders who purchase or redeem Creation Units (that
is, they do not relate to Shareholders who purchase or sell Shares in the
Secondary Market). Authorized Participants should refer to their Participant
Agreements for the precise instructions that must be followed in order to create
or redeem Creation Units.
BUYING
AND SELLING SHARES IN THE SECONDARY MARKET
Most
investors will buy and sell Shares of the Fund in Secondary Market transactions
through brokers. Shares of the Fund will be listed for trading on the Secondary
Market on the Exchange. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day
like other publicly-traded shares. There is no minimum investment. Although
Shares are generally purchased and sold in “round lots” of 100 Shares, brokerage
firms typically permit investors to purchase or sell Shares in smaller “odd
lots” at no per-Share price differential. 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.
Share
prices are reported in dollars and cents per Share. For information about buying
and selling Shares in the Secondary Market, please contact your broker or
dealer.
Book
Entry
Shares
of the Fund are held in book-entry form and no stock certificates are issued.
The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”),
through its nominee Cede & Co., is the record owner of all outstanding
Shares.
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 securities that you hold in
book-entry or “street name” form for any publicly-traded company. Specifically,
in the case of a Shareholder meeting of the Fund, DTC assigns applicable Cede
& Co. voting rights to its participants that have Shares credited to their
accounts on the record date, issues an omnibus proxy, and forwards the omnibus
proxy to the Fund. The omnibus proxy transfers the voting authority from Cede
& Co. to the DTC participant. This gives the DTC participant through whom
you own Shares (namely, your broker, dealer, bank, trust company, or other
nominee) authority to vote the Shares, and, in turn, the DTC participant is
obligated to follow the voting instructions you provide.
MANAGEMENT
Investment
Adviser.
ASYMmetric ETFs, LLC (the “Adviser”), a wholly owned subsidiary of ASYMmetric
Holdings, Inc., has overall responsibility for the general management and
administration of the Fund, including through its oversight of the Subadviser.
The Adviser selects, contracts with and compensates one or more subadvisers to
manage all or a portion of the
Fund’s
portfolio assets. In this role, the Adviser has supervisory responsibility for
managing the investment and reinvestment of the Fund’s portfolio assets through
proactive oversight and monitoring of the Subadviser and the fund, as described
in further detail below. The Adviser is responsible for developing overall
investment strategies for the Fund and overseeing and implementing the Fund’s
investment programs and provides a variety of advisory oversight services. The
Adviser also provides management and transition services associated with certain
events that may affect the Fund such as strategy, portfolio manager, or
Subadviser changes and coordinates and oversees services provided under other
agreements.
The
Adviser has ultimate responsibility to oversee the Subadviser and recommend to
the Board of Trustees its hiring, termination, and replacement. In this
capacity, the Adviser, among other things: (i) monitors on a daily basis the
compliance of the Subadviser with the investment objectives and related policies
of the Fund; (ii) monitors significant changes that may impact the Subadviser’s
overall business and regularly performs due diligence reviews of the Subadviser;
(iii) reviews the performance of the Subadviser; and (iv) reports periodically
on such performance to the Board of Trustees. In managing the Fund, the Adviser
may draw upon the research and expertise of its asset management affiliates with
respect to certain portfolio securities.
For
its investment advisory services to the Fund, the Adviser is paid a unitary fee
equal to 0.95% of the average daily net assets of the Fund. Pursuant to the
Investment Advisory Agreement, as amended, (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”)
between the Adviser and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), the
Adviser is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the
management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the
acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of
portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or
expenses, litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a
majority of the Trustees who are not “interested persons” of the Trust). The
Adviser may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or
expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding
acquired fund fees and expenses, if any).
The
Adviser is located at 158 East 126th Street, Suite 304, New York, NY 10035. As
of December 31, 2021, the Adviser and its affiliates provided investment
advisory services for assets in excess of $24.1 million. The Adviser and its
affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and
types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the
price of such securities.
A
discussion regarding the Board of Trustees’ approval of the Investment Advisory
Agreement for the Fund is available in the Fund’s semi-annual
report
for the period ended June 30, 2021. The Investment Advisory Agreement may be
terminated by the Board or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting
securities of the Fund, without the payment of any penalty, on not more than 60
days’ written notice. In addition, the Investment Advisory Agreement
automatically terminates in the event of its “assignment” (as defined in the
1940 Act).
Subadviser.
Toroso
Investments, LLC, 898 N. Broadway, Suite 2, Massapequa, New York 11758, (the
“Subadviser” or “Toroso”) is responsible for the Fund’s portfolio management
activities, subject to oversight by the Adviser.
Pursuant
to the Subadvisory Agreement, Toroso receives a subadvisory fee that is equal to
the greater of (1) $30,000 per annum or (2) 0.04% per annum of the average daily
net assets of the Fund on the first $500 million in assets, 0.03% on the next
$500 million in assets, 0.02% on assets over $1 billion, calculated daily and
paid monthly. The Adviser is responsible for paying the entire subadvisory
fee.
A
discussion regarding the Board of Trustees’ approval of the Investment
Subadvisory Agreement for the Fund is available in the Fund’s semi-annual
report
for the period ended June 30, 2021.
Portfolio
Managers.
Each of the Portfolio Managers has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since
2021.
The
Portfolio Managers are responsible for the securities trading and related
portfolio management activities on behalf of the Fund in accordance with and for
the purpose of carrying out the Fund’s principal investment strategy.
Michael
J. Venuto.
Mr. Venuto, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Toroso, is an ETF
industry veteran with over two decades of experience in the design and
implementation of ETF-based investment strategies. Previously, he was Head of
Investments at Global X Funds where he provided portfolio optimization services
to institutional clients. Before that, he was Senior Vice President at Horizon
Kinetics where his responsibilities included new business development,
investment strategy, Fintech private equity and strategic
initiatives.
Charles
A. Ragauss, CFA.
Mr. Ragauss serves as Portfolio Manager at Toroso. Mr. Ragauss previously served
as Chief Operating Officer and in other roles at Exponential from April 2016 to
September 2020. Previously, Mr. Ragauss was Assistant Vice President at
Huntington National Bank, where he was Product Manager for the Huntington Funds
and Huntington Strategy Shares ETFs. Mr. Ragauss attended Grand Valley State
University where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance
and International Business, as well as a minor in French. He is a member of both
the National and West Michigan CFA societies and holds the CFA
designation.
OTHER
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Administrator,
Fund Accountant and Transfer Agent.
U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC d/b/a U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, 615 East
Michigan Street, Milwaukee, WI 53202, serves as the Administrator, Fund
Accountant and Transfer Agent for the Fund.
Custodian.
U.S. Bank National Association, 1555 North Rivercenter Drive, Suite 302,
Milwaukee, WI 53212, is the Custodian for the Fund.
Distributor.
Foreside Fund Services, LLC, Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100, Portland, ME 04101,
is the Distributor of Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The
Distributor does not maintain a Secondary Market in Shares.
Independent
Registered Public Accounting Firm.
Cohen & Company, Ltd., 1350 Euclid Avenue, Suite 800, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
serves as the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm and is
responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the
Fund.
Legal
Counsel.
K&L Gates LLP, 599 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York, 10022 serves as
legal counsel to the Fund.
FREQUENT
TRADING
The
Board has adopted a policy of not monitoring for frequent purchases and
redemptions of Fund shares (“frequent trading”) that appear to attempt to take
advantage of a potential arbitrage opportunity presented by a lag between a
change in the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities after the close of the
primary markets for the Fund’s portfolio securities and the reflection of that
change in the Fund’s NAV (“market timing”), because the Fund sells and redeems
its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash,
subject to the conditions described below under Creations
and Redemptions.
The Board has not adopted a policy of monitoring for other frequent trading
activity because shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national
securities exchange.
DISTRIBUTION
AND SERVICE PLAN
The
Board has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under
the 1940 Act. In accordance with its Rule 12b-1 plan, the Fund is authorized to
pay an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each year to finance
activities primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units of the
Fund or the provision of investor services. No Rule 12b-1 fees are currently
paid by the Fund and there are no plans to impose these fees. However, in the
event Rule 12b-1 fees are charged in the future, they will be paid out of the
Fund’s assets, and over time these fees will increase the cost of your
investment and they may cost you more than certain other types of sales
charges.
DETERMINATION
OF NET ASSET VALUE (NAV)
The
NAV of the Shares for the Fund is equal to the Fund’s total assets minus the
Fund’s total liabilities divided by the total number of Shares outstanding.
Interest and investment income on the Trust’s assets accrue daily and are
included in the Fund’s total assets. Expenses and fees, including investment
advisory and 12b-1 distribution fees, and any other expense not assumed by the
Adviser, if any) accrue daily and are included in the Fund’s total liabilities.
In
calculating NAV, the Fund’s investments are valued using market quotations when
available. When market quotations are not readily available, are deemed
unreliable, or do not reflect material events occurring between the close of
local markets and the time of valuation, investments are valued using fair value
pricing as determined in good faith by the Adviser under procedures established
by and under the general supervision and responsibility of the Trust’s Board of
Trustees. Investments that may be valued using fair value pricing include, but
are not limited to: (1) securities that are not actively traded, including
“restricted” securities and securities received in private placements for which
there is no public market; (2) securities of an issuer that becomes bankrupt or
enters into a restructuring; (3) securities whose trading has been halted or
suspended; and (4) foreign securities traded on exchanges that close before the
Fund’s NAV is calculated.
The
frequency with which the Fund’s investments are valued using fair value pricing
is primarily a function of the types of securities and other assets in which the
Fund invests pursuant to its investment objective, strategies, and
limitations.
Valuing
any of the Fund’s investments using fair value pricing results in using prices
for those investments that may differ from current market valuations.
Accordingly, fair value pricing could result in the market prices for Shares
deviating from NAV. In addition, with respect to securities that are primarily
listed on foreign exchanges, the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities may
change on days when you will not be able to purchase or sell your
Shares.
In
December 2020, the SEC adopted Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act (“Rule 2a-5”), which
is intended to address valuation practices and the role of a registered
investment company’s board of trustees with respect to the fair value of the
investments of the registered investment company. Among other things, Rule 2a-5
will permit a fund’s board to designate a fund’s primary investment adviser to
perform the fund’s fair value determinations, which will be subject to board
oversight and certain reporting and other requirements intended to ensure that
the registered investment company’s board receives the information it needs to
oversee the investment adviser’s fair value determinations. The Fund and the
Adviser must comply with Rule 2a-5 by September 8, 2022. The Adviser continues
to review Rule 2a-5 and its impact on the Adviser’s and the Fund’s valuation
policies and related practices.
The
NAV is calculated by the Administrator and determined each Business Day as of
the close of regular trading on the NYSE Arca (ordinarily 4:00 p.m. New York
time). “Business Day” means any day that the Exchange is open for trading. The
Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday except for the following
holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good
Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day,
Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT
AND BID/ASK SPREAD INFORMATION
As
of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund has not commenced operations and
therefore has not accumulated information to report regarding the extent and
frequency with which market prices of Shares have tracked the Fund’s NAV. In
addition, an investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the
highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and
the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when
buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”).
Information regarding the extent and frequency with which market prices of
Shares have tracked the Fund’s NAV for the most recently completed calendar year
and the quarters since that year will be available without charge on the Fund’s
website. Information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and
discounts, and median bid-ask spreads of a trailing 30-day calendar will be
available on the Fund’s website at www.asymshares.com.
DIVIDENDS,
DISTRIBUTIONS, AND TAXES
Net
Investment Income and Capital Gains
As
a Shareholder, you are entitled to your share of the Fund’s distributions of net
investment income and net realized capital gains on its investments. The Fund
pays out substantially all of its net earnings to its Shareholders as
‘distributions’.
The
Fund typically earns dividend income from stocks. These amounts, net of
expenses, are typically passed along to Shareholders as dividends from net
investment income. The Fund realizes capital gains or losses whenever it sells
securities. Net capital gains are distributed to Shareholders as “capital gain
distributions”.
Capital
gains of the Fund are normally declared and paid annually. Dividends from net
investment income are normally declared and paid at least annually. The amount
of distributions may vary and there can be no guarantee that the Fund will pay
dividends of investment income in any given quarter. Dividends also may be
declared and paid more frequently to comply with the distribution requirements
of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). In addition, the Fund may determine
to distribute at least annually amounts representing the full dividend yield net
of expenses on securities held by the Fund, as if the Fund owned the securities
for the entire dividend period, in which case some portion of each distribution
may result in a return of capital. You will be notified regarding the portion of
the distribution that represents a return of capital. A return of capital is not
taxable, but reduces a shareholder’s tax basis in its shares, thus reducing any
loss or increasing any gain on a subsequent taxable disposition by the
shareholder of its shares.
Distributions
in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional Shares of the Fund only if
the broker through which you purchased Shares makes such option
available.
Federal
Income Taxes
The
following is a summary of the material U.S. federal income tax considerations
applicable to an investment in Shares of the Fund. The summary is based on the
laws in effect on the date of this Prospectus and existing judicial and
administrative interpretations thereof, all of which are subject to change,
possibly with retroactive effect. In addition, this summary assumes that a
Shareholder holds Shares as capital assets within the meaning of the Code and
does not hold Shares in connection with a trade or business. This summary does
not address all potential U.S. federal income tax considerations possibly
applicable to an investment in Shares of the Fund to Shareholders holding Shares
through a partnership (or other pass-through entity) or to Shareholders subject
to special tax rules. Prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own
tax advisers with respect to the specific federal, state, local, and foreign tax
consequences of investing in Shares based on their particular
circumstances.
The
Fund has not requested and will not request an advance ruling from the Internal
Revenue Service (the “IRS”) as to the federal income tax matters described
below. The IRS could adopt positions contrary to those discussed below and such
positions could be sustained. Prospective investors should consult their own tax
advisers with regard to the federal tax consequences of the purchase, ownership,
or disposition of Shares, as well as the tax consequences arising under the laws
of any state, foreign country, or other taxing jurisdiction.
Tax
Treatment of the Fund
The
Fund intends to qualify and elect to be treated as a “regulated investment
company” under the Code. To qualify and maintain its tax status as a regulated
investment company, the Fund must annually meet certain income and asset
diversification requirements and must distribute annually at least the sum of
90% of its “investment company taxable income” (which includes dividends,
interest, and net short-term capital gains) and 90% of its net exempt interest
income.
As
a regulated investment company, the Fund generally will not have to pay
corporate-level federal income taxes on any ordinary income or capital gains
that it distributes to its Shareholders. If the Fund fails to qualify as a
regulated investment company for any year (subject to certain curative measures
allowed by the Code) the Fund will be subject to regular corporate-level income
tax in that year on all of its taxable income, regardless of whether the Fund
makes any distributions to its Shareholders. In addition, distributions will be
taxable to Shareholders generally as ordinary dividends to the extent of the
Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits, possibly eligible for, (i)
in the case of an individual Shareholder, treatment as qualified dividend income
subject to tax at preferential rates or, (ii) in the case of a corporate
Shareholder, a dividend received deduction.
The
Fund may be required to recognize taxable income in advance of receiving the
related cash payment. For example, if the Fund invests in original issue
discount obligations (such as zero coupon debt instruments or debt instruments
with payment-in-kind interest), the Fund will be required to include in income
each year a portion of the original issue discount that accrues over the term of
the obligation, even if the related cash payment is not received by the Fund
until a later year. Under the “wash sale” rules, the Fund may not be able to
deduct a loss on a disposition of a portfolio security. As a result, the Fund
may be required to make an annual income distribution greater than the total
cash actually received during the year. Such distribution may be made from the
cash assets of the Fund or by selling portfolio securities. The Fund may realize
gains or losses from such sales, in which event its Shareholders may receive a
larger capital gain distribution than they would in the absence of such
transactions.
The
Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if the
Fund does not distribute to its Shareholders in each calendar year at least 98%
of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus 98.2% of its capital gain net
income for the twelve months ended October 31 of such year, as well as 100% of
any previously undistributed income from prior years. The Fund intends to make
distributions necessary to avoid the 4% excise tax.
Tax
Treatment of the Shareholders
Fund
Distributions.
In general, Fund distributions are subject to federal income tax when paid,
regardless of whether they consist of cash or property or are re-invested in
Shares. However, any Fund distribution declared in October, November, or
December of any calendar year and payable to Shareholders of record on a
specified date during such month will be deemed to have been received by each
Shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year, provided such dividend is
actually paid during January of the following calendar year.
Distributions
of the Fund’s net investment income (except, as discussed below, qualifying
dividend income) and net short-term capital gains are taxable as ordinary income
to the extent of the Fund’s current or accumulated earnings and profits.
Distributions of the Fund’s net long-term capital gains in excess of net
short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gain to the extent of
the Fund’s current or accumulated earnings and profits, regardless of a
Shareholder’s holding period in the Shares. Distributions of qualifying dividend
income are taxable as long-term capital gain to an individual Shareholder to the
extent of the Fund’s current or accumulated earnings and profits, provided that
the Shareholder meets certain holding period and other requirements with respect
to its Shares and the Fund meets certain holding period and other requirements
with respect to its dividend-paying stocks.
The
Fund intends to distribute its long-term capital gains at least annually.
However, by providing written notice to its Shareholders no later than 60 days
after its year-end, the Fund may elect to retain some or all of its long-term
capital gains and designate the retained amount as a “deemed distribution”. In
that event, the Fund pays income tax on the retained long-term capital gain, and
each Shareholder recognizes a proportionate share of the Fund’s undistributed
long-term capital gain. In addition, each Shareholder can claim a refundable tax
credit for the Shareholder’s proportionate share of the Fund’s income taxes paid
on the undistributed long-term capital gain and increase the tax basis of the
Shares by an amount equal to the Shareholder’s proportionate share of the Fund’s
undistributed long-term capital gains, reduced by the amount of the
Shareholder’s tax credit.
Long-term
capital gains of non-corporate Shareholders (i.e.,
individuals, trusts, and estates) are taxed at a maximum rate of
20%.
In
addition, high-income individuals (and certain other trusts and estates) are
subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on net investment income (which
generally includes all Fund distributions and gains from the sale of Shares) in
addition to otherwise applicable federal income tax. Please consult your tax
adviser regarding this tax.
Investors
considering buying Shares just prior to a distribution should be aware that,
although the price of the Shares purchased at such time may reflect the
forthcoming distribution, such distribution nevertheless may be taxable (as
opposed to a non-taxable return of capital).
Sales
of Shares.
Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Shares is treated generally as
a long-term gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year.
Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Shares held for one year or
less is generally treated as a short-term gain or loss, except that any capital
loss on the sale of Shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term
capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to
the Shares.
Creation
Unit Issues and Redemptions.
On an issue of Shares of the Fund as part of a Creation Unit where the creation
is conducted in-kind, an Authorized Participant recognizes capital gain or loss
equal to the difference between (1) the fair market value (at issue) of the
issued Shares (plus any cash received by the Authorized Participant as part of
the issue) and (2) the Authorized Participant’s aggregate basis in the exchanged
securities (plus any cash paid by the Authorized Participant as part of the
issue). On a redemption of Shares as part of a Creation Unit where the
redemption is conducted in-kind, an Authorized Participant recognizes capital
gain or loss equal to the difference between (1) the fair market value (at
redemption) of the securities received (plus any cash received by the Authorized
Participant as part of the redemption) and (2) the Authorized Participant’s
basis in the redeemed Shares (plus any cash paid by the Authorized Participant
as part of the redemption). However, the IRS may assert, under the “wash sale”
rules or on the basis that there has been no significant change in the
Authorized Participant’s economic position, that any loss on creation or
redemption of Creation Units cannot be deducted currently.
In
general, any capital gain or loss recognized upon the issue or redemption of
Shares (as components of a Creation Unit) is treated either as long-term capital
gain or loss if the deposited securities (in the case of an issue) or the Shares
(in the case of a redemption) have been held for more than one year, or
otherwise as short-term capital gain or loss. However, any capital loss on a
redemption of Shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital
loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such
Shares.
Back-Up
Withholding.
The Fund may be required to report certain information on a Shareholder to the
IRS and withhold federal income tax (“backup withholding”) at a 24% rate from
all taxable distributions and redemption proceeds payable to the Shareholder if
the Shareholder fails to provide the Fund with a correct taxpayer identification
number (in the case of a U.S. individual, a social security number) or a
completed exemption certificate (e.g.,
an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, as applicable, in the case of a foreign
Shareholder) or if the IRS notifies the Fund that the Shareholder is otherwise
subject to backup withholding. Backup withholding is not an additional tax and
any amount withheld may be credited against a Shareholder’s federal income tax
liability.
Special
Issues for Foreign Shareholders.
If a Shareholder is not a U.S. citizen or resident or if a Shareholder is a
foreign entity, the Fund’s ordinary income dividends (including distributions of
amounts that would not be subject to U.S. withholding tax if paid directly to
foreign Shareholders) will be subject, in general, to withholding tax at a rate
of 30% (or at a lower rate established under an applicable tax treaty). However,
interest-related dividends and short-term capital gain dividends generally will
not be subject to withholding tax; provided that the foreign Shareholder
furnishes the Fund with a completed IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, as applicable,
(or acceptable substitute documentation) establishing the Shareholder’s status
as foreign and the Fund does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that
the foreign Shareholder would be subject to withholding tax if the foreign
Shareholder were to receive the related amounts directly rather than as
dividends from the Fund.
The
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) subjects certain foreign Shareholders
to U.S. withholding tax of 30% on all U.S. source income (including all
dividends from the Fund), unless they comply with certain reporting
requirements. Complying with such requirements will require the Shareholder to
provide and certify certain information about itself and (where applicable) its
beneficial owners, and foreign financial institutions generally will be required
to enter in an agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or a tax
authority in the institution’s own country to provide certain information
regarding such Shareholder’s account holders. Please consult your tax adviser
regarding this tax.
To
claim a credit or refund for any Fund-level taxes on any undistributed long-term
capital gains (as discussed above) or any taxes collected through back-up
withholding, a foreign Shareholder must obtain a U.S. taxpayer identification
number and file a federal income tax return even if the foreign Shareholder
would not otherwise be required to obtain a U.S. taxpayer identification number
or file a U.S. income tax return.
For
a more detailed tax discussion regarding an investment in the Fund, please see
the section of the SAI entitled “Taxation.”
CODES
OF ETHICS
The
Trust and the Adviser and Subadviser each have adopted a code of ethics under
Rule 17j-1 of the 1940 Act that is designed to prevent affiliated persons of the
Trust, Adviser and Subadviser from engaging in deceptive, manipulative, or
fraudulent activities in connection with securities held or to be acquired by
the Fund (which may also be held by persons subject to a code). There can be no
assurance that the codes will be effective in preventing such activities. The
codes permit personnel subject to them to invest in securities, including
securities that may be held or purchased by the Fund. The codes are on file with
the SEC and are available to the public.
PORTFOLIO
HOLDINGS INFORMATION
A
description of the Trust’s policies and procedures with respect to the
disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio securities is available in the Fund’s
Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”). The Fund discloses its portfolio
holdings daily at www.asymshares.com. Fund fact sheets provide information
regarding the Fund’s top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-866-ASYM777
(1-866-279-6777).
HOUSEHOLDING
It
is the policy of the Fund to mail only one copy of the prospectus, annual
report, semi-annual report and proxy statements to all shareholders who share
the same mailing address and share the same last name. You are deemed to consent
to this policy unless you specifically revoke this policy and request that
separate copies of such documents be mailed to you. In such case, you will begin
to receive your own copies within 30 days after our receipt of the revocation.
You may request that separate copies of these disclosure documents be mailed to
you by writing to us at: ASYMmetric ETFs Trust, c/o ASYMmetric ETFs, LLC 158
East 126th Street, Suite 304, New York, NY 10035.
INDEX
PROVIDER AND DISCLAIMERS
ASYMmetric
Investment Solutions, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASYMmetric Holdings,
Inc., and affiliate of the Adviser, is the Index Provider for the Trust (the
“Index Provider”). The Index Provider has entered into an index licensing
agreement with the Adviser to allow the Adviser’s use of the Index for the
operation of the Fund. The Adviser has entered into a sub-licensing agreement
with the Trust to allow the Fund to utilize the Index.
The
Index Provider has entered into an agreement with Solactive AG to calculate,
publish and disseminate the Index. The Fund is not sponsored, promoted, sold or
supported in any other manner by Solactive AG nor does Solactive AG offer any
express or implicit guarantee or assurance either with regard to the results of
using the Index and/or Index trade mark or the Index Price at any time or in any
other respect. Solactive AG uses its best efforts to ensure that the Index is
calculated correctly. Irrespective of its obligations towards the Adviser,
Solactive AG has no obligation to point out errors in the Index to third parties
including but not limited to investors and/or financial intermediaries of the
Fund. Neither publication of the Index by Solactive AG nor the licensing of the
Index or Index trade mark for the purpose of use in connection with the Fund
constitutes a recommendation by Solactive AG to invest capital in said Fund nor
does it in any way represent an assurance or opinion of Solactive AG with regard
to any investment in this Fund.
The
Adviser does not guarantee the accuracy or the completeness of any Index or any
data included therein and the Adviser shall have no liability for any errors,
omissions or interruptions therein. The Adviser makes no warranty, express or
implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or to any other person or entity,
as to results to be obtained by the Fund from the use of an Index or any data
included therein. The Adviser makes no express or implied warranties and
expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose or use with respect to an Index or any data included therein.
Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall the Adviser have any
liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential damages
(including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such
damages.
FINANCIAL
HIGHLIGHTS
The
financial highlights table is intended to help you understand the Fund’s
financial performance for the Fund’s five most recent fiscal years (or the life
of the Fund, if shorter). Certain information reflects financial results for a
single Fund share. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an
investor would have earned or lost on an investment in the Fund (assuming
reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). This information has been
audited by Cohen & Company, Ltd., the Fund’s independent registered public
accounting firm, whose report, along with the Fund’s financial statements, is
included in the Fund’s Annual
Report,
which is available upon request.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Period
from
March
9, 2021(1)
to December 31, 2021 |
PER
COMMON SHARE DATA:(2) |
$ |
25.00 |
|
Net
asset value, beginning of period |
|
|
|
INVESTMENT
OPERATIONS: |
|
Net
investment income |
0.05 |
|
Net
realized and unrealized gain on investments |
4.72 |
|
Total
from investment operations |
4.77 |
|
|
|
LESS
DISTRIBUTIONS FROM: |
|
Net
investment income |
(0.06) |
|
Net
realized gains |
— |
|
Total
distributions |
(0.06) |
|
|
|
Net
asset value, end of period |
$ |
29.71 |
|
|
|
TOTAL
RETURN(3) |
19.09 |
% |
|
|
SUPPLEMENTAL
DATA AND RATIOS |
|
Net
assets, end of period (in 000’s) |
$ |
24,065 |
|
|
|
Ratios
to average net assets: |
|
Expenses(4) |
0.95 |
% |
Net
investment income(4) |
0.55 |
% |
|
|
Portfolio
turnover rate(3)(5) |
41 |
% |
(1)Inception
date of the Fund.
(2)For
a Fund share outstanding for the entire period.
(3)Not
annualized.
(4)Annualized.
(5)Excludes
the impact of in-kind transactions.
PRIVACY
POLICY
The
Trust is committed to respecting the privacy of personal information you entrust
to us in the course of doing business with us.
The
Fund collects non-public information about you from the following
sources:
● Information
we receive about you on applications or other forms;
● Information
you give us orally; and/or
● Information
about your transactions with us or others.
We
do not disclose any non-public personal information about our customers or
former customers without the customer’s authorization, except as permitted by
law or in response to inquiries from governmental authorities. We may share
information with affiliated and unaffiliated third parties with whom we have
contracts for servicing the Fund. We will provide unaffiliated third parties
with only the information necessary to carry out their assigned
responsibilities. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to
guard your non-public personal information and require third parties to treat
your personal information with the same high degree of
confidentiality.
In
the event that you hold Shares of the Fund through a financial intermediary,
including, but not limited to, a broker-dealer, bank, or trust company, the
privacy policy of your financial intermediary would govern how your non-public
personal information would be shared by those entities with unaffiliated third
parties.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION
If
you would like more information about the Trust, the Fund, and the Shares, the
following documents are available free upon request:
Statement
of Additional Information
The
SAI provides additional details about the investments and techniques of the Fund
and certain other additional information. A current SAI is on file with the SEC
and is incorporated into this Prospectus by reference. This means that the SAI
is legally considered a part of this Prospectus even though it is not physically
within this Prospectus.
Annual
and Semi-Annual Reports
Additional
information about the Fund can be found in its annual and semi-annual reports to
shareholders. The annual report explains the market conditions and investment
strategies affecting the Fund’s performance during the preceding fiscal
year.
The
SAI and Shareholder Reports are available free of charge on the Fund’s website
at www.asymshares.com.
Information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and
bid-ask spreads are available on the Fund’s website.
Paper
copies of the Fund’s shareholder reports will not be sent by mail, as you may be
accustomed to. Instead, the reports will be made available at the Fund’s website
and you will be notified and provided with a link each time a report is posted
to the website. However, you may request to receive paper reports from the Fund
or from your financial intermediary, free of charge, at any
time.
You
can obtain a free copy of the SAI and Shareholder Reports, request other
information, or make general inquiries about the Fund by calling the Fund
(toll-free) at 1-866-ASYM777 (1-866-279-6777) or by writing to:
ASYMmetric
ETFs Trust
c/o
ASYMmetric ETFs, LLC
158
East 126th Street, Suite 304
New
York, NY 10035
Website:
www.asymshares.com
You
may review and copy information about the Fund, including the SAI and
Shareholder Reports, by:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
● |
Accessing
the SEC’s EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov; |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
● |
Electronic
request, after paying a duplicating fee, at the following e-mail address:
[email protected] |
No
person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations
about the Fund and Shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not
rely on any other information. This Prospectus does not constitute an offering
by the Fund in any jurisdiction where such an offering is not lawful. Read and
keep the Prospectus for future reference.
The
Trust may enter into contractual arrangements with various parties, including
among others, the Fund’s investment adviser, distributor, custodian, and
transfer agent who provide services to the Fund. Shareholders are not parties to
any such contractual arrangements or intended beneficiaries of those contractual
arrangements, and those contractual arrangements are not intended to create in
any shareholder any right to enforce them against the service providers or to
seek any remedy under them against the service providers, either directly or on
behalf of the Trust.
This
Prospectus provides information concerning the Fund that you should consider in
determining whether to purchase Shares. Neither this Prospectus nor the SAI is
intended, or should be read, to be or give rise to an agreement or contract
between the Trust or the Fund and any investor, or to give rise to any rights in
any shareholder or other person other than any rights under federal or state law
that may not be waived.
The
Trust’s Investment Company Act file number is 811-23622