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PROSPECTUS

 

AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: TSLQ
)
AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: TSLU
)
AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: NVDS
)
AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: NVDB
)
AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: COPQ
)
AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: COPL
)
AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: BAS
)
AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: BAT
)
AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: PYPS
)
AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: PYPT
)
AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: WFCS
)
AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: WFCT
)
AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: PFES
)
AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: PFEL
)
AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: CRMS
)
AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: CRML
)
AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: NKEQ
)
AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: NKEL
)

  

 

 

July 11, 2022

 

Each of the above funds (each a “Fund” and collectively the “Funds”), is a series of Investment Managers Series Trust II (the “Trust”), and each intends to list and principally trade its shares on Nasdaq (the “Exchange”). Shares of the Funds trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the respective Fund’s net asset value.

 

The Funds are not suitable for all investors and are designed to be utilized only by sophisticated investors who understand the risks associated with the use of derivatives, are willing to assume a high degree of risk, and intend to actively monitor and manage their investments in the Fund.

 

 

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission has approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the accuracy or
adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

  

The Funds seek daily inverse, inverse leveraged or long leveraged investment results and are intended to be used as short-term trading vehicles. Each Fund with “Bull” in its name attempts to provide daily investment results that correspond to the respective long leveraged multiple of the performance of an underlying security and are collectively referred to as the “Bull Funds.” Each Fund with “Bear” in its name attempts to provide daily investment results that correspond to the inverse (or opposite), or respective inverse leveraged multiple of the performance of an underlying security and are collectively referred to as the “Bear Funds.”

 

The Funds are not intended to be used by, and are not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. The Funds are very different from most mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Investors should note that:

 

(1) The Funds that seek daily inverse leveraged or long leveraged investment objectives are riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Funds magnify the performance of their underlying security.

 

(2) Each Bear Fund pursues a daily investment objective that is inverse to the performance of its underlying security, a result opposite of most mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

 

(3) The pursuit of daily investment objectives means that the return of a Fund for a period longer than a full trading day will be the product of a series of daily inverse or leveraged returns for each trading day during the relevant period. As a consequence, especially in periods of market volatility, the volatility of the underlying security may affect a Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of the underlying security. Further, the return for investors that invest for periods less than a full trading day will not be the product of the return of a Fund’s stated daily long leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged investment objective and the performance of the underlying security for the full trading day. During periods of high volatility, the Funds may not perform as expected and the Funds may have losses when an investor may have expected gains if the Funds are held for a period that is different than one trading day.

 

The Funds are not suitable for all investors. The Funds are designed to be utilized only by sophisticated investors, such as traders and active investors employing dynamic strategies. Investors in the Funds should:

 

(a) understand the risks associated with the use of inverse strategies and leverage;

 

(b) understand the consequences of seeking daily inverse and leveraged investment results; and

 

(c) intend to actively monitor and manage their investments.

 

Investors who do not understand the Funds, or do not intend to actively manage their funds and monitor their investments, should not buy the Funds.

 

There is no assurance that any Fund will achieve its investment objective and an investment in a Fund could lose money. No single Fund is a complete investment program.

 

The Funds’ investment adviser, AXS Investments, LLC, will not attempt to position each Fund’s portfolio to ensure that a Fund does not gain or lose more than a maximum percentage of its net asset value on a given trading day. As a consequence, if a Fund’s underlying security moves more than 50%(for a Fund seeking two times daily performance), 67%(for a Fund seeking one and a half times daily performance) or 80%(for a Fund seeking one and a quarter times daily performance), as applicable, on a given trading day in a direction adverse to the Fund, the Fund’s investors would lose all of their money.

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents  

 

AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 1
AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 13
AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 25
AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 38
AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 50
AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 63
AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 75
AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 87
AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 99
AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 111
AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 123
AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 135
AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 147
AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 159
AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 171
AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 183
AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF - Summary Information 195
AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF - Summary Information 207
Additional Information About the Funds’ Principal Investment Strategies 219
Additional Risks of Investing in the Funds 243
Management of the Funds 259
Buying and Selling Fund Shares 261
Dividends, Distributions and Taxes 263
Distributor 265
Fund Service Providers 265
Additional Information 266
Financial Highlights 267

 

 

 

AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not seek daily inverse investment results because the Fund’s objective is the inverse (-100%) daily performance of the common shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) (“TSLA”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -100% of the performance of TSLA for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -100% of the return of TSLA for that period. Longer holding periods and higher volatility of TSLA increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher TSLA volatility, the volatility of TSLA may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of TSLA.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse (-100%) investment results and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if TSLA’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if TSLA’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to the inverse (-100%) of the daily performance of the common shares of Tesla, Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.

1 

 

(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide inverse exposure to the daily performance of TSLA. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -100% performance of TSLA for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on TSLA. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on TSLA. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing TSLA. The Adviser expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily in an attempt to maintain short exposure for the Fund equal to -100% of TSLA. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to TSLA (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse exposure to the industry assigned to TSLA). As of the date of this prospectus, TSLA is assigned to the automotive industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

2 

 

 

Tesla, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and electric vehicle powertrain components. TSLA is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Tesla, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Tesla, Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Tesla, Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Tesla, Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Tesla, Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of TSLA have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Tesla, Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to TSLA and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of TSLA.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in over-the-counter (“OTC”) markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, as amended (the “Commodity Exchange Act”) in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if TSLA has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if TSLA reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

3 

 

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily inverse performance for the Fund. 

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -100% of the daily return of TSLA for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on funds that are inverse and that rebalance daily. This effect becomes more pronounced as TSLA volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) TSLA volatility; (b) TSLA performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with inverse exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — TSLA volatility and TSLA performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of TSLA volatility and TSLA performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, TSLA and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain inverse exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -100% of the performance of TSLA and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -100% of the performance of TSLA. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

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Estimated Fund Returns

  

One
Year
TSLA
-100% One Year TSLA Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 60% 148.55% 134.42% 95.28% 43.98% -5.83%
-50% 50% 99.13% 87.77% 56.26% 15.23% -24.77%
-40% 40% 66.08% 56.57% 30.21% -4.08% -37.57%
-30% 45% 42.43% 34.25% 11.56% -17.98% -46.76%
-20% 20% 24.67% 17.47% -2.47% -28.38% -53.72%
-10% 10% 10.83% 4.44% -13.28% -36.52% -58.79%
0% 0% -0.25% -6.04% -22.08% -42.90% -63.23%
10% -10% -9.32% -14.64% -29.23% -48.27% -66.67%
20% -20% -16.89% -21.75% -35.24% -52.72% -69.67%
30% -30% -23.29% -27.84% -56.41% -71.94% -71.94%
40% -40% -28.78% -33.01% -44.63% -59.81% -74.23%
50% -50% -33.55% -37.52% -48.57% -62.60% -76.19%
60% -60% -37.72% -41.51% -51.96% -65.19% -78.12%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of TSLA volatility and TSLA performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -20% return on a yearly basis if TSLA return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with TSLA volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -35.24% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

TSLA’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 69.76%. TSLA’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 157.27%. TSLA’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 59.73%. Historical TSLA volatility and performance are not indications of what TSLA volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of TSLA may differ from the volatility of TSLA.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with TSLA, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -100% of the percentage change of TSLA on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with TSLA, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to TSLA may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with TSLA and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by TSLA’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -100% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when TSLA is volatile, particularly when TSLA is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

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A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with TSLA, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with TSLA. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to TSLA. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of TSLA. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and TSLA and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to TSLA that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Tesla, Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Tesla, Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Tesla, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Tesla, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Tesla, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund.

 

Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when TSLA rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of TSLA may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if TSLA subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

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Indirect Investment Risk. Tesla, Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Tesla, Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Tesla, Inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to TSLA until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of TSLA.

 

Automotive Companies Risk. The automotive industry can be highly cyclical, and companies in the industry may suffer periodic operating losses. Automotive companies can be significantly affected by labor relations and fluctuating component prices. Developments in automotive technologies (e.g., autonomous vehicle technologies) may require significant capital expenditures that may not generate profits for several years, if ever. Automotive companies may be significantly subject to government policies and regulations regarding imports and exports of automotive products. Governmental policies affecting the automotive industry, such as taxes, tariffs, duties, subsidies, and import and export restrictions on automotive products can influence industry profitability. In addition, such companies must comply with environmental laws and regulations, for which there may be severe consequences for non-compliance. While most of the major automotive manufacturers are large companies, certain others may be non-diversified in both product line and customer base and may be more vulnerable to certain events that may negatively impact the automotive industry.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high correlation with TSLA.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Tesla, Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse exposure to the industry assigned to Tesla, Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries. 

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

8 

 

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

9 

 

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

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Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

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Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

13 

 

AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (110%) the daily performance of the common shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) (“TSLA”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 110% of the performance of TSLA for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 110% of the return of TSLA for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of TSLA and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher TSLA volatility, the volatility of TSLA may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of TSLA.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (110%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if TSLA’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if TSLA’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if TSLA loses more than 91% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and one tenth times (110%) the daily performance of the common shares of Tesla, Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and one tenth times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of TSLA. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 110% performance of TSLA for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on TSLA. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on TSLA. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing TSLA. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 110% of TSLA, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to TSLA (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to TSLA). As of the date of this prospectus, TSLA is assigned to the automotive industry.

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Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Tesla, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and electric vehicle powertrain components. TSLA is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Tesla, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Tesla, Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Tesla, Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Tesla, Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Tesla, Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of TSLA have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Tesla, Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to TSLA and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of TSLA.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

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Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if TSLA has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if TSLA reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and TSLA. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of one and one tenth times (110%) TSLA, a single day movement in TSLA approaching 91% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if TSLA subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in TSLA, even if TSLA maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 110% of the daily return TSLA for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as TSLA volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) TSLA volatility; (b) TSLA performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — TSLA volatility and TSLA performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of TSLA volatility and TSLA performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, TSLA and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 110% of the performance of TSLA and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 110% of the performance of TSLA. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
TSLA
110% One Year TSLA Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -66% -60% -60% -61% -62% -64%
-50% -55% -51% -51% -53% -55% -56%
-40% -44% -41% -42% -43% -46% -48%
-30% -33% -32% -33% -34% -36% -40%
-20% -22% -22% -23% -24% -27% -32%
-10% -11% -11% -11% -14% -18% -22%
0% 0% 0% -1% -4% -7% -13%
10% 11% 11% 11% 8% 4% -4%
20% 22% 22% 22% 18% 15% 7%
30% 33% 33% 33% 29% 24% 16%
40% 44% 46% 45% 40% 35% 26%
50% 55% 57% 56% 53% 47% 36%
60% 66% 70% 69% 64% 57% 48%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of TSLA volatility and TSLA performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 22% return on a yearly basis if TSLA return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with TSLA volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return 18% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

TSLA’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 69.76%. TSLA’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 157.27%. TSLA’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 59.73%. Historical TSLA volatility and performance are not indications of what TSLA volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of TSLA may differ from the volatility of TSLA.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with TSLA, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 110% of the percentage change of TSLA on such day.

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In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with TSLA, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to TSLA may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with TSLA and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by TSLA’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 110% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when TSLA is volatile, particularly when TSLA is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with TSLA, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with TSLA. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to TSLA. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of TSLA. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and TSLA and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to TSLA that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Tesla, Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Tesla, Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Tesla, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Tesla, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Tesla, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Tesla, Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Tesla, Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Tesla, Inc.

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Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to TSLA until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of TSLA.

 

Automotive Companies Risk. The automotive industry can be highly cyclical, and companies in the industry may suffer periodic operating losses. Automotive companies can be significantly affected by labor relations and fluctuating component prices. Developments in automotive technologies (e.g., autonomous vehicle technologies) may require significant capital expenditures that may not generate profits for several years, if ever. Automotive companies may be significantly subject to government policies and regulations regarding imports and exports of automotive products. Governmental policies affecting the automotive industry, such as taxes, tariffs, duties, subsidies, and import and export restrictions on automotive products can influence industry profitability. In addition, such companies must comply with environmental laws and regulations, for which there may be severe consequences for non-compliance. While most of the major automotive manufacturers are large companies, certain others may be non-diversified in both product line and customer base and may be more vulnerable to certain events that may negatively impact the automotive industry.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with TSLA.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Tesla, Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Tesla, Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

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Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

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Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

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Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

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Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-125%) daily performance of the common shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) (“NVDA”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -125% of the performance of NVDA for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -125% of the return of NVDA for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of NVDA and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher NVDA volatility, the volatility of NVDA may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of NVDA.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-125%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if NVDA’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if NVDA’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if NVDA gains more than 80% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times the inverse (-125%) of the daily performance of the common shares of NVIDIA Corporation. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

26 

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a quarter times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of NVDA. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -125% performance of NVDA for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on NVDA. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on NVDA. The gross return to be exchanged or "swapped" between the parties is calculated with respect to a "notional amount," e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing NVDA. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -125% of NVDA, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to NVDA (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to NVDA). As of the date of this prospectus, NVDA is assigned to the semiconductor industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

27 

 

 

NVIDIA Corporation pioneers accelerated computing to help solve the most challenging computational problems. NVIDIA Corporation expanded its focus from personal computer graphics to include several other large and important computationally intensive field, such as artificial intelligence, data science, autonomous vehicles, robotics and augmented and virtual reality.  NVDA is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by NVIDIA Corporation pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding NVIDIA Corporation may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding NVIDIA Corporation from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to NVIDIA Corporation. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding NVIDIA Corporation is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of NVDA have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning NVIDIA Corporation could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to NDA and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of NVDA.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if NVDA has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if NVDA reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

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The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and NVDA. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative one and a quarter times (-125%) NVDA, a single day movement in NVDA approaching 80% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if NVDA subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in NVDA, even if NVDA maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -125% of the daily return of NVDA for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as NVDA volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) NVDA volatility; (b) NVDA performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — NVDA volatility and NVDA performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of NVDA volatility and NVDA performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, NVDA and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -125% of the performance of NVDA and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -125% of the performance of NVDA. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

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Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
NVDA
-125% One Year NVDA Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 75% 210% 187.9% 121.2% 42.5% -23.0%
-50% 62.5% 134.5% 117.8% 67.3% 7.8% -41.7%
-40% 50% 86.7% 73.4% 33.2% -14.1% -53.6%
-30% 37.5% 54.0% 43.0% 9.9% -29.2% -61.7%
-20% 25% 30.3% 21.1% -7.0% -40.1% -67.6%
-10% 12.5% 12.5% 4.5% -19.7% -48.3% -72.0%
0% 0% -1.4% -8.4% -29.6% -54.7% -75.5%
10% -12.5% -12.5% -18.7% -37.5% -59.8% -78.2%
20% -25% -21.5% -27.1% -44.0% -63.9% -80.5%
30% -37.5% -29.0% -34.0% -49.3% -67.3% -82.3%
40% -50% -35.3% -39.9% -53.8% 70.2% -83.9%
50% -62.5% -40.6% -44.8% -57.6% -72.7% -85.2%
60% -75% -45.2% -49.1% -60.9% -74.8% -86.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of NVDA volatility and NVDA performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -25% return on a yearly basis if NVDA return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with NVDA volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -44% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

NVDA’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 47.44%. NVDA’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 105%. NVDA’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 37.60%. Historical NVDA volatility and performance are not indications of what NVDA volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of NVDA may differ from the volatility of NVDA.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with NVDA, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -125% of the percentage change of NVDA on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with NVDA, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to NVDA may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with NVDA and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by NVDA’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -125% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when NVDA is volatile, particularly when NVDA is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

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A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with NVDA, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with NVDA. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to NVDA. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of NVDA. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and NVDA and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day. 

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to NVDA that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although NVIDIA Corporation’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk.  Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk.  The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund. 

 

Inverse Correlation Risk.  Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when NVDA rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of NVDA may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if NVDA subsequently moves lower.  Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

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Indirect Investment Risk. NVIDIA Corporation is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of NVIDIA Corporation in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of NVIDIA Corporation.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk.  The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to NVDA until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of NVDA.

 

Semiconductor Company Risk. Competitive pressures may have a significant effect on the financial condition of semiconductor companies and, as product cycles shorten and manufacturing capacity increases, these companies may become increasingly subject to aggressive pricing, which hampers profitability. Reduced demand for end-user products, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity, and other factors could adversely impact the operating results of companies in the semiconductor sector. Semiconductor companies typically face high capital costs and may be heavily dependent on intellectual property rights. The semiconductor sector is highly cyclical, which may cause the operating results of many semiconductor companies to vary significantly. The stock prices of companies in the semiconductor sector have been and likely will continue to be extremely volatile.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with NVDA.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk.  The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value.  Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk.  The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to NVIDIA Corporation (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to NVIDIA Corporation). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk.  The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price. 

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Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

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Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns. 

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk.  The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares. 

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk.  Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

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Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (125%) the daily performance of common shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) (“NVDA”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 125% of the performance NVDA for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 125% of the return of NVDA for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of NVDA and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher NVDA volatility, the volatility of NVDA may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of NVDA.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (125%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if NVDA’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if NVDA’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if NVDA loses more than 80% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times (125%) the daily performance of the common shares of NVIDIA Corporation. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

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Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

  

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a quarter times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of NVDA. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 125% performance of NVDA for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on NVDA. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

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The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on NVDA. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing NVDA. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 125% of NVDA, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to NVDA (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to NVDA).  As of the date of this prospectus, NVDA is assigned to the semiconductor industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

NVIDIA Corporation pioneers accelerated computing to help solve the most challenging computational problems. NVIDIA Corporation expanded its focus from PC graphics to include several other large and important computationally intensive field. NVDA is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by NVIDIA Corporation pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding NVIDIA Corporation may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding NVIDIA Corporation from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to NVIDIA Corporation. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding NVIDIA Corporation is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of NVDA have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning NVIDIA Corporation could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to NVDA and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of NVDA.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

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Derivatives Risk.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if NVDA has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if NVDA reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and NVDA. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of one and a quarter times (125%) NVDA, a single day movement in NVDA approaching 80% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if NVDA subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in NVDA, even if NVDA maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 125% of the daily return NVDA for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as NVDA volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) NVDA volatility; (b) NVDA performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — NVDA volatility and NVDA performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of NVDA volatility and NVDA performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, NVDA and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 125% of the performance of NVDA and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 125% of the performance of NVDA. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

One
Year
NVDA
125% One Year NVDA Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -75% -68.2% -68.5% -69.4% -70.9% -72.8%
-50% -62.5% -58.0% -58.4% -59.6% -61.5% -64.0%
-40% -50% -47.3% -47.7% -49.2% -51.6% -54.8%
-30% -37.5% -36.1% -36.6% -38.4% -41.4% -45.2%
-20% -25% -24.5% -25.1% -27.2% -30.7% -35.3%
-10% -12.5% -12.5% -13.2% -15.7% -19.7% -25.0%
0% 0% -0.2% -1.0% -3.8% -8.4% -14.5%
10% 12.5% 12.5% 11.6% 8.3% 3.2% -3.6%
20% 25% 25.4% 24.4% 20.8% 15.0% 7.4%
30% 37.5% 38.6% 37.5% 33.5% 27.1% 18.7%
40% 50% 52.0% 50.8% 46.5% 39.5% 30.3%
50% 62.5% 65.7% 64.4% 59.6% 52.0% 42.0%
60% 75% 79.7% 78.2% 73.1% 64.8% 53.9%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of NVDA volatility and NVDA performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 25% return on a yearly basis if NVDA return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with NVDA volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return 20.8% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

NVDA’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 47.44%. NVDA’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 105%. NVDA’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 37.60%. Historical NVDA volatility and performance are not indications of what NVDA volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of NVDA may differ from the volatility of NVDA.

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Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with NVDA, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 125% of the percentage change of NVDA on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with NVDA, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to NVDA may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with NVDA and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by NVDA’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 125% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when NVDA is volatile, particularly when NVDA is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with NVDA, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with NVDA. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to NVDA. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of NVDA. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and NVDA and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day. 

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to NVDA that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its  investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although NVIDIA Corporation’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in NVIDIA Corporation’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk.  Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

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Indirect Investment Risk. NVIDIA Corporation is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of NVIDIA Corporation in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of NVIDIA Corporation.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk.  The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to NVDA until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of NVDA.

 

Semiconductor Company Risk. Competitive pressures may have a significant effect on the financial condition of semiconductor companies and, as product cycles shorten and manufacturing capacity increases, these companies may become increasingly subject to aggressive pricing, which hampers profitability. Reduced demand for end-user products, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity, and other factors could adversely impact the operating results of companies in the semiconductor sector. Semiconductor companies typically face high capital costs and may be heavily dependent on intellectual property rights. The semiconductor sector is highly cyclical, which may cause the operating results of many semiconductor companies to vary significantly. The stock prices of companies in the semiconductor sector have been and likely will continue to be extremely volatile.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with NVDA.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk.  The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk.  The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to NVIDIA Corporation (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to NVIDIA Corporation). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk.  The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment.

 

The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

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Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

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Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns. 

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk.  The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares. 

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

  

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

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Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

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Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-200%) daily performance of the common shares of ConocoPhillips Company (NYSE: COP) (“COP”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -200% of the performance of COP for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -200% of the return of COP for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of COP and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher COP volatility, the volatility of COP may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of COP.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-200%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if COP’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if COP’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if COP gains more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-200%) of the daily performance of the common shares of ConocoPhillips Company. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

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Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide two times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of COP. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -200% performance of COP for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on COP. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on COP. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing COP. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -200% of COP, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to COP (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to COP). As of the date of this prospectus, COP is assigned to the energy industry.

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Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

ConocoPhillips Company operates in 14 countries and is the world’s largest independent E&P company. ConocoPhillips Company offers a diverse, low cost of supply portfolio including: resource-rich unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, and Asia LNG developments; oil sands in Canada; and an inventory of global conventual and unconventional exploration prospects. COP is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by ConocoPhillips Company pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding ConocoPhillips Company may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding ConocoPhillips Company from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to ConocoPhillips Company. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding ConocoPhillips Company is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of COP have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning ConocoPhillips Company could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to COP and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of COP.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

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  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if COP has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if COP reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and COP. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative two times (-200%) COP, a single day movement in COP approaching 50% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if COP subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in COP, even if COP maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -200% of the daily return of COP for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as COP volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) COP volatility; (b) COP performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — COP volatility and COP performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of COP volatility and COP performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, COP and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -200% of the performance of COP and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -200% of the performance of COP. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One

Year

COP

-200%

One

Year COP

Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 120% 506.5% 418.1% 195.2%  15.6% -68.9%
-50% 100% 288.2% 231.6%  88.9% -26.0% -80.1%
-40% 80% 169.6% 130.3%  31.2% -48.6% -86.2%
-30% 60%  98.1%  69.2%  -3.6% -62.2% -89.8%
-20% 40%  51.6%  29.5%  -26.2% -71.1% -92.2%
-10% 20%  19.8%  2.3%  -41.7% -77.2% -93.9%
0% 0%  -3.0%  -17.1%  -52.8% -81.5% -95.0%
10% -20%  -19.8%  -31.5%  -61.0% -84.7% -95.9%
20% -40%  -32.6%  -42.4%  -67.2% -87.2% -96.5%
30% -60%  -42.6%  -50.9%  -72.0% -89.1% -97.1%
40% -80%  -50.5%  -57.7%  -75.9% -90.6% -97.5%
50% -100%  -56.9%  -63.2%  -79.0% -91.8% -97.8%
60% -120%  -62.1%  -67.6%  -81.5% -92.8% -98.1%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of COP volatility and COP performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -40% return on a yearly basis if COP return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with COP volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -67.2% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

COP’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 41.73%. COP’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 151.76%. COP’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 21.46%. Historical COP volatility and performance are not indications of what COP volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of COP may differ from the volatility of COP.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with COP, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -200% of the percentage change of COP on such day.

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In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with COP, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to COP may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with COP and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by COP’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -200% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when COP is volatile, particularly when COP is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with COP, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with COP. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to COP. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of COP. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and COP and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to COP that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although ConocoPhillips Company’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund.

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Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when COP rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of COP may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if COP subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. ConocoPhillips Company is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of ConocoPhillips Company in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of ConocoPhillips Company.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to COP until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of COP.

 

Energy Companies Risk. The success of energy companies may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by energy companies may decline for many reasons, including, among other things, changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources, exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Energy companies may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of energy companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of energy companies. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, political strife or natural disasters.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with COP.

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Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to ConocoPhillips Company (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to ConocoPhillips Company). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries. 

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

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Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

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Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

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Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (200%) the daily performance of the common shares of ConocoPhillips Company (NYSE: COP) (“COP”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 200% of the performance of COP for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 200% of the return of COP for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of COP and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher COP volatility, the volatility of COP may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of COP.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (200%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if COP’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if COP’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if COP loses more than 50% in one day.

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Investment Objective

 

The AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (200%) the daily performance of the common shares of ConocoPhillips Company. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

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Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide two times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of COP. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 200% performance of COP for a single say, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on COP. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on COP. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing COP. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 200% of COP, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to COP (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to COP). As of the date of this prospectus, COP is assigned to the energy industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

ConocoPhillips Company operates in 14 countries and is the world’s largest independent E&P company. ConocoPhillips Company offers a diverse, low cost of supply portfolio including: resource-rich unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, and Asia LNG developments; oil sands in Canada; and an inventory of global conventual and unconventional exploration prospects. COP is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by ConocoPhillips Company pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding ConocoPhillips Company may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding ConocoPhillips Company from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to ConocoPhillips Company. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding ConocoPhillips Company is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of COP have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning ConocoPhillips Company could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to COP and therefore the value of the Fund.

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Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of COP.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if COP has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if COP reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and COP. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of two times (200%) COP, a single day movement in COP approaching 50% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if COP subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in COP, even if COP maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

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Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 200% of the daily return COP for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as COP volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) COP volatility; (b) COP performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — COP volatility and COP performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of COP volatility and COP performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, COP and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 200% of the performance of COP and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 200% of the performance of COP. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
COP

200%

One Year

COP

Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -120% -84.2% -85.0% -87.5% -90.9% -94.1%
-50% -100% -75.2% -76.5% -80.5% -85.8% -90.8%
-40% -80% -64.4% -66.2% -72.0% -79.5% -86.8%
-30% -60% -51.5% -54.0% -61.8% -72.1% -82.0%
-20% -40% -36.6% -39.9% -50.2% -63.5% -76.5%
-10% -20% -19.8% -23.9% -36.9% -53.8% -70.2%
0% 0% -1.0% -6.1% -22.1% -43.0% -63.2%
10% 20% 19.8% 13.7% -5.8% -31.1% -55.5%
20% 40% 42.6% 35.3% 12.1% -18.0% -47.0%
30% 60% 67.3% 58.8% 31.6% -3.7% -37.8%
40% 80% 94.0% 84.1% 52.6% 11.7% -27.9%
50% 100% 122.8% 111.4% 75.2% 28.2% -17.2%
60% 120% 153.5% 140.5% 99.4% 45.9% -5.8%

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The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of COP volatility and COP performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 40% return on a yearly basis if COP return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with COP volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return –5.8% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

COP’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 41.73%. COP’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 151.76%. COP’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 21.46%. Historical COP volatility and performance are not indications of what COP volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of COP may differ from the volatility of COP.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with COP, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 200% of the percentage change of COP on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with COP, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to COP may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with COP and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by COP’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 200% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when COP is volatile, particularly when COP is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with COP, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with COP. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to COP. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of COP. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and COP and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to COP that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although ConocoPhillips Company’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in ConocoPhillips Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

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Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. ConocoPhillips Company is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of ConocoPhillips Company in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of ConocoPhillips Company.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to COP until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of COP.

 

Energy Companies Risk. The success of energy companies may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by energy companies may decline for many reasons, including, among other things, changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources, exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Energy companies may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of energy companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of energy companies. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, political strife or natural disasters.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with COP.

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Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to ConocoPhillips Company (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to ConocoPhillips Company). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

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Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

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Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

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Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-125%) daily performance of the common shares of Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) (“BA”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -125% of the performance of BA for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -125% of the return of BA for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of BA and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher BA volatility, the volatility of BA may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of BA.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-125%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if BA’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if BA’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if BA gains more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times the inverse (-125%) of the daily performance of the common shares of Boeing Company. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

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Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a quarter times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of BA. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -125% performance of BA for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on BA. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

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The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on BA. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing BA. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -125% of BA, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to BA (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to BA). As of the date of this prospectus, BA is assigned to the aviation industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Boeing Company is one of the world’s major aerospace firms. BA is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Boeing Company pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Boeing Company may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Boeing Company from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Boeing Company. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Boeing Company is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of BA have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Boeing Company could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to BA and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of BA.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

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Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if BA has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if BA reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and BA. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative one and a quarter times (-125%) BA, a single day movement in BA approaching 80% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if BA subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in BA, even if BA maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -125% of the daily return of BA for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as BA volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) BA volatility; (b) BA performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — BA volatility and BA performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of BA volatility and BA performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, BA and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -125% of the performance of BA and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -125% of the performance of BA. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
BA
-125% One Year BA Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 75% 210% 187.9% 121.2% 42.5% -23.0%
-50% 62.5% 134.5% 117.8% 67.3% 7.8% -41.7%
-40% 50% 86.7% 73.4% 33.2% -14.1% -53.6%
-30% 37.5% 54.0% 43.0% 9.9% -29.2% -61.7%
-20% 25% 30.3% 21.1% -7.0% -40.1% -67.6%
-10% 12.5% 12.5% 4.5% -19.7% -48.3% -72.0%
0% 0% -1.4% -8.4% -29.6% -54.7% -75.5%
10% -12.5% -12.5% -18.7% -37.5% -59.8% -78.2%
20% -25% -21.5% -27.1% -44.0% -63.9% -80.5%
30% -37.5% -29.0% -34.0% -49.3% -67.3% -82.3%
40% -50% -35.3% -39.9% -53.8% 70.2% -83.9%
50% -62.5% -40.6% -44.8% -57.6% -72.7% -85.2%
60% -75% -45.2% -49.1% -60.9% -74.8% -86.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of BA volatility and BA performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -25% return on a yearly basis if BA return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with BA volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -44% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

BA’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 44.17%. BA’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 221.12%. BA’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was -5.36%. Historical BA volatility and performance are not indications of what BA volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of BA may differ from the volatility of BA.

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Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with BA, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -125% of the percentage change of BA on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with BA, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to BA may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with BA and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by BA’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -125% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when BA is volatile, particularly when BA is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with BA, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with BA. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to BA. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of BA. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and BA and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to BA that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Boeing Company’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Boeing Company’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Boeing Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Boeing Company’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Boeing Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy. 

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund.

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Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when BA rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of BA may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if BA subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Boeing Company is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Boeing Company in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Boeing Company.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to BA until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of BA.

 

Aviation Industry Risk. Risks associated with aviation industry include, but are not limited to, risks related to commercial aircraft, the leasing of aircraft by commercial airlines and the commercial aviation industry generally, as well as with respect to any one aircraft or type of aircraft, the particular maintenance and operating history for the aircraft or its components, the model and type of aircraft, the jurisdiction of registration and regulatory risk. In addition to the foregoing, market events such as economic declines and recessions, geopolitical conflicts and the occurrence or threat of pandemics, terrorism or war can have a material adverse effect on the aviation industry generally, especially when such market events cause material declines in travel, increases in costs or future uncertainty for airlines, aircraft or the commercial aviation industry generally. For example, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel has substantially declined, and many airlines have become dependent, at least in part, on government aid. There can be no assurance that this government aid will continue, that it will be sufficient to sustain airlines or the industry generally, or that it will limit or prevent decreases in the value of securities related to the aviation industry.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with BA.

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Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Boeing Company (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Boeing Company). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

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Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

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Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

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Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (125%) the daily performance of the common shares of Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) (“BA”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 125% of the performance of BA for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 125% of the return of BA for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of BA and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher BA volatility, the volatility of BA may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of BA.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (125%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if BA’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if BA’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if BA loses more than 90% in one day.

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Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times (125%) the daily performance of the common shares of Boeing Company. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

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Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a quarter times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of BA. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 125% performance of BA for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on BA. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on BA. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing BA. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 125% of BA, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to BA (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to BA). As of the date of this prospectus, BA is assigned to the aviation industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Boeing Company is one of the world’s major aerospace firms. BA is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Boeing Company pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Boeing Company may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Boeing Company from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Boeing Company. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Boeing Company is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of BA have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Boeing Company could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to BA and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of BA.

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Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if BA has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if BA reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund. 

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and BA. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of one and a quarter times (125%) BA, a single day movement in BA approaching 80% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if BA subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in BA, even if BA maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

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Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 125% of the daily return BA for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as BA volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) BA volatility; (b) BA performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — BA volatility and BA performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of BA volatility and BA performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, BA and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 125% of the performance of BA and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 125% of the performance of BA. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
BA
125% One Year BA Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -75% -68.2% -68.5% -69.4% -70.9% -72.8%
-50% -62.5% -58.0% -58.4% -59.6% -61.5% -64.0%
-40% -50% -47.3% -47.7% -49.2% -51.6% -54.8%
-30% -37.5% -36.1% -36.6% -38.4% -41.4% -45.2%
-20% -25% -24.5% -25.1% -27.2% -30.7% -35.3%
-10% -12.5% -12.5% -13.2% -15.7% -19.7% -25.0%
0% 0% -0.2% -1.0% -3.8% -8.4% -14.5%
10% 12.5% 12.5% 11.6% 8.3% 3.2% -3.6%
20% 25% 25.4% 24.4% 20.8% 15.0% 7.4%
30% 37.5% 38.6% 37.5% 33.5% 27.1% 18.7%
40% 50% 52.0% 50.8% 46.5% 39.5% 30.3%
50% 62.5% 65.7% 64.4% 59.6% 52.0% 42.0%
60% 75% 79.7% 78.2% 73.1% 64.8% 53.9%

 

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The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of BA volatility and BA performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 25% return on a yearly basis if BA return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with BA volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return 20.8% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

BA’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 44.17%. BA’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 221.12%. BA’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was -5.36%. Historical BA volatility and performance are not indications of what BA volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of BA may differ from the volatility of BA.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with BA, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 125% of the percentage change of BA on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with BA, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to BA may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with BA and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by BA’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 125% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when BA is volatile, particularly when BA is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with BA, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with BA. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to BA. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of BA. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and BA and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to BA that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Boeing Company’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Boeing Company’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Boeing Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Boeing Company’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Boeing Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

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Indirect Investment Risk. Boeing Company is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Boeing Company in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Boeing Company.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to BA until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of BA.

 

Aviation Industry Risk. Risks associated with aviation industry include, but are not limited to, risks related to commercial aircraft, the leasing of aircraft by commercial airlines and the commercial aviation industry generally, as well as with respect to any one aircraft or type of aircraft, the particular maintenance and operating history for the aircraft or its components, the model and type of aircraft, the jurisdiction of registration and regulatory risk. In addition to the foregoing, market events such as economic declines and recessions, geopolitical conflicts and the occurrence or threat of pandemics, terrorism or war can have a material adverse effect on the aviation industry generally, especially when such market events cause material declines in travel, increases in costs or future uncertainty for airlines, aircraft or the commercial aviation industry generally. For example, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel has substantially declined, and many airlines have become dependent, at least in part, on government aid. There can be no assurance that this government aid will continue, that it will be sufficient to sustain airlines or the industry generally, or that it will limit or prevent decreases in the value of securities related to the aviation industry

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with BA.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

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Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Boeing Company (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Boeing Company). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

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Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

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Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

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Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-150%) daily performance of the common shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) (“PYPL”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -150% of the performance of PYPL for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -150% of the return of PYPL for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of PYPL and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher PYPL volatility, the volatility of PYPL may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of PYPL.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-150%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if PYPL’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if PYPL’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if PYPL gains more than 67% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times the inverse (-150%) of the daily performance of the common shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

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Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 67% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a half times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of PYPL. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -150% performance of PYPL for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on PYPL. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

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The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on PYPL. The gross return to be exchanged or "swapped" between the parties is calculated with respect to a "notional amount," e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing PYPL. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -150% of PYPL, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to PYPL (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to PYPL). As of the date of this prospectus, PYPL is assigned to the payments industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

PayPal Holdings, Inc. is a leading technology platforms and digital payments company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. PYPL is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by PayPal Holdings, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to PayPal Holdings, Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of PYPL have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning PayPal Holdings, Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to PYPL and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of PYPL.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives.  A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

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  Swap Agreement Risk.  The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants.  Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline.  OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if PYPL has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if PYPL reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and PYPL. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative one and a half times (-150%) PYPL, a single day movement in PYPL approaching 67% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if PYPL subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in PYPL, even if PYPL maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -150% of the daily return of PYPL for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as PYPL volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) PYPL volatility; (b) PYPL performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — PYPL volatility and PYPL performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of PYPL volatility and PYPL performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, PYPL and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -150% of the performance of PYPL and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -150% of the performance of PYPL. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

One
Year
PYPL
-150% One Year PYPL Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 90% 287.9% 251.6% 147.4% 37.7% -39.4%
-50% 75% 177.6% 151.6% 77.0% -1.5% -56.6%
-40% 60% 111.2% 91.4% 34.6% -25.1% -67.0%
-30% 45% 67.6% 51.9% 6.9% -40.5% -73.8%
-20% 30% 37.2% 24.3% -12.5% -51.3% -78.6%
-10% 15% 14.9% 4.2% -26.7% -59.2% -82.0%
0% 0% -1.9% -11.1% -37.4% -65.2% -84.7%
10% -15% -14.9% -22.9% -45.8% -69.8% -86.7%
20% -30% -25.3% -32.3% -52.4% -73.5% -88.3%
30% -45% -33.8% -40.0% -57.8% -76.5% -89.7%
40% -60% -40.8% -46.3% -62.2% -79.0% -90.7%
50% -75% -46.6% -51.6% -65.9% -81.0% -91.7%
60% -90% -51.5% -56.1% -69.1% -82.8% -92.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of PYPL volatility and PYPL performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -30% return on a yearly basis if PYPL return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with PYPL volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -52.4% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

PYPL’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 36.44%. PYPL’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 88.20%. PYPL’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 9.48%. Historical PYPL volatility and performance are not indications of what PYPL volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of PYPL may differ from the volatility of PYPL.

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Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with PYPL, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -150% of the percentage change of PYPL on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with PYPL, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to PYPL may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with PYPL and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by PYPL’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -150% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when PYPL is volatile, particularly when PYPL is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with PYPL, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with PYPL. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to PYPL. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of PYPL. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and PYPL and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to PYPL that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund.

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Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when PYPL rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of PYPL may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if PYPL subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. PayPal Holdings, Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of PayPal Holdings, Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to PYPL until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of PYPL.

 

Payments Industry Risk. Companies in the payments industry are subject to major changes in technology, security considerations, taxes, government regulation, general economic conditions, competition and potential political influences. Competition is a threat to payments companies, much of which is derived from related technology risks. Competitors in this industry include financial institutions and well-established payment processing companies, but the industry is also facing new competitive pressure from non-traditional participants in the payments industry. Keeping up with technology changes requires a significant amount of research, software and product development, which may be costly. This investment in technology is not guaranteed to earn a positive return, depending on the success of the technology developed. While digital payments are expected to continue to grow as an overall portion of transactions as a whole, the payments industry is cyclical and a material and/or sustained downturn in the economy may materially impact the business models of such companies. 

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with PYPL.

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Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to PayPal Holdings, Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to PayPal Holdings, Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

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Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

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Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager
     
  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

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Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (150%) the daily performance of the common shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) (“PYPL”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 150% of the performance of PYPL for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 150% of the return of PYPL for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of PYPL and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher PYPL volatility, the volatility of PYPL may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of PYPL.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (150%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if PYPL’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if PYPL’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if PYPL loses more than 67% in one day.

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Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times (150%) the daily performance of the common shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below. 

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1)   “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio).  A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

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Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a half times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of PYPL. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 150% performance of PYPL for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on PYPL. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on PYPL. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing PYPL. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 150% of PYPL, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to PYPL (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to PYPL).  As of the date of this prospectus, PYPL is assigned to the payments industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

PayPal Holdings, Inc. is a leading technology platforms and digital payments company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. PYPL is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by PayPal Holdings, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to PayPal Holdings, Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of PYPL have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning PayPal Holdings, Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to PYPL and therefore the value of the Fund.

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Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of PYPL.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if PYPL has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if PYPL reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and PYPL. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of one and a half times (150%) PYPL, a single day movement in PYPL approaching 67% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if PYPL subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in PYPL, even if PYPL maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

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Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 150% of the daily return PYPL for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as PYPL volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) PYPL volatility; (b) PYPL performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — PYPL volatility and PYPL performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of PYPL volatility and PYPL performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, PYPL and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 150% of the performance of PYPL and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 150% of the performance of PYPL. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
PYPL
150% One Year PYPL Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -90% -74.8% -75.3% -77.0% -79.5% -82.6%
-50% -75% -64.8% -65.5% -67.8% -71.4% -75.7%
-40% -60% -53.7% -54.6% 57.7% -62.4% -68.1%
-30% -45% -41.7% -42.8% -46.7% -52.6% -59.7%
-20% -30% -28.7% -30.1% -34.8% -42.1% -50.8%
-10% -15% -14.9% -16.6% -22.3% -30.9% -41.3%
0% 0% -0.4% -2.3% -8.9% -19.0% -31.3%
10% 15% 14.9% 12.7% 5.0% -6.6% -20.7%
20% 30% 31.0% 28.4% 19.7% 6.5% -9.7%
30% 45% 47.7% 44.8% 35.0% 20.0% 1.9%
40% 60% 65.0% 61.8% 50.8% 34.1% 13.8%
50% 75% 83.0% 79.5% 67.3% 48.8% 26.3%
60% 90% 101.6% 97.9% 84.3% 63.9% 39.1%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of PYPL volatility and PYPL performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 30% return on a yearly basis if PYPL return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with PYPL volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return 19.7% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

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PYPL’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 36.44%. PYPL’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 88.20%. PYPL’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 9.48%. Historical PYPL volatility and performance are not indications of what PYPL volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of PYPL may differ from the volatility of PYPL.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with PYPL, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 150% of the percentage change of PYPL on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with PYPL, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to PYPL may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with PYPL and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by PYPL’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 150% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when PYPL is volatile, particularly when PYPL is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with PYPL, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with PYPL. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to PYPL. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of PYPL. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and PYPL and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day. 

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to PYPL that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk.  Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

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Indirect Investment Risk. PayPal Holdings, Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of PayPal Holdings, Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk.  The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to PYPL until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of PYPL.

 

Payments Industry Risk. Companies in the payments industry are subject to major changes in technology, security considerations, taxes, government regulation, general economic conditions, competition and potential political influences. Competition is a threat to payments companies, much of which is derived from related technology risks. Competitors in this industry include financial institutions and well-established payment processing companies, but the industry is also facing new competitive pressure from non-traditional participants in the payments industry. Keeping up with technology changes requires a significant amount of research, software and product development, which may be costly. This investment in technology is not guaranteed to earn a positive return, depending on the success of the technology developed. While digital payments are expected to continue to grow as an overall portion of transactions as a whole, the payments industry is cyclical and a material and/or sustained downturn in the economy may materially impact the business models of such companies.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with PYPL.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk.  The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

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Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk.  The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to PayPal Holdings, Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to PayPal Holdings, Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

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Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk.  Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

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Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns. 

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk.  The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares. 

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

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Security Issuer Risk.  Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager
     
  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

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Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services.  These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-125%) daily performance of the common shares of Wells Fargo & Company. (NYSE: WFC) (“WFC”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -125% of the performance of WFC for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -125% of the return of WFC for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of WFC and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher WFC volatility, the volatility of WFC may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of WFC.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-125%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if WFC’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if WFC’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if WFC gains more than 80% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times the inverse (-125%) of the daily performance of the common shares of Wells Fargo & Company. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a quarter times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of WFC. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -125% performance of WFC for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on WFC. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on WFC. The gross return to be exchanged or "swapped" between the parties is calculated with respect to a "notional amount," e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing WFC. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -125% of WFC, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to WFC (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to WFC). As of the date of this prospectus, WFC is assigned to the financial industry.

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Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Wells Fargo & Company is a financial services company and is the leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. Wells Fargo & Company provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, and consumer and commercial finance. WFC is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Wells Fargo & Company pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Wells Fargo & Company may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Wells Fargo & Company from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Wells Fargo & Company. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Wells Fargo & Company is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of WFC have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Wells Fargo & Company could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to WFC and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of WFC.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

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  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if WFC has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if WFC reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and WFC. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative one and a quarter times (-125%) WFC, a single day movement in WFC approaching 80% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if WFC subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in WFC, even if WFC maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -125% of the daily return of WFC for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as WFC volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) WFC volatility; (b) WFC performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — WFC volatility and WFC performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of WFC volatility and WFC performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, WFC and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -125% of the performance of WFC and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -125% of the performance of WFC. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
WFC
-125% One Year WFC Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 75% 210% 187.9% 121.2% 42.5% -23.0%
-50% 62.5% 134.5% 117.8% 67.3% 7.8% -41.7%
-40% 50% 86.7% 73.4% 33.2% -14.1% -53.6%
-30% 37.5% 54.0% 43.0% 9.9% -29.2% -61.7%
-20% 25% 30.3% 21.1% -7.0% -40.1% -67.6%
-10% 12.5% 12.5% 4.5% -19.7% -48.3% -72.0%
0% 0% -1.4% -8.4% -29.6% -54.7% -75.5%
10% -12.5% -12.5% -18.7% -37.5% -59.8% -78.2%
20% -25% -21.5% -27.1% -44.0% -63.9% -80.5%
30% -37.5% -29.0% -34.0% -49.3% -67.3% -82.3%
40% -50% -35.3% -39.9% -53.8% 70.2% -83.9%
50% -62.5% -40.6% -44.8% -57.6% -72.7% -85.2%
60% -75% -45.2% -49.1% -60.9% -74.8% -86.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of WFC volatility and WFC performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -25% return on a yearly basis if WFC return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with WFC volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -44% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

WFC’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 30.99%. WFC’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 120.16%. WFC’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was -0.77%. Historical WFC volatility and performance are not indications of what WFC volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of WFC may differ from the volatility of WFC.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with WFC, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -125% of the percentage change of WFC on such day.

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In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with WFC, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to WFC may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with WFC and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by WFC’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -125% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when WFC is volatile, particularly when WFC is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with WFC, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with WFC. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to WFC. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of WFC. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and WFC and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day. 

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to WFC that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Wells Fargo & Company’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk.  Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk.  The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund. 

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Inverse Correlation Risk.  Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when WFC rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of WFC may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if WFC subsequently moves lower.  Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive.  Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Wells Fargo & Company is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Wells Fargo & Company in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Wells Fargo & Company.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk.  The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to WFC until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of WFC.

 

Financial Companies Risk. Financial companies, such as retail and commercial banks, insurance companies and financial services companies, are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, extensive government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets, industries or products (such as commercial and residential real estate loans) and competition from new entrants and blurred distinctions in their fields of business.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with WFC.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk.  The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

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Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk.  The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Wells Fargo & Company (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Wells Fargo & Company). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk.  The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

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Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

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Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns. 

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk.  The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares. 

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk.  Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”) 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager
     
  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

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Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.25X WFC Daily Bull ETF

 

The AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (125%) the daily performance of the common shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) (“WFC”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 125% of the performance of WFC for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 125% of the return of WFC for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of WFC and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher WFC volatility, the volatility of WFC may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of WFC.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (125%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if WFC’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if WFC’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if WFC loses more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times (125%) the daily performance of the common shares of Wells Fargo & Company. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

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Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a quarter times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of WFC. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 125% performance of WFC for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on WFC. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

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The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on WFC. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing WFC. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 125% of WFC, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to WFC (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to WFC). As of the date of this prospectus, WFC is assigned to the financial industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Wells Fargo & Company is a financial services company with approximately $1.9 trillion in assets and is the leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. Wells Fargo & Company provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, and consumer and commercial finance. WFC is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Wells Fargo & Company pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Wells Fargo & Company may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Wells Fargo & Company from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Wells Fargo & Company. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Wells Fargo & Company is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of WFC have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Wells Fargo & Company could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to WFC and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of WFC.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

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Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if WFC has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if WFC reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and WFC. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of one and a quarter times (125%) WFC, a single day movement in WFC approaching 80% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if WFC subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in WFC, even if WFC maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 125% of the daily return WFC for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as WFC volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) WFC volatility; (b) WFC performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — WFC volatility and WFC performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of WFC volatility and WFC performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, WFC and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 125% of the performance of WFC and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 125% of the performance of WFC. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
WFC
125% One Year WFC Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -75% -68.2% -68.5% -69.4% -70.9% -72.8%
-50% -62.5% -58.0% -58.4% -59.6% -61.5% -64.0%
-40% -50% -47.3% -47.7% -49.2% -51.6% -54.8%
-30% -37.5% -36.1% -36.6% -38.4% -41.4% -45.2%
-20% -25% -24.5% -25.1% -27.2% -30.7% -35.3%
-10% -12.5% -12.5% -13.2% -15.7% -19.7% -25.0%
0% 0% -0.2% -1.0% -3.8% -8.4% -14.5%
10% 12.5% 12.5% 11.6% 8.3% 3.2% -3.6%
20% 25% 25.4% 24.4% 20.8% 15.0% 7.4%
30% 37.5% 38.6% 37.5% 33.5% 27.1% 18.7%
40% 50% 52.0% 50.8% 46.5% 39.5% 30.3%
50% 62.5% 65.7% 64.4% 59.6% 52.0% 42.0%
60% 75% 79.7% 78.2% 73.1% 64.8% 53.9%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of WFC volatility and WFC performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 25% return on a yearly basis if WFC return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with WFC volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return 20.8% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

WFC’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 30.99%. WFC’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 120.16%. WFC’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was -0.77%. Historical WFC volatility and performance are not indications of what WFC volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of WFC may differ from the volatility of WFC.

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Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with WFC, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 125% of the percentage change of WFC on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with WFC, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to WFC may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with WFC and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by WFC’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 125% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when WFC is volatile, particularly when WFC is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with WFC, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with WFC. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to WFC. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of WFC. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and WFC and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to WFC that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Wells Fargo & Company’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Wells Fargo & Company’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

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Indirect Investment Risk. Wells Fargo & Company is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Wells Fargo & Company in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Wells Fargo & Company.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to WFC until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of WFC.

 

Financial Companies Risk. Financial companies, such as retail and commercial banks, insurance companies and financial services companies, are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, extensive government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets, industries or products (such as commercial and residential real estate loans) and competition from new entrants and blurred distinctions in their fields of business.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with WFC.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Wells Fargo & Company (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Wells Fargo & Company). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

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Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

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Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

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Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

  

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

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The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager
     
  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-200%) daily performance of the common shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) (“PFE”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -200% of the performance of PFE for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -200% of the return of PFE for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of PFE and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher PFE volatility, the volatility of PFE may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of PFE.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-200%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if PFE’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if PFE’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if PFE gains more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-200%) of the daily performance of the common shares of Pfizer Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3)

(0.42%)

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.

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(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide two times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of PFE. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -200% performance of PFE for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on PFE. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on PFE. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing PFE. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -200% of PFE, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to PFE (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to PFE). As of the date of this prospectus, PFE is assigned to the pharmaceuticals industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

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Pfizer Inc. manufacturers and sells biopharmaceutical products. Pfizer Inc. is a global leader in science-based innovative medicines and vaccines. Pfizer Inc. operates as a single operating segment that engages in the discovery, development, manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution of biopharmaceutical products worldwide. PFE is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Pfizer Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Pfizer Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Pfizer Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Pfizer Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Pfizer Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of PFE have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Pfizer Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to PFE and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of PFE.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if PFE has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if PFE reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

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The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and PFE. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative two times (-200%) PFE, a single day movement in PFE approaching 50% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if PFE subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in PFE, even if PFE maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -200% of the daily return of PFE for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as PFE volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) PFE volatility; (b) PFE performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — PFE volatility and PFE performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of PFE volatility and PFE performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, PFE and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -200% of the performance of PFE and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -200% of the performance of PFE. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

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Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
PFE
-200% One
Year PFE
Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 120% 506.5% 418.1% 195.2% 15.6% -68.9%
-50% 100% 288.2% 231.6% 88.9% -26.0% -80.1%
-40% 80% 169.6% 130.3% 31.2% -48.6% -86.2%
-30% 60% 98.1% 69.2% -3.6% -62.2% -89.8%
-20% 40% 51.6% 29.5% -26.2% -71.1% -92.2%
-10% 20% 19.8% 2.3% -41.7% -77.2% -93.9%
0% 0% -3.0% -17.1% -52.8% -81.5% -95.0%
10% -20% -19.8% -31.5% -61.0% -84.7% -95.9%
20% -40% -32.6% -42.4% -67.2% -87.2% -96.5%
30% -60% -42.6% -50.9% -72.0% -89.1% -97.1%
40% -80% -50.5% -57.7% -75.9% -90.6% -97.5%
50% -100% -56.9% -63.2% -79.0% -91.8% -97.8%
60% -120% -62.1% -67.6% -81.5% -92.8% -98.1%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of PFE volatility and PFE performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -40% return on a yearly basis if PFE return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with PFE volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -67.2% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

PFE’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 25.50%. PFE’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 73.67%. PFE’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 14.15%. Historical PFE volatility and performance are not indications of what PFE volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of PFE may differ from the volatility of PFE.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with PFE, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -200% of the percentage change of PFE on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with PFE, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to PFE may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with PFE and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by PFE’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -200% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when PFE is volatile, particularly when PFE is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

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A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with PFE, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with PFE. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to PFE. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of PFE. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and PFE and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to PFE that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Pfizer Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Pfizer Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Pfizer Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Pfizer Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Pfizer Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund.

 

Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when PFE rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of PFE may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if PFE subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

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Indirect Investment Risk. Pfizer Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Pfizer Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Pfizer Inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to PFE until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of PFE.

 

Pharmaceuticals Industry Risk. Companies in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. The profitability of some companies in the pharmaceuticals industry may be dependent on a relatively limited number of products. In addition, their products can become obsolete due to industry innovation, changes in technologies, or other market developments. Many new products in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to government approvals, regulation, and reimbursement rates. The process of obtaining government approvals may be long and costly. Many companies in the pharmaceuticals industry are heavily dependent on patents and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with PFE.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Pfizer Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Pfizer Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

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Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

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Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

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Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager
     
  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

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Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF 

 

Important Information About the AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (200%) the daily performance of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) (“PFE”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 200% of the performance of PFE for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 200% of the return of PFE for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of PFE and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher PFE volatility, the volatility of PFE may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of PFE.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (200%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if PFE’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if PFE’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if PFE loses more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (200%) the daily performance of the common shares of Pfizer Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%

(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

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Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide two times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of PFE. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 200% performance of PFE for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on PFE. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on PFE. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing PFE. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 200% of PFE, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to PFE (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to PFE). As of the date of this prospectus, PFE is assigned to the pharmaceuticals industry.

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Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Pfizer Inc. manufacturers and sells biopharmaceutical products. Pfizer Inc. is a global leader in science-based innovative medicines and vaccines. Pfizer Inc. operates as a single operating segment that engages in the discovery, development, manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution of biopharmaceutical products worldwide. PFE is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Pfizer Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Pfizer Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Pfizer Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Pfizer Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Pfizer Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of PFE have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Pfizer Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to PFE and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of PFE.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives.  A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

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Swap Agreement Risk.  The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants.  Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline.  OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if PFE has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if PFE reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and PFE. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of two times (200%) PFE, a single day movement in PFE approaching 50% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if PFE subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in PFE, even if PFE maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 200% of the daily return PFE for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as PFE volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) PFE volatility; (b) PFE performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — PFE volatility and PFE performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of PFE volatility and PFE performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, PFE and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

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Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 200% of the performance of PFE and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 200% of the performance of PFE. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
PFE
200% One
Year PFE
Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -120% -84.2% -85.0% -87.5% -90.9% -94.1%
-50% -100% -75.2% -76.5% -80.5% -85.8% -90.8%
-40% -80% -64.4% -66.2% -72.0% -79.5% -86.8%
-30% -60% -51.5% -54.0% -61.8% -72.1% -82.0%
-20% -40% -36.6% -39.9% -50.2% -63.5% -76.5%
-10% -20% -19.8% -23.9% -36.9% -53.8% -70.2%
0% 0% -1.0% -6.1% -22.1% -43.0% -63.2%
10% 20% 19.8% 13.7% -5.8% -31.1% -55.5%
20% 40% 42.6% 35.3% 12.1% -18.0% -47.0%
30% 60% 67.3% 58.8% 31.6% -3.7% -37.8%
40% 80% 94.0% 84.1% 52.6% 11.7% -27.9%
50% 100% 122.8% 111.4% 75.2% 28.2% -17.2%
60% 120% 153.5% 140.5% 99.4% 45.9% -5.8%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of PFE volatility and PFE performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 40% return on a yearly basis if PFE return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with PFE volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return –5.8% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

PFE’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 25.50%. PFE’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 73.67%. PFE’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 14.15%. Historical PFE volatility and performance are not indications of what PFE volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of PFE may differ from the volatility of PFE.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with PFE, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 200% of the percentage change of PFE on such day.

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In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with PFE, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to PFE may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with PFE and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by PFE’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 200% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when PFE is volatile, particularly when PFE is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with PFE, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with PFE. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to PFE. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of PFE. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and PFE and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to PFE that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Pfizer Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Pfizer Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Pfizer Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Pfizer Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Pfizer Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy. 

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Pfizer Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Pfizer Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Pfizer Inc.

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Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to PFE until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of PFE.

 

Pharmaceuticals Industry Risk. Companies in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. The profitability of some companies in the pharmaceuticals industry may be dependent on a relatively limited number of products. In addition, their products can become obsolete due to industry innovation, changes in technologies, or other market developments. Many new products in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to government approvals, regulation, and reimbursement rates. The process of obtaining government approvals may be long and costly. Many companies in the pharmaceuticals industry are heavily dependent on patents and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with PFE.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Pfizer Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Pfizer Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries. 

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

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Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

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Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

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New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

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Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information. 

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AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-150%) daily performance of the common shares of Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM) (“CRM”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -150% of the performance of CRM for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -150% of the return of CRM for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of CRM and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher CRM volatility, the volatility of CRM may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of CRM.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-150%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if CRM’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if CRM’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if CRM gains more than 67% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times the inverse (-150%) of the daily performance of the common shares of Salesforce.com, inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%

(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

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Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a half times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of CRM. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -150% performance of CRM for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on CRM. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on CRM. The gross return to be exchanged or "swapped" between the parties is calculated with respect to a "notional amount," e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing CRM. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -150% of CRM, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to CRM (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to CRM). As of the date of this prospectus, CRM is assigned to the cloud computing industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Salesforce.com, inc. brings companies and customers together through customer relationship management. Salesforce.com, inc. uses its Customer360 platform to deliver a single source of information, connecting customer data across systems, apps and devices to help companies sell, market and conduct commerce. CRM is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Salesforce.com, inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Salesforce.com, inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

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The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Salesforce.com, inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Salesforce.com, inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Salesforce.com, inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of CRM have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Salesforce.com, inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to CRM and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of CRM.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives.  A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

  Swap Agreement Risk.  The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants.  Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline.  OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if CRM has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if CRM reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

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The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund. 

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and CRM. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative one and a half times (-150%) CRM, a single day movement in CRM approaching 67% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if CRM subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in CRM, even if CRM maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -150% of the daily return of CRM for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as CRM volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) CRM volatility; (b) CRM performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — CRM volatility and CRM performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of CRM volatility and CRM performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, CRM and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -150% of the performance of CRM and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -150% of the performance of CRM. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

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Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
CRM
-150% One Year CRM Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 90% 287.9% 251.6% 147.4% 37.7% -39.4%
-50% 75% 177.6% 151.6% 77.0% -1.5% -56.6%
-40% 60% 111.2% 91.4% 34.6% -25.1% -67.0%
-30% 45% 67.6% 51.9% 6.9% -40.5% -73.8%
-20% 30% 37.2% 24.3% -12.5% -51.3% -78.6%
-10% 15% 14.9% 4.2% -26.7% -59.2% -82.0%
0% 0% -1.9% -11.1% -37.4% -65.2% -84.7%
10% -15% -14.9% -22.9% -45.8% -69.8% -86.7%
20% -30% -25.3% -32.3% -52.4% -73.5% -88.3%
30% -45% -33.8% -40.0% -57.8% -76.5% -89.7%
40% -60% -40.8% -46.3% -62.2% -79.0% -90.7%
50% -75% -46.6% -51.6% -65.9% -81.0% -91.7%
60% -90% -51.5% -56.1% -69.1% -82.8% -92.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of CRM volatility and CRM performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -30% return on a yearly basis if CRM return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with CRM volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -52.4% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

CRM’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 30.12%. CRM’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 92.80%. CRM’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 11.83%. Historical CRM volatility and performance are not indications of what CRM volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of CRM may differ from the volatility of CRM.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with CRM, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -150% of the percentage change of CRM on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with CRM, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to CRM may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with CRM and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by CRM’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -150% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when CRM is volatile, particularly when CRM is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

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A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with CRM, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with CRM. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to CRM. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of CRM. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and CRM and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to CRM that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Salesforce.com, inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy. 

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund.

 

Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when CRM rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of CRM may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if CRM subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

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Indirect Investment Risk. Salesforce.com, inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Salesforce.com, inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Salesforce.com, inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to CRM until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of CRM.

 

Cloud Computing Companies Risk.  Cloud computing companies include companies that provide remote computation, software, data access and storage services. The risks related to investing in such companies include disruption in service caused by hardware or software failure, interruptions or delays in service by third-party data center hosting facilities and maintenance providers, security breaches involving certain private, sensitive, proprietary and confidential information managed and transmitted by cloud computing companies, and privacy concerns and laws, evolving Internet regulation and other foreign or domestic regulations that may limit or otherwise affect the operations of such companies. In addition, the business models employed by the companies in the cloud computing industry may not prove to be successful.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with CRM.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

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Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Salesforce.com, inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Salesforce.com, inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

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Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

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Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

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Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

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Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

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Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (150%) the daily performance of the common shares of Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM) (“CRM”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 150% of the performance of CRM for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 150% of the return of CRM for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of CRM and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher CRM volatility, the volatility of CRM may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of CRM.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (150%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if CRM’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if CRM’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if CRM loses more than 67% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times (150%) the daily performance of the common shares of Salesforce.com, inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%

 

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(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

 

  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide one and a half times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of CRM. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 150% performance of CRM for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on CRM. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on CRM. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing CRM. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 150% of CRM, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to CRM (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to CRM).  As of the date of this prospectus, CRM is assigned to the cloud computing industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

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Salesforce.com, inc. brings companies and customers together through customer relationship management. Salesforce.com, inc. uses its Customer360 platform to deliver a single source of information, connecting customer data across systems, apps and devices to help companies sell, market and conduct commerce. CRM is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Salesforce.com, inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Salesforce.com, inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Salesforce.com, inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Salesforce.com, inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Salesforce.com, inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of CRM have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Salesforce.com, inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to CRM and therefore the value of the Fund.

 

Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of CRM.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if CRM has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if CRM reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

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The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk.  Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and CRM. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of one and a half times (150%) CRM, a single day movement in CRM approaching 67% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if CRM subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in CRM, even if CRM maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 150% of the daily return CRM for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as CRM volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) CRM volatility; (b) CRM performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — CRM volatility and CRM performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of CRM volatility and CRM performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, CRM and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 150% of the performance of CRM and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 150% of the performance of CRM. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

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Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
CRM
150% One Year CRM Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -90% -74.8% -75.3% -77.0% -79.5% -82.6%
-50% -75% -64.8% -65.5% -67.8% -71.4% -75.7%
-40% -60% -53.7% -54.6% 57.7% -62.4% -68.1%
-30% -45% -41.7% -42.8% -46.7% -52.6% -59.7%
-20% -30% -28.7% -30.1% -34.8% -42.1% -50.8%
-10% -15% -14.9% -16.6% -22.3% -30.9% -41.3%
0% 0% -0.4% -2.3% -8.9% -19.0% -31.3%
10% 15% 14.9% 12.7% 5.0% -6.6% -20.7%
20% 30% 31.0% 28.4% 19.7% 6.5% -9.7%
30% 45% 47.7% 44.8% 35.0% 20.0% 1.9%
40% 60% 65.0% 61.8% 50.8% 34.1% 13.8%
50% 75% 83.0% 79.5% 67.3% 48.8% 26.3%
60% 90% 101.6% 97.9% 84.3% 63.9% 39.1%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of CRM volatility and CRM performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 30% return on a yearly basis if CRM return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with CRM volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return 19.7% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

CRM’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 30.12%. CRM’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 92.80%. CRM’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 11.83%. Historical CRM volatility and performance are not indications of what CRM volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of CRM may differ from the volatility of CRM.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with CRM, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 150% of the percentage change of CRM on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with CRM, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to CRM may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with CRM and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by CRM’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 150% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when CRM is volatile, particularly when CRM is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

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A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with CRM, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with CRM. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to CRM. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of CRM. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and CRM and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day. 

 

Rebalancing Risk.  If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to CRM that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Salesforce.com, inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Salesforce.com, inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk.  Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Salesforce.com, inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Salesforce.com, inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Salesforce.com, inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk.  The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to CRM until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of CRM.

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Cloud Computing Companies Risk. Cloud computing companies include companies that provide remote computation, software, data access and storage services. The risks related to investing in such companies include disruption in service caused by hardware or software failure, interruptions or delays in service by third-party data center hosting facilities and maintenance providers, security breaches involving certain private, sensitive, proprietary and confidential information managed and transmitted by cloud computing companies, and privacy concerns and laws, evolving Internet regulation and other foreign or domestic regulations that may limit or otherwise affect the operations of such companies. In addition, the business models employed by the companies in the cloud computing industry may not prove to be successful.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with CRM.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

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Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Salesforce.com, inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Salesforce.com, inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

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Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

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Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

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New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

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Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF

 

The AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify the inverse (-200%) daily performance of the common shares of Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) (“NKE”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be -200% of the performance of NKE for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from -200% of the return of NKE for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of NKE and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher NKE volatility, the volatility of NKE may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of NKE.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily inverse leveraged (-200%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if NKE’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if NKE’s performance decreases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if NKE gains more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-200%) of the daily performance of the common shares of Nike, Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%
(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

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  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide two times inverse leveraged exposure to the daily performance of NKE. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, -200% performance of NKE for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on NKE. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on NKE. The gross return to be exchanged or "swapped" between the parties is calculated with respect to a "notional amount," e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing NKE. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to -200% of NKE, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to NKE (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to NKE). As of the date of this prospectus, NKE is assigned to the retail industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Nike, Inc. designs, develops, markets and sells athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services worldwide. NKE is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Nike, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Nike, Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Nike, Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Nike, Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Nike, Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of NKE have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Nike, Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to NKE and therefore the value of the Fund.

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Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of NKE.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost. 

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if NKE has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if NKE reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

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The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk.  Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and NKE. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of negative two times (-200%) NKE, a single day movement in NKE approaching 50% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if NKE subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in NKE, even if NKE maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from -200% of the daily return of NKE for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as NKE volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) NKE volatility; (b) NKE performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — NKE volatility and NKE performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of NKE volatility and NKE performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, NKE and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than -200% of the performance of NKE and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than -200% of the performance of NKE. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year NKE
-200% One
Year NKE
Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 120% 506.5% 418.1% 195.2%  15.6% -68.9%
-50% 100% 288.2% 231.6%   88.9% -26.0% -80.1%
-40% 80% 169.6% 130.3%   31.2% -48.6% -86.2%
-30% 60%   98.1%   69.2%    -3.6% -62.2% -89.8%
-20% 40%   51.6%   29.5%  -26.2% -71.1% -92.2%
-10% 20%   19.8%     2.3%  -41.7% -77.2% -93.9%
0% 0%    -3.0%  -17.1%  -52.8% -81.5% -95.0%
10% -20%  -19.8%  -31.5%  -61.0% -84.7% -95.9%
20% -40%  -32.6%  -42.4%  -67.2% -87.2% -96.5%
30% -60%  -42.6%  -50.9%  -72.0% -89.1% -97.1%
40% -80%  -50.5%  -57.7%  -75.9% -90.6% -97.5%
50% -100%  -56.9%  -63.2%  -79.0% -91.8% -97.8%
60% -120%  -62.1%  -67.6%  -81.5% -92.8% -98.1%

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The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of NKE volatility and NKE performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -40% return on a yearly basis if NKE return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with NKE volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return -67.2% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

NKE’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 25.17%. NKE’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 104.15%. NKE’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 16.62%. Historical NKE volatility and performance are not indications of what NKE volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of NKE may differ from the volatility of NKE.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with NKE, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from -200% of the percentage change of NKE on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with NKE, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to NKE may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with NKE and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by NKE’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect -200% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when NKE is volatile, particularly when NKE is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with NKE, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with NKE. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to NKE. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of NKE. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and NKE and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day. 

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Rebalancing Risk.  If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to NKE that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Nike, Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Nike, Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Nike, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Nike, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Nike, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk.  Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk.  The Fund will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause the Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower the Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting the Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require the Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, the Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, the Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying the Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact the Fund. 

 

Inverse Correlation Risk.  Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors will lose money when NKE rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of NKE may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if NKE subsequently moves lower.  Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive.  Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Nike, Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Nike, Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Nike, Inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk.  The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to NKE until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of NKE.

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Retail Companies Risk. Retail companies are companies that are engaged in operating merchandise stores, which include department stores, discount stores, warehouse clubs and superstores, specialty stores, and home improvement and home furnishings stores. The retail industry is very competitive and the success of these companies is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics, consumer tastes, fads, marketing campaigns and other factors that impact supply and demand can also affect the success of retail products in the marketplace.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with NKE.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk.  The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk.  The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

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Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Nike, Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Nike, Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk.  The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

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Call Risk.  Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

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Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns. 

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk.  The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares. 

 

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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

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New Fund Risk.  As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk.  Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

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Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager
     
  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager

 

Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.”  Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF

 

Important Information About the AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF

 

The AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF (the “Fund”) seeks daily leveraged investment results and is very different from most other exchange-traded funds. As a result, the Fund may be riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund’s objective is to magnify (200%) the daily performance of the common shares of Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) (“NKE”). The return for investors that invest for periods longer or shorter than a trading day should not be expected to be 200% of the performance of NKE for the period. The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day’s compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 200% of the return of NKE for that period. Longer holding periods, higher volatility of NKE and leverage increase the impact of compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher NKE volatility, the volatility of NKE may affect the Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of NKE.

 

The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (200%) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if NKE’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if NKE’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day if NKE loses more than 50% in one day.

 

Investment Objective

 

The AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (200%) the daily performance of the common shares of Nike, Inc. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example set forth below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.95%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00%
Other Expenses(1) 0.62%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) 1.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(3) (0.42%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Reimbursement (1),(2),(3) 1.15%

 

(1) “Other Expenses” are estimates based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.
(2) The cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is an indirect expense that is not included in the above fee table and is not reflected in the expense example. The total indirect cost of investing in swaps, including the embedded cost of the swap and the operating expenses of the referenced assets, is estimated to be 0.20% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
(3) AXS Investments LLC (“AXS”) has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of the Fund to ensure that total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) leverage interest, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) interest and dividend expense on short sales, (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), (viii) expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization or (ix) extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 1.15%. This agreement is effective until July 31, 2023 and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. AXS is permitted to seek reimbursement from the Fund, subject to certain limitations, of fees waived or payments made by AXS to the Fund for a period ending three years after the date of the waiver or payment. Such reimbursement may be requested from the Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursements of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first.

 

Example

 

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

 

This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. This example does not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay to buy and sell Shares.

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  1 Year 3 Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your costs, based on these assumptions, would be: $117 $455

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. At the date of this prospectus, the Fund does not have an operating history and turnover data therefore is not available.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will maintain at least 80% exposure to financial instruments that provide two times leveraged exposure to the daily performance of NKE. The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve on a daily basis, before fees and expenses, 200% performance of NKE for a single day, not for any other period, by entering into one or more swap agreements on NKE. A “single day” is measured from the time the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the Fund’s next NAV calculation.

 

The Fund will enter into one or more swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year whereby the Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on NKE. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing NKE. The Adviser attempts to consistently apply leverage to increase the Fund’s exposure to 200% of NKE, and expects to rebalance the Fund’s holdings daily to maintain such exposure. As a result of its investment strategies, the Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to NKE (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to NKE). As of the date of this prospectus, NKE is assigned to the consumer discretionary products industry.

 

Additionally, the Fund may invest between 40-80% of the Fund’s portfolio depending on the amount of collateral required by the Fund’s counterparties in (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; (3) short term bond ETFs and/or (4) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or of comparable quality (“Collateral Investments”).

 

Nike, Inc. designs, develops, markets and sells athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services worldwide. NKE is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Information provided to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Nike, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act can be located by reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission file number 001-34756 through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, information regarding Nike, Inc. may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly disseminated documents.

 

The Fund has derived all disclosures contained in this document regarding Nike, Inc. from the publicly available documents described above. In connection with the offering of the Fund’s securities, neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates has participated in the preparation of such documents or made any due diligence inquiry with respect to Nike, Inc. Neither the Fund, the Trust nor the Advisor or any of its respective affiliates makes any representation that such publicly available documents or any other publicly available information regarding Nike, Inc. is accurate or complete. Furthermore, the Fund cannot give any assurance that all events occurring prior to the date hereof (including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents described above) that would affect the trading price of NKE have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any such events or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning Nike, Inc. could affect the value of the Fund’s investments with respect to NKE and therefore the value of the Fund.

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Neither the Trust, the Fund nor any of its respective affiliates makes any representation to you as to the performance of NKE.

 

Principal Risks

 

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

  Swap Agreement Risk. The Fund expects to use swap agreements as a means to achieve its investment objective. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Fund’s swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Fund is subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Fund could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Fund may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Fund are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if NKE has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between the Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if NKE reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.

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The Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of value at risk that the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent the Fund exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, the Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired daily leveraged performance for the Fund. 

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Fund and NKE. Because the Fund includes a multiplier of two times (200%) NKE, a single day movement in NKE approaching 50% at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of the Fund, even if NKE subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in NKE, even if NKE maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

 

Compounding Risk. The Fund has a single day investment objective, and the Fund’s performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from 200% of the daily return NKE for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on a leveraged fund. This effect becomes more pronounced as NKE volatility and holding periods increase. Fund performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) NKE volatility; (b) NKE performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The chart below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — NKE volatility and NKE performance — on Fund performance. The chart shows estimated Fund returns for a number of combinations of NKE volatility and NKE performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, NKE and Fund performance may differ significantly from the chart below. Performance shown in the chart assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Fund’s performance would be lower than shown.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return less than 200% of the performance of NKE and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where the Fund can be expected to return more than 200% of the performance of NKE. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated Fund Returns

 

One
Year
NKE

200% One

Year NKE

Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -120% -84.2% -85.0% -87.5% -90.9% -94.1%
-50% -100% -75.2% -76.5% -80.5% -85.8% -90.8%
-40% -80% -64.4% -66.2% -72.0% -79.5% -86.8%
-30% -60% -51.5% -54.0% -61.8% -72.1% -82.0%
-20% -40% -36.6% -39.9% -50.2% -63.5% -76.5%
-10% -20% -19.8% -23.9% -36.9% -53.8% -70.2%
0% 0% -1.0% -6.1% -22.1% -43.0% -63.2%
10% 20% 19.8% 13.7% -5.8% -31.1% -55.5%
20% 40% 42.6% 35.3% 12.1% -18.0% -47.0%
30% 60% 67.3% 58.8% 31.6% -3.7% -37.8%
40% 80% 94.0% 84.1% 52.6% 11.7% -27.9%
50% 100% 122.8% 111.4% 75.2% 28.2% -17.2%
60% 120% 153.5% 140.5% 99.4% 45.9% -5.8%

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The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of NKE volatility and NKE performance on the return of the Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, the Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 40% return on a yearly basis if NKE return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with NKE volatility of 50%, the Fund could be expected to return –5.8% under such a scenario. The Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

NKE’s annualized historical volatility rate for the five- year period ended December 31, 2021 was 25.17%. NKE’s highest volatility rate for any one calendar year during the five-year period was 104.15%. NKE’s annualized total return performance for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 was 16.62%. Historical NKE volatility and performance are not indications of what NKE volatility and performance will be in the future. The volatility of U.S. exchange-traded securities or instruments that reflect the value of NKE may differ from the volatility of NKE.

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with NKE, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective, and the percentage change of the Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from 200% of the percentage change of NKE on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with NKE, the Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to NKE may prevent the Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with NKE and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect the Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by NKE’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that the Fund will have perfect 200% exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when NKE is volatile, particularly when NKE is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with NKE, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which the Fund invests. The Fund may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with NKE. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being under- or overexposed to NKE. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the performance of NKE. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and NKE and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

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Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason the Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, the Fund may have investment exposure to NKE that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although Nike, Inc.’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in Nike, Inc.’s shares is expected, in turn, to result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in Nike, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in Nike, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Nike, Inc.’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Fund will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount it expects to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Fund is insufficient or there are delays in the Fund’s ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Fund may decline.

 

Indirect Investment Risk. Nike, Inc. is not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of Nike, Inc. in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of Nike, Inc.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Fund traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Fund when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of the Fund’s Shares relative to NKE until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of NKE.

 

Retail Companies Risk. Retail companies are companies that are engaged in operating merchandise stores, which include department stores, discount stores, warehouse clubs and superstores, specialty stores, and home improvement and home furnishings stores. The retail industry is very competitive and the success of these companies is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics, consumer tastes, fads, marketing campaigns and other factors that impact supply and demand can also affect the success of retail products in the marketplace.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests, the Fund might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Fund invests may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent the Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high leveraged correlation with CRM.

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Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Fund in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to Nike, Inc. (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to Nike, Inc.). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries. 

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Fund’s use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Fund may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Fund.

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Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Fund to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which it invests. At the same time, the Fund will continue to pay its own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

 

Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Fund’s investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Fund – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Fund and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Fund, you should not invest in the Fund.

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Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.

 

Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund. Such judgments about the Fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Fund fail to produce the intended results, the Fund could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Fund may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Fund’s Shares.

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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 and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

 

New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by Code. The Fund seeks to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Fund may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

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Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Fund is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Fund to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Performance

 

As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and therefore does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible on the Fund’s website at www.axsinvestments.com and will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC (“AXS Investments” or the “Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

 

  Matthew Tuttle, Portfolio Manager

 

  Parker Binion, Portfolio Manager



Each of the portfolio managers is primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served in such capacity since the Fund’s inception in 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

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Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since Shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s Shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. 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”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.axsinvestments.com.

 

Tax Information

 

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

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), AXS Investments and IMST Distributors, LLC, the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

 

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Additional Information About the Funds’ Principal Investment Strategies

 

Each of AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF, AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF, AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF, AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF, AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF, AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF (each a “Bear Fund,” and collectively the “Bear Funds”), AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF, AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF, AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF, AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF, AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF and AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF (each a “Bull Fund,” and collectively the “Bull Funds,” and collectively with the Bear Funds the “Funds,” and each individually, a “Fund”) is a series of Investment Managers Series Trust II (the “Trust”) and each is regulated as an “investment company” under the 1940 Act. The Funds’ investment objectives are non-fundamental and may be changed without approval by the holders of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the respective Fund. Unless an investment policy is identified as being fundamental, all investment policies included in this prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) for the Funds are non-fundamental and may be changed by the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”) without shareholder approval. If there is a material change to a Fund’s investment objective or principal investment strategies, you should consider whether the Fund remains an appropriate investment for you. There is no guarantee that the Funds will achieve their investment objective.

 

Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings

 

A description of the Trust’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Funds’ portfolio holdings is available in the SAI for the Funds, which is available at www.axsinvestments.com.

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Additional Information Regarding the Funds’ Investment Objectives

 

The AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to the inverse (-100%) the daily performance of TSLA. The AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and one tenth times (110%) the daily performance of TSLA. The AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times the inverse (-125%) the daily performance of NVDA. The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times (125%) the daily performance of NVDA. The AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-200%) the daily performance of COP. The AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (200%) the daily performance of COP. The AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter the inverse (-125%) the daily performance of BA. The AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times (125%) the daily performance of BA. The AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times the inverse (-150%) the daily performance of PYPL. The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times (150%) the daily performance of PYPL. The AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times the inverse (-125%) the daily performance of WFC. The AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

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The AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a quarter times (125%) the daily performance of WFC. The AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-200%) the daily performance of PFE. The AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (200%) the daily performance of PFE. The AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times the inverse (-150%) the daily performance of CRM. The AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one and a half times (150%) the daily performance of CRM. The AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-200%) the daily performance of NKE. The AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (200%) the daily performance of NKE. The AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective for a period of time different than a single trading day.

 

The Funds’ investment objectives are non-fundamental, meaning that they may be changed by the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Trust, without the approval of Funds’ investors. The Funds reserve the right to substitute a different index or security for their underlying security.

 

The Funds are not suitable for all investors. The Funds are designed to be utilized only by sophisticated investors, such as traders and active investors employing dynamic strategies. Such investors are expected to monitor and manage their portfolios frequently. Investors in the Funds should: (a) understand the risks associated with the use of inverse strategies and leverage; (b) understand the consequences of seeking daily inverse and leveraged investment results; and (c) intend to actively monitor and manage their investments. Investors who do not understand the Funds or do not intend to actively manage their funds and monitor their investments should not buy the Funds.

 

There is no assurance that the Funds will achieve their respective investment objective and an investment in the Funds could lose money.

 

Additional Information Regarding the Funds’ Principal Strategies

 

The Bear Funds. In seeking to achieve each Bear Fund’s investment objective, the Adviser invests in a manner that is designed to correspond to the respective inverse multiple of the daily performance of such Bear Fund’s underlying security. Each Bear Fund attempts to achieve its investment objective by investing a substantial amount of its assets in financial instruments that provide exposure to its underlying security.

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The Adviser does not invest the assets of the Bear Funds in securities or financial instruments based on the Adviser’s view of the investment merit of a particular security, instrument, or company, other than for cash management purposes, nor does it conduct conventional investment research or analysis (other than in determining counterparty creditworthiness), or forecast market movement or trends, in managing the assets of the Bear Funds. Each Bear Fund generally seeks to remain fully invested at all times in securities and/or financial instruments that, in combination, provide exposure to its underlying security consistent with its investment objective, without regard to market conditions, trends, direction, or the financial condition of a particular issuer.

 

On a daily basis, each Bear Fund will seek to position its portfolio so that the Bear Fund’s investment exposure is consistent with its investment objective. In general, changes to the level of an underlying security each day will determine whether a Bear Fund’s portfolio needs to be repositioned. For example, if an underlying security has fallen on a given day, net assets of a Bear Fund should rise. As a result, a Bear Fund’s exposure will need to be increased. Conversely, if an underlying security has risen on a given day, net assets of a Bear Fund should fall. As a result, a Bear Fund’s exposure will need to be decreased.

 

The time and manner in which a Bear Fund rebalances its portfolio may vary from day to day at the sole discretion of the Adviser depending upon market conditions and other circumstances. If for any reason a Bear Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Bear Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Bear Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, a Bear Fund may have investment exposure to its underlying security that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, a Bear Fund may be more or less exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

There can be no assurance that a Bear Fund will achieve its investment objective or avoid substantial losses. The Bear Funds do not seek to achieve their stated investment objectives over a period of time greater than a single day because mathematical compounding prevents the Bear Funds from achieving such results. Results for a Bear Fund over periods of time greater than a single day should not be expected to be a simple inverse return times the respective multiple of its underlying security. A Bear Fund’s returns will likely differ in amount and possibly even direction from inverse the return of the underlying security times the applicable multiple over the same period. These differences can be significant. A Bear Fund will lose money if the underlying security’s performance is flat over time, and a Bear Fund can lose money regardless of the performance of its underlying security, as a result of daily rebalancing, fees, the underlying security’s volatility, compounding and other factors. Daily compounding of a Bear Fund’s investment returns can dramatically and adversely affect its longer-term performance, especially during periods of high volatility. Volatility has a negative impact on a Bear Fund’s performance and may be at least as important to a Bear Fund’s return for a period as the return of its underlying security.

 

In seeking to achieve the Bear Funds’ investment objectives, the Adviser uses a mathematical approach to investing. Using this approach, the Adviser determines the type, quantity and mix of investment positions that the Adviser believes, in combination, should produce daily returns consistent with each Bear Fund’s objectives.

 

Each Bear Fund intends to meet its investment objective by investing a significant portion of its assets in swaps on investment vehicles with exposure to its underlying security, in any one of, or combinations of financial instruments, such that the Bear Fund has exposure equal to its respective multiple to its underlying security at the time of its NAV calculation. The number of financial instruments a Bear Fund invests in will change day-to-day.

 

Each Bear Fund will enter into swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from one day to more than one year whereby the respective Bear Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return earned or realized on the underlying security. The gross returns to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing the underlying security. Each trading day the Adviser adjusts each Bear Fund’s exposure to its underlying security consistent with the Bear Fund’s daily inverse investment objective. The impact of market movements during the day determines whether the portfolio needs to be repositioned. If the value of the underlying security has risen on a given day, the value of the Bear Fund’s net assets should fall, meaning its exposure will typically need to be reduced. Conversely, if the value of the underlying security has fallen on a given day, the value of the Bear Fund’s net assets should rise, meaning its exposure will typically need to be increased.

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The time and manner in which a Bear Fund rebalances its portfolio may vary from day to day at the sole discretion of the Adviser depending upon market conditions and other circumstances. Generally, at or near the close of the market at each trading day, each Bear Fund will position its portfolio to ensure that the Bear Fund’s exposure to its underlying security is consistent with its stated investment objective. Each Bear Fund reviews its notional exposure under each of its swap agreement, which reflects the extent of the Bear Fund’s total investment exposure under the swap, to ensure that the Bear Fund’s exposure is in-line with its stated investment objective. The gross returns to be exchanged are calculated with respect to the notional amount and the underlying security returns to which the swap is linked. Swaps are typically closed out on a net basis. Thus, while the notional amount reflects a Bear Fund’s total investment exposure under the swap, the net amount is the Bear Fund’s current obligations (or rights) under the swap. That is the amount to be paid or received under the agreement based on the relative values of the positions held by each party to the agreement. If for any reason a Bear Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Bear Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Bear Fund’s investment objective. As a result, a Bear Fund may be more or less exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective. To the extent that a Bear Fund needs to “roll” its swap positions (i.e., enter into new swap positions with a later expiration date as the current positions approach expiration), it could be subjected to increased costs, which could negatively impact the Bear Fund’s performance.

 

As a result of the above investment strategies, each Bear Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to its underlying security (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide inverse leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to the underlying security).

 

In addition to the investment financial instruments, each Bear Fund will invest its remaining assets directly in Collateral Investments. The Collateral Investments may consist of high-quality securities, which include: (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; and/or (3) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. For these purposes, “investment grade” is defined as investments with a rating at the time of purchase in one of the four highest categories of at least one nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (e.g., BBB- or higher from S&P Global Ratings or Baa3 or higher from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.).

 

Each Bear Fund seeks to remain fully invested at all times in financial instruments and Collateral Investments that, in combination, provide exposure to its underlying security consistent with its investment objective without regard to market conditions, trends or direction.

 

Each Bear Fund seeks to position its portfolio so that its exposure to its underlying security is consistent with its investment objective. The time and manner in which a Bear Fund rebalances its portfolio may vary from day to day depending upon market conditions and other circumstances at the discretion of the Adviser. The impact of an underlying security’s movements each day will affect whether a Bear Fund’s portfolio needs to be rebalanced and the amount of such rebalance.

 

The amount of exposure a Bear Fund has to a specific combination of financial instruments may differ and may be changed without shareholder approval at any given time. The amount of a Bear Fund’s exposure should be expected to change from time to time at the discretion of the Adviser based on market conditions and other factors. In addition, the Adviser has the power to change a Bear Fund’s investment objective, benchmark, or investment strategy at any time, without shareholder approval, subject to applicable regulatory requirements.

233 

 

The Bull Funds. In seeking to achieve each Bull Fund’s investment objective, the Adviser invests in a manner that is designed to correspond to the respective multiple of the daily performance of such Bull Fund’s underlying security. Each Bull Fund attempts to achieve its investment objective by investing a substantial amount of its assets in financial instruments that provide exposure to its underlying security.

 

The Adviser does not invest the assets of the Bull Funds in securities or financial instruments based on the Adviser’s view of the investment merit of a particular security, instrument, or company, other than for cash management purposes, nor does it conduct conventional investment research or analysis (other than in determining counterparty creditworthiness), or forecast market movement or trends, in managing the assets of the Bull Funds. Each Bull Fund generally seeks to remain fully invested at all times in securities and/or financial instruments that, in combination, provide exposure to its underlying security consistent with its investment objective, without regard to market conditions, trends, direction, or the financial condition of a particular issuer.

 

On a daily basis, each Bull Fund will seek to position its portfolio so that the Bull Fund’s investment exposure is consistent with its investment objective. In general, changes to the level of an underlying security each day will determine whether a Bull Fund’s portfolio needs to be repositioned. For example, if an underlying security has risen on a given day, net assets of a Bull Fund should rise. As a result, a Bull Fund’s exposure will need to be increased. Conversely, if an underlying security has fallen on a given day, net assets of a Bull Fund should fall. As a result, a Bull Fund’s exposure will need to be decreased.

 

The time and manner in which a Bull Fund rebalances its portfolio may vary from day to day at the sole discretion of the Adviser depending upon market conditions and other circumstances. If for any reason a Bull Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Bull Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Bull Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, a Bull Fund may have investment exposure to its underlying security that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, a Bull Fund may be more or less exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

There can be no assurance that a Bull Fund will achieve its investment objective or avoid substantial losses. The Bull Funds do not seek to achieve their stated investment objectives over a period of time greater than a single day because mathematical compounding prevents the Bull Funds from achieving such results. Results for a Bull Fund over periods of time greater than a single day should not be expected to be a simple return times the respective multiple of its underlying security. A Bull Fund’s returns will likely differ in amount and possibly even direction from the return of the underlying security times the applicable multiple over the same period. These differences can be significant. A Bull Fund will lose money if the underlying security’s performance is flat over time, and a Bull Fund can lose money regardless of the performance of its underlying security, as a result of daily rebalancing, fees, the underlying security’s volatility, compounding and other factors. Daily compounding of a Bull Fund’s investment returns can dramatically and adversely affect its longer-term performance, especially during periods of high volatility. Volatility has a negative impact on a Bull Fund’s performance and may be at least as important to a Bull Fund’s return for a period as the return of its underlying security.

 

In seeking to achieve the Bull Funds’ investment objectives, the Adviser uses a mathematical approach to investing. Using this approach, the Adviser determines the type, quantity and mix of investment positions that the Adviser believes, in combination, should produce daily returns consistent with each Bull Fund’s objective.

 

Each Bull Fund intends to meet its investment objective by investing a significant portion of its assets in swaps on investment vehicles with exposure to its underlying security, in any one of, or combinations of financial instruments, such that the Bull Fund has exposure equal to its respective multiple to its underlying security at the time of its NAV calculation. The number of financial instruments a Bull Fund invests in will change day-to-day.

234 

 

 

Each Bull Fund will enter into swap agreements with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from one day to more than one year whereby the respective Bull Fund and the global financial institution will agree to exchange the return earned or realized on the underlying security. The gross returns to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount representing the underlying security. Each trading day the Adviser adjusts each Bull Fund’s exposure to its underlying security consistent with the Bull Fund’s daily inverse investment objective. The impact of market movements during the day determines whether the portfolio needs to be repositioned. If the value of the underlying security has risen on a given day, the value of the Bull Fund’s net assets should rise, meaning its exposure will typically need to be increased. Conversely, if the value of the underlying security has fallen on a given day, the value of the Bull Fund’s net assets should fall, meaning its exposure will typically need to be reduced.

 

The time and manner in which a Bull Fund rebalances its portfolio may vary from day to day at the sole discretion of the Adviser depending upon market conditions and other circumstances. Generally, at or near the close of the market at each trading day, each Bull Fund will position its portfolio to ensure that the Bull Fund’s exposure to its underlying security is consistent with its stated investment objective. Each Bull Fund reviews its notional exposure under each of its swap agreement, which reflects the extent of the Bull Fund’s total investment exposure under the swap, to ensure that the Bull Fund’s exposure is in-line with its stated investment objective. The gross returns to be exchanged are calculated with respect to the notional amount and the underlying security returns to which the swap is linked. Swaps are typically closed out on a net basis. Thus, while the notional amount reflects a Bull Fund’s total investment exposure under the swap, the net amount is the Bull Fund’s current obligations (or rights) under the swap. That is the amount to be paid or received under the agreement based on the relative values of the positions held by each party to the agreement. If for any reason a Bull Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, the Bull Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Bull Fund’s investment objective. As a result, a Bull Fund may be more or less exposed to leverage risk than if it had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective. To the extent that a Bull Fund needs to “roll” its swap positions (i.e., enter into new swap positions with a later expiration date as the current positions approach expiration), it could be subjected to increased costs, which could negatively impact the Bull Fund’s performance.

 

As a result of the above investment strategies, each Bull Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to its underlying security (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in investments that provide leveraged exposure to the industry assigned to the underlying security).

 

In addition to the investment financial instruments, each Bull Fund will invest its remaining assets directly in Collateral Investments. The Collateral Investments may consist of high-quality securities, which include: (1) U.S. Government securities, such as bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury; (2) money market funds; and/or (3) corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper and other short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses that are rated investment grade or determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. For these purposes, “investment grade” is defined as investments with a rating at the time of purchase in one of the four highest categories of at least one nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (e.g., BBB- or higher from S&P Global Ratings or Baa3 or higher from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.).

 

Each Bull Fund seeks to remain fully invested at all times in financial instruments and Collateral Investments that, in combination, provide exposure to its underlying security consistent with its investment objective without regard to market conditions, trends or direction.

 

Each Bull Fund seeks to position its portfolio so that its exposure to its underlying security is consistent with its investment objective. The time and manner in which a Bull Fund rebalances its portfolio may vary from day to day depending upon market conditions and other circumstances at the discretion of the Adviser. The impact of an underlying security’s movements each day will affect whether a Bull Fund’s portfolio needs to be rebalanced and the amount of such rebalance.

235 

 

The amount of exposure a Bull Fund has to a specific combination of financial instruments may differ and may be changed without shareholder approval at any given time. The amount of a Bull Fund’s exposure should be expected to change from time to time at the discretion of the Adviser based on market conditions and other factors. In addition, the Adviser has the power to change a Bull Fund’s investment objective, benchmark, or investment strategy at any time, without shareholder approval, subject to applicable regulatory requirements.

 

Fund Investments

 

Principal Investments

 

Swap Agreements

 

The Funds will enter into swap agreements to pursue their investment objectives. The swap agreements may include as a reference asset investment vehicles that seek exposure to the applicable underlying security.

 

Swap agreements are contracts entered into primarily with major financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year. In a standard “swap” transaction, two parties agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on particular predetermined investments or instruments. The gross return to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties is calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” e.g., the return on or change in value of a particular dollar amount invested in a “basket” of securities or an ETF representing a particular index. The Funds may use a combination of swaps on the underlying securities and swaps on various investment vehicles that are designed to track the performance of the underlying securities. The underlying investment vehicle may not track the performance of an underlying security due to embedded costs and other factors, which may increase a Fund’s correlation risk and impact a Fund’s ability to correlate with its underlying security.

 

With respect to the use of swap agreements, if an underlying security has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in net assets, the terms of a swap agreements between a Fund and its counterparties may permit the counterparties to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, a Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with its investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent a Fund from achieving its investment objective, even if the reference asset reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. Any costs associated with using swap agreements may also have the effect of lowering a Fund’s return.

 

Non-Principal Investments

 

Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments

 

The Funds may invest in securities with maturities of less than one year or cash equivalents, or they may hold cash. The percentage of the Funds invested in such holdings varies and depends on several factors, including market conditions. For more information on eligible short-term investments, see the SAI.

 

U.S. Government Securities

 

The Funds may invest in short-term U.S. government securities. U.S. government securities include U.S. Treasury obligations and securities issued or guaranteed by various agencies of the U.S. government, or by various instrumentalities that have been established or sponsored by the U.S. government. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government. Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. government sponsored instrumentalities may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

236 

 

Additional Information Regarding Investment Techniques and Policies

 

As used in this Prospectus, the AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF, AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF and AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 2X Bear Funds; the AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF, AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF and AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 2X Bull Funds; the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF and AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 1.5X Bear Funds; the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF and AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 1.5X Bull Funds; the AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF and AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 1.25X Bear Funds; the AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF, AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF and AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 1.25X Bull Funds; the AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 1X Bear Fund; and the AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF will additionally be referred to as the 1.1X Bull Fund. The 2X Bear Funds, the 1.5X Bear Funds and the 1.25X Bear Funds will additionally be referred to as the Leveraged Bear Funds.

 

The Effects of Fees and Expenses on the Return of a Bear Fund for a Single Trading Day. To create the necessary exposure a Bear Fund uses inverse or inverse leveraged investment techniques, which necessarily incur brokerage and financing charges. In light of these charges and a Bear Fund’s operating expenses, the expected return of a Bear Fund over one trading day is equal to the gross expected return, which is the daily return of the underlying security multiplied by the Bear Fund’s daily inverse or inverse leveraged investment objective, minus (i) financing charges incurred by the portfolio and (ii) daily operating expenses. For instance, if a hypothetical underlying security returns 2% on a given day, the gross expected return of a 2X Bear Fund would be -4%, but the net expected return, which factors in the cost of financing the portfolio and the impact of operating expenses, would be lower. A Bear Fund will reposition its portfolio at the end of every trading day. Therefore, if an investor purchases a 2X Bear Fund’s shares at close of the markets on a given trading day, the investor’s exposure to the hypothetical underlying security would reflect 200% of the inverse performance of the hypothetical underlying security during the following trading day, subject to the charges and expenses noted above.

 

The Effects of Fees and Expenses on the Return of a Bull Fund for a Single Trading Day. To create the necessary exposure, a Bull Fund uses leveraged investment techniques, which necessarily incur brokerage and financing charges. In light of these charges and a Bull Fund’s operating expenses, the expected return of a Bull Fund over one trading day is equal to the gross expected return, which is the daily return of the underlying security multiplied by the Bull Fund’s daily leveraged investment objective, minus (i) financing charges incurred by the portfolio and (ii) daily operating expenses. For instance, if a hypothetical underlying security returns 2% on a given day, the gross expected return of a 2X Bull Fund would be 4%, but the net expected return, which factors in the cost of financing the portfolio and the impact of operating expenses, would be lower. A Bull Fund will reposition its portfolio at the end of every trading day. Therefore, if an investor purchases a 2X Bull Fund’s shares at close of the markets on a given trading day, the investor’s exposure to the hypothetical underlying security would reflect 200% of the performance of the hypothetical underlying security during the following trading day, subject to the charges and expenses noted above.

 

A Cautionary Note to Investors Regarding Dramatic Movement. The Adviser will not attempt to position each Leveraged Bear Fund’s and Bull Fund’s portfolio to ensure that the a Fund does not gain or lose more than maximum percentage of its NAV on a given day. A Leveraged Bear Fund or Bull Fund could lose an amount greater than its net assets in the event of a movement of an underlying security in excess of 50% for the 2X Bear Funds and 2X Bull Funds, 67% for the 1.5X Bear Funds and 1.5X Bull Funds, 80% for the 1.25X Bear Funds and 1.25X Bull Funds, and 91% for the 1.1X Bull Fund, in a direction adverse to the Fund (meaning a decline in the value of the underlying security for a Bull Fund and a gain in the value of the underlying security for a Leveraged Bear Fund). As a result, the risk of total loss exists.

 

If an underlying security has a dramatic adverse move that causes a material decline in a Fund’s net assets, the terms of a Fund’s swap agreements may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the swap transaction. In that event, a Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve exposure consistent with a Fund’s investment objective. This may prevent a Fund from achieving its leveraged, inverse, or inverse leveraged investment objective, even if it underlying security later reverses all or a portion the move, and result in significant losses.

 

Examples of the Impact of Daily Leverage and Compounding. Because each Fund’s exposure to its underlying security is repositioned on a daily basis, for a holding period longer than one day, the pursuit of a daily investment objective will result in daily long leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged compounding for the Funds. This means that the return of an underlying security over a period of time greater than one day multiplied by a Fund’s daily long leveraged, inverse, or inverse leveraged investment objective generally will not equal a Fund’s performance over that same period. As a consequence, investors should not plan to hold the Funds unmonitored for periods longer than a single trading day. This deviation increases with higher volatility in an underlying security and longer holding periods. Further, the return for investors that invest for periods less than a full trading day or for a period different than a trading day will not be the product of the return of a Fund’s stated daily investment objective and the performance of its underlying security for the full trading day. The actual exposure will largely be a function of the performance of the underlying security from the end of the prior trading day.

237 

 

Consider the following examples of a hypothetical fund that seeks 200% of the daily performance of a hypothetical underlying security:

 

Mary is considering investments in two Funds, Funds A and B. Fund A is an ETF which seeks (before fees and expenses) to match the performance of the hypothetical underlying security. Fund B is a leveraged ETF and seeks daily leveraged investment results (before fees and expenses) that correspond to 200% of the daily performance of the hypothetical underlying security.

 

On Day 1, the hypothetical underlying security increases in value from $100 to $105, a gain of 5%. On Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security declines from $105 back to $100, a loss of 4.76%. In the aggregate, the hypothetical underlying security has not moved.

 

An investment in Fund A would be expected to gain 5% on Day 1 and lose 4.76% on Day 2, returning the investment its original value. The following example assumes a $100 investment in Fund A when the hypothetical underlying security is also valued at $100:

 

Day

Underlying

Security Value

Underlying

Security Performance

Value of Fund

A Investment

 

$100.00

 

$100.00

1

$105.00

5.00%

$105.00

2

$100.00

-4.76%

$100.00

 

The same $100 investment in Fund B would be expected to gain 10% on Day 1 (200% of 5%) but decline 9.52% on Day 2.

 

Day

Underlying

Security Performance

200% of Underlying

Security Performance

Value of Fund

B Investment

 

 

 

$100.00

1

5.00%

10.0%

$110.00

2

-4.76%

-9.52%

$99.52

 

Although the percentage decline in Fund B is smaller on Day 2 than the percentage gain on Day 1, the loss is applied to a higher principal amount, so the investment in Fund B experiences a loss even when the aggregate underlying security value for the two-day period has not declined (these calculations do not include the charges for fund fees and expenses).

 

As you can see, an investment in Fund B has additional risks due to the effects of leverage and compounding.

 

An investor who purchases shares of a Fund intra-day will generally receive more, or less, than the applicable exposure to the underlying security from that point until the end of the trading day. The actual exposure will be largely a function of the performance of the underlying security from the end of the prior trading day. If a Fund’s shares are held for a period longer than a single trading day, the Fund’s performance is likely to deviate from the respective multiple return of the underlying security’s performance for the longer period. This deviation will increase with higher underlying security volatility and longer holding periods.

238 

 

 

Consider the following examples of a hypothetical fund that seeks 150% of the daily performance of a hypothetical underlying security:

 

Mary is considering investments in two funds, Funds A and B. Fund A is an ETF which seeks (before fees and expenses) to match the performance of the hypothetical underlying security. Fund B is a leveraged ETF and seeks daily leveraged investment results (before fees and expenses) that correspond to 150% of the daily performance of the hypothetical underlying security.

 

On Day 1, the hypothetical underlying security increases in value from $100 to $108, a gain of 8%. On Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security declines from $108 back to $100, a loss of 7.41%. In the aggregate, the hypothetical underlying security has not moved.

 

An investment in Fund A would be expected to gain 8% on Day 1 and lose 7.41% on Day 2 to return to its original value. The following example assumes a $100 investment in Fund A when the hypothetical underlying security is also valued at $100:

 

Day Underlying Security Value Underlying Security Performance Value of Fund A Investment
  $100.00   $100.00
1 $108.00 8.00% $108.00
2 $100.00 -7.41% $100.00

 

The same $100 investment in Fund B, however, would be expected to gain in value on Day 1 but decline in value on Day 2.

 

The $100 investment in Fund B would be expected to gain 12% on Day 1 (150% of 8%) but decline 11.12% on Day 2.

 

Day Underlying Security Performance 150% of Underlying Security Performance Value of Fund B Investment
      $100.00
1 8.00% 12.0% $112.00
2 -7.41% -11.12% $99.551

 

Although the percentage decline in Fund B is smaller on Day 2 than the percentage gain on Day 1, the loss is applied to a higher principal amount, so the investment in Fund B experiences a loss even when the aggregate underlying security value for the two-day period has not declined. (These calculations do not include the charges for expense ratios and financing charges.)

 

As you can see, an investment in Fund B has additional risks due to the effects of leverage and compounding.

 

An investor who purchases shares of a Fund intra-day will generally receive more, or less, than 150% exposure to the hypothetical underlying security from that point until the end of the trading day. The actual exposure will be largely a function of the performance of the underlying security from the end of the prior trading day. If a Fund’s shares are held for a period longer than a single trading day, the Fund’s performance is likely to deviate from 150% or -150% of the return of the underlying security’s performance for the longer period. This deviation will increase with higher underlying security volatility and longer holding periods.

 

239 

 

 

Consider the following examples of a hypothetical fund that seeks 125% of the daily performance of a hypothetical underlying security:

 

Mary is considering investments in two funds, Funds A and B. Fund A is an ETF which seeks (before fees and expenses) to match the performance of the hypothetical underlying security. Fund B is a leveraged ETF and seeks daily leveraged investment results (before fees and expenses) that correspond to 125% of the daily performance of the hypothetical underlying security.

 

On Day 1, the hypothetical underlying security increases in value from $100 to $108, a gain of 8%. On Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security declines from $108 back to $100, a loss of 7.41%. In the aggregate, the hypothetical underlying security has not moved.

 

An investment in Fund A would be expected to gain 8% on Day 1 and lose 7.41% on Day 2 to return to its original value. The following example assumes a $100 investment in Fund A when the hypothetical underlying security is also valued at $100:

 

Day Underlying Security Value Underlying Security Performance Value of Fund A Investment
  $100.00   $100.00
1 $108.00 8.00% $108.00
2 $100.00 -7.41% $100.00

 

The same $100 investment in Fund B, however, would be expected to gain in value on Day 1 but decline in value on Day 2.

 

The $100 investment in Fund B would be expected to gain 10% on Day 1 (125% of 8%) but decline 9.26% on Day 2.

 

Day Underlying Security Performance 125% of Underlying Security Performance Value of Fund B Investment
      $100.00
1 8.00% 10.0% $110.00
2 -7.41% -9.26% $99.81

 

Although the percentage decline in Fund B is smaller on Day 2 than the percentage gain on Day 1, the loss is applied to a higher principal amount, so the investment in Fund B experiences a loss even when the aggregate underlying security value for the two-day period has not declined. (These calculations do not include the charges for expense ratios and financing charges.)

 

As you can see, an investment in Fund B has additional risks due to the effects of leverage and compounding.

 

An investor who purchases shares of a Fund intra-day will generally receive more, or less, than 125% exposure to the hypothetical underlying security from that point until the end of the trading day. The actual exposure will be largely a function of the performance of the underlying security from the end of the prior trading day. If a Fund’s shares are held for a period longer than a single trading day, the Fund’s performance is likely to deviate from 125% or -125% of the return of the underlying security’s performance for the longer period. This deviation will increase with higher underlying security volatility and longer holding periods.

 

240 

 

Consider the following examples of a hypothetical fund that seeks inverse of the daily performance of a hypothetical underlying security:

 

Mary is considering investments in two funds, Funds A and B. Fund A is an ETF which seeks (before fees and expenses) to match the performance of the hypothetical underlying security. Similar to the 1X Bear Fund, Fund B is an ETF that seeks daily investment results (before fees and expenses) that correspond to -100% of the daily performance of the underlying security.

 

On Day 1, the underlying security increases in value from $100 to $105, a gain of 5%. On Day 2, the underlying security decreases in value from $105 back to $100, a loss of 4.76%. In the aggregate, the underlying security has not moved.

 

An investment in Fund A would be expected to gain 5% on Day 1 and lose 4.76% on Day 2, returning the investment to its original value. The following example assumes a $100 investment in Fund A when the underlying security is also valued at $100:

 

Day Underlying Security Value Underlying Security Performance Value of Fund A Investment
  $100.00   $100.00
1 $105.00 5.00% $105.00
2 $100.00 -4.76% $100.00

 

The same $100 investment in Fund B would be expected to lose 5% on Day 1 (-100% of 5%) but gain 4.76% on Day 2.

 

Day Underlying Security Performance -100% of Underlying Security Performance Value of Fund B Investment
      $100.00
1 5.00% -5.00% $95.00
2 -4.76% 4.76% $99.42

 

In the case of Fund B, although the percentage decrease on Day 2 is sufficient to bring the value of the underlying security back to its starting point, because the inverse of that percentage is applied to a lower principal amount on Day 2, Fund B has a loss. (These calculations do not include the charges for fund fees and expenses.)

 

As you can see, an investment in Fund B has additional risks than Fund A due to the effects of compounding on Fund B.

 

An investor who purchases shares of the 1X Bear Fund intra-day will generally receive more, or less, than -100% exposure to the underlying security from that point until the end of the trading day. The actual exposure will be largely a function of the performance of the underlying security from the end of the prior trading day. If the 1X Bear Fund’s shares are held for a period longer than a single trading day, the 1X Bear Fund’s performance is likely to deviate from -100% of the return of the underlying security performance for the longer period. This deviation will increase with higher index volatility and longer holding periods.

 

241 

 

Examples of the Impact of Volatility. Each Fund rebalances its portfolio on a daily basis, increasing exposure in response to that day’s gains or reducing exposure in response to that day’s losses. Daily rebalancing will typically cause a Fund to lose money if the underlying security experiences volatility. A volatility rate is a statistical measure of the magnitude of fluctuations in the underlying security’s returns over a defined period. For periods longer than a trading day, volatility in the performance of the underlying security from day to day is the primary cause of any disparity between a Fund’s actual returns and the returns of the underlying security for such period. Volatility causes such disparity because it exacerbates the effects of compounding on a Fund’s returns. In addition, the effects of volatility are magnified in the Funds due to leverage. Consider the following three examples that demonstrate the effect of volatility on a hypothetical fund:

 

Example 1 – Underlying Security Experiences Low Volatility

 

Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 2X Bull Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security rises from 100 to 102, a 2% gain. Mary’s investment rises 4% to $10.40. Mary holds her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the hypothetical underlying security rises from 102 to 104, a gain of 1.96%. Mary’s investment rises to $10.81, a gain during Day 3 of 3.92%. For the two-day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 2X Bull Fund, the hypothetical underlying security gained 4% although Mary’s investment increased by 8.1%. Because the hypothetical underlying security continued to trend upwards with low volatility, Mary’s return closely correlates to the 200% return of the return of the hypothetical underlying security for the period.

 

Now Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security rises from 100 to 106, a 6% gain. Mary’s investment rises 9% to $10.90. Mary holds her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the underlying security rises from 106 to 110, a gain of 3.77%. Mary’s investment rises to $11.52, a gain during Day 3 of 5.66%. For the two day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund, the underlying security gained 10% although Mary’s investment increased by 15.2%. Because the underlying security continued to trend upwards with low volatility, Mary’s return closely correlates to 150% of the return of the underlying security for the period.

 

Now Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security rises from 100 to 106, a 6% gain. Mary’s investment rises 7.5% to $10.75. Mary holds her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the index rises from 106 to 110, a gain of 3.77%. Mary’s investment rises to $11.26, a gain during Day 3 of 4.74%. For the two day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund, the underlying security gained 10% although Mary’s investment increased by 11.26%. Because the underlying security continued to trend upwards with low volatility, Mary’s return closely correlates to the 125% return of the return of the underlying security for the period.

 

John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 2X Bear Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security gains 2%, and John’s investment falls by 4% to $9.60. On Day 3, the hypothetical underlying security rises by 1.96%, and the hypothetical 2X Bear Fund falls by 3.92% to $9.22. For the two day period the hypothetical underlying security returned 4% while the hypothetical 2X Bear Fund lost 7.8%. John’s return still correlates to -200% return of the hypothetical underlying security, but not as closely as Mary’s investment in the 2X Bull Fund.

 

Now John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.5X Bear Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security gains 6%, and John’s investment falls by 9% to $9.10. On Day 3, the underlying security rises from 106 to 110, a gain of 3.77%, and the hypothetical 1.5X Bear Fund falls by 5.66% to $8.58. For the two day period the underlying security returned 10% while the hypothetical 1.5X Bear Fund lost 14.2%. John’s return still correlates to -150% return of the underlying index, but not as closely as Mary’s investment in the hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund.

 

Now John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.25X Bear Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security gains 6%, and John’s investment falls by 7.5% to $9.25. On Day 3, the underlying security rises from 106 to 110, a gain of 3.77%, and the hypothetical 1.25X Bear Fund falls by 4.71% to $8.82. For the two day period the underlying security returned 10% while the hypothetical 1.25X Bear Fund lost 11.8%. John’s return still correlates to -125% return of the underlying security, but not as closely as Mary’s investment in the hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund.

 

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Now assume John invests $10.00 in the hypothetical 1X Bear Fund at the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security decreases from 100 to 98, a 2% loss. Mary’s investment rises 2%to $10.20. Mary holds her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the underlying security decreases from 98 to 96, a loss of 2.04%. Mary’s investment rises to $10.41, a gain during Day 3 of 2.04%. For the two day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 1X Bear Fund, the underlying security lost 4% although Mary’s investment increased by 4.1%. Because the underlying security continued to trend upwards with low volatility, Mary’s return closely correlates to the -100% return of the return of the underlying security for the period. 

 

Example 2 – Underlying Security Experiences High Volatility

 

Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 2X Bull Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security rises from 100 to 102, a 2% gain, and Mary’s investment rises 4% to $10.40. Mary continues to hold her investment through the end of Day 3, during which the hypothetical underlying security declines from 102 to 98, a loss of 3.92%. Mary’s investment declines by 7.84%, from $10.40 to $9.58. For the two-day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 2X Bull Fund, the hypothetical underlying security lost 2% while Mary’s investment decreased from $10 to $9.58, a 4.2% loss. The volatility of the hypothetical underlying security affected the correlation between the hypothetical underlying security’s return for the two-day period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than two times the return of the hypothetical underlying security.

 

Now Mary invests $10.00 in the hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security rises from 100 to 106, a 6% gain, and Mary’s investment rises 9% to $10.90. Mary continues to hold her investment through the end of Day 3, during which the underlying security declines from 106 to 96, a loss of 9.44%. Mary’s investment declines by 14.16%, from $10.90 to $9.36. For the two day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund, the underlying security lost 4% while Mary’s investment decreased from $10 to $9.36, a 6.4% loss. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the underlying security’s return for the two day period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than 150% of the return of the underlying security.

 

Now Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security rises from 100 to 106, a 6% gain, and Mary’s investment rises 7.5% to $10.75. Mary continues to hold her investment through the end of Day 3, during which the underlying security declines from 106 to 96, a loss of 9.44%. Mary’s investment declines by 11.8%, from $10.75 to $9.48. For the two day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund, the underlying security lost 4% while Mary’s investment decreased from $10 to $9.48, a 5.2% loss. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the underlying security’s return for the two day period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than 125% the return of the underlying security.

 

Conversely, John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 2X Bear Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security rises from 100 to 102, a 2% gain, and John’s investment falls 4% to $9.60. John continues to hold his investment through the end of Day 3, during which the hypothetical underlying security declines from 102 to 98, a loss of 3.92%. John’s investment rises by 7.84%, from $9.60 to $10.35. For the two day period since John invested in the hypothetical 2X Bear Fund, the hypothetical underlying security lost 2% while John’s investment increased from $10 to $10.35, a 3.5% gain. The volatility of the hypothetical underlying security affected the correlation between the hypothetical underlying security’s return for the two day period and John’s return. In this situation, John gained less than two times the return of the hypothetical underlying security.

 

Now John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.5X Bear Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security rises from 100 to 106, a 6% gain, and John’s investment falls 9% to $9.10. John continues to hold his investment through the end of Day 3, during which the underlying security declines from 106 to 96, a loss of 3.92%. John’s investment rises by 4.9%, from $9.25 to $9.70. For the two day period since John invested in the hypothetical 1.5X Bear Fund, the underlying security lost 2% while John’s investment decreased from $10 to $9.70, a 3% loss. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the underlying security’s return for the two day period and John’s return. In this situation, John lost more than the index due to compounding.

 

Now John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.25X Bear Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security rises from 100 to 106, a 6% gain, and John’s investment falls 7.5% to $9.25. John continues to hold his investment through the end of Day 3, during which the underlying security declines from 106 to 96, a loss of 9.44%. John’s investment rises by 11.80%, to $10.34. For the two day period since John invested in the hypothetical 1.25X Bear Fund, the underlying security lost 2% while John’s investment increased from $10 to $10.34, a 3.4% gain. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the underlying security’s return for the two day period and John’s return. In this situation, John gained more than 1.25% of the return of the underlying security due to compounding.

243 

 

Now assume John invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1X Bear Fund after the close of trading on Day 1. During Day 2, the underlying security decreases from 100 to 98, a 2%loss, and Mary’s investment rises 2% to $10.20. Mary continues to hold her investment through the end of Day 3, during which the underlying security increases from 98 to 102, a gain of 4.08%. Mary’s investment declines by 4.08%, from $10.20 to $9.78. For the two day period since Mary invested in the hypothetical 1X Bear Fund, the underlying security gained 2% while Mary’s investment decreased from $10 to $9.78, a 2.20% loss. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the underlying security’s return for the two day period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than -100% the return of the underlying security. 

 

Example 3 – Intra-day Investment with Volatility

 

The examples above assumed that Mary purchased the hypothetical Bull Fund at the close of trading on Day 1 and sold her investment at the close of trading on a subsequent day. However, if she made an investment intra-day, she would have received a beta determined by the performance of the hypothetical underlying security from the end of the prior trading day until her time of purchase on the next trading day. Consider the following example.

 

Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 2X Bull Fund at 11 a.m. on Day 2. From the close of trading on Day 1 until 11 a.m. on Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security moved from 100 to 102, a 2% gain. In light of that gain, the hypothetical 2X Bull Fund beta at the point at which Mary invests is 196%. During the remainder of Day 2, the hypothetical underlying security rises from 102 to 110, a gain of 7.84%, and Mary’s investment rises 15.4% (which is the hypothetical underlying security gain of 7.84% multiplied by the 196% beta that she received) to $11.54. Mary continues to hold her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the hypothetical underlying security declines from 110 to 90, a loss of 18.18%. Mary’s investment declines by 36.4%, from $11.54 to $7.34. For the period of Mary’s investment, the hypothetical underlying security declined from 102 to 90, a loss of 11.76%, while Mary’s investment decreased from $10.00 to $7.34, a 27% loss. The volatility of the hypothetical underlying security affected the correlation between the hypothetical underlying security’s return for period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than two times the return of the hypothetical underlying security. Mary was also hurt because she missed the first 2% move of the hypothetical underlying security and had a beta of 196% for the remainder of Day 2.

 

If Mary invests $10.00 in the hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund at 11 a.m. on Day 2. From the close of trading on Day 1 until 11 a.m. on Day 2, the underlying security moved from 100 to 94, a 6% loss. In light of that loss, the hypothetical 1.5X Bull Fund beta at the point at which Mary invests is 155%. During the remainder of Day 2, the Fund’s underlying security rises from 94 to 97, a gain of 3.19%, and Mary’s investment rises 4.95%(which is the underlying security’s gain of 3.19% multiplied by the 155% beta that she received) to $10.49. Mary continues to hold her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the hypothetical underlying security declines from 110 to 90, a loss of 18.18%. Mary’s investment declines by 27.27%, from $10.49 to $7.63. For the period of Mary’s investment, the hypothetical underlying security declined from 102 to 90, a loss of 11.76%, while Mary’s investment decreased from $10.00 to $7.63, a 23.7% loss. The volatility of the hypothetical underlying security affected the correlation between the hypothetical underlying security’s return for period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than two times the return of the hypothetical underlying security. Mary was also hurt because she missed the first 2% move of the hypothetical underlying security and had a beta of 155% for the remainder of Day 2.

 

If Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund at 11 a.m. on Day 2. From the close of trading on Day 1 until 11 a.m. on Day 2, the underlying security moved from 100 to 106, a 6% gain. In light of that gain, the hypothetical 1.25X Bull Fund beta at the point at which Mary invests is 123%. During the remainder of Day 2, the underlying security rises from 106 to 110, a gain of 3.77%, and Mary’s investment rises 4.64% (which is the underlying security gain of 3.77% multiplied by the 123% beta that she received) to $10.46. Mary continues to hold her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the underlying security declines from 110 to 90, a loss of 18.18%. Mary’s investment declines by 22.73%, from $10.46 to $8.08. For the period of Mary’s investment, the underlying security declined from 106 to 90, a loss of 15.1%, while Mary’s investment decreased from $10.00 to $8.08, a 19.20% loss. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the underlying security’s return for period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost more than 125% the return of the underlying security. Mary was also hurt because she missed the first 6% move of the underlying security and had a beta of 123% for the remainder of Day 2.

 

Now assume Mary invests $10.00 in a hypothetical 1X Bear Fund at 11 a.m. on Day 2. From the close of trading on Day 1 until 11 a.m. on Day 2, the underlying security moved from 100 to 98, a 2% loss. In light of that loss, the hypothetical 1X Bear Fund’s beta at the point at which Mary invests is -96%. During the remainder of Day 2, the underlying security decreases from 98 to 90, a loss of 8.16%, and Mary’s investment rises 7.83% (which is the underlying security gain of 8.16% multiplied by the 96% beta that she received) to $10.78. Mary continues to hold her investment through the close of trading on Day 3, during which the underlying security increases from 90 to 110, a gain of 22.22%. Mary’s investment declines by 18.2%, from $10.78 to $8.82. For the period of Mary’s investment, the underlying security increased from 98 to 110, a gain of 12.25%, while Mary’s investment decreased from $10.00 to $8.82, an 11.8% loss. The volatility of the underlying security affected the correlation between the security’s return for period and Mary’s return. In this situation, Mary lost less than -100% of the return of the underlying security. Mary’s investment was also affected because she missed the first 2% move of the underlying index and had a beta of -96% for the remainder of Day 2. 

 

Market Volatility. Each Fund seeks to provide a return which is a multiple of the daily performance of an underlying security. The Funds do not attempt to, and should not be expected to, provide returns which are a multiple of the return of an underlying security for periods other than a single day. Each Fund rebalances its portfolio on a daily basis, increasing exposure in response to that day’s gains or reducing exposure in response to that day’s losses.

 

Daily rebalancing will impair a Fund’s performance if its underlying security experiences volatility. For instance, a 2X Bull Fund would be expected to lose 4% (as shown in Table 1 below) if its underlying security provided no return over a one-year period and experienced annualized volatility of 20%. A 2X Bear Fund would be expected to lose 12% (as shown in Table 1 below) if its underlying security provided no return over a one-year period and had annualized volatility of 20%. If an underlying security provided no return over a one-year period and experienced annualized volatility of 40%, the hypothetical loss for a one-year period for a 2X Bull Fund rises to 15% while the loss for a 2X Bear Fund rises to 45% (as shown in Table 1 below).

 

Table 1

 

Volatility Range 2X Bull Fund
Loss
2X Bear Fund Loss
10% -1% -3%
20% -4% -12%
30% -9% -26%
40% -15% -45%
50% -23% -65%
60% -33% -92%
70% -47% -99%
80% -55% -99%
90% -76% -99%
100% -84% -99%

 

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Volatility Range 1.5X Bull Funds Loss 1.5X Bear Funds Loss
10% -1.1% -1.9%
25% -6.4% -11.1%
50% -19.4% -37.4%
75% -33.3% -65.2%
100% -43.1% -84.7%

 

Volatility Range 1.25X Bull Funds Loss 1.25X Bear Funds Loss
10% -0.8% -0.8%
25% -4.4% -4.4%
50% -13.8% -13.8%
75% -24.6% -23.9%
100% -32.3% -31.7%

 

Volatility Range 1.1X Bull Funds Loss
10% -0.70%
25% -3.87%
50% -12.14%
80% -21.65%
100% -28.42%

 

Volatility Range 1X Bear Funds Loss
10% -1%
30% -9%
50% -22%
80% -47%
100% -63%

 

Note that at higher volatility levels, there is a chance of a complete loss of Fund assets even if the underlying security is flat. For instance, if annualized volatility of an underlying security were 90%, a 2X Bull Fund based on such underlying security would be expected to lose 76% and a 2X Bear Fund based such underlying security would be expected to lose 99% of its value, even if the underlying security returned 0% for the year.

 

Table 2 shows the annualized historical volatility rate for the underlying securities over the five year period ended December 31, 2021. Since market volatility has negative implications for funds which rebalance daily, investors should be sure to monitor and manage their investments in the Funds particularly in volatile markets. The negative implications of volatility in Table 1 can be combined with the recent volatility in Table 2 to give investors some sense of the risks of holding the Funds for longer periods over the past five years. Historical volatility and performance are not likely indicative of future volatility and performance.

 

Table 2 – Historic Volatility

 

 

5-Year Historical Volatility Rate

TSLA

69.76%

NVDA

47.44%

COP

41.73%

BA

44.17%

PYPL

36.44%

WFC

30.99%

PFE

25.50%

CRM

30.12%

NKE

25.17%

 

The Projected Returns of Funds for Intra-Day Purchases. Because the Funds rebalance their portfolio once daily, an investor who purchases shares during a day will likely have more, or less, than the respective long leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged investment exposure to an underlying security. The exposure to an underlying security received by an investor who purchases a Fund intra-day will differ from the Fund’s stated daily investment objective by an amount determined by the movement of the underlying security from its value at the end of the prior day. If the underlying security moves in a direction favorable to the Fund between the close of the market on one trading day through the time on the next trading day when the investor purchases the Fund shares, the investor will receive less exposure to the underlying security than the stated Fund daily investment objective. Conversely, if the underlying security moves in a direction adverse to the Fund, the investor will receive more exposure to the underlying security than the stated Fund daily investment objective.

245 

 

Table 3 below indicates the exposure to an underlying security that an intra-day purchase of a Bull Fund would be expected to provide based upon the movement in the value of the underlying security from the close of the market on the prior trading day. Such exposure holds until a subsequent sale on that same trading day or until the close of the market on that trading day. For instance, if an underlying security has moved 5% in a direction favorable to a 2X Bull Fund, the investor would receive exposure to the performance of the underlying security from that point until the investor sells later that day or the end of the day equal to approximately 191% of the investor’s investment.

 

Conversely, if the underlying security has moved 5% in a direction unfavorable to a 2X Bull Fund, an investor at that point would receive exposure to the performance of the underlying security from that point until the investor sells later that day or the end of the day equal to approximately 211% of the investor’s investment.

 

The table includes a range of underlying security moves from 20% to -20% for a Bull Fund. Movement of an underlying security beyond the range noted below will result in exposure further from a Bull Fund’s daily leveraged investment objective.

 

Table 3

 

Underlying Security 2X Bull Fund 1.5X Bull Fund 1.25X Bull Fund
-20% 267% 171.43% 133.33%
-15% 243% 164.52% 130.77%
-10% 225% 158.82% 128.57%
-5% 211% 154.05% 126.67%
0% 200% 150.00% 125.00%
5% 191% 146.51% 123.53%
10% 183% 143.48% 122.22%
15% 177% 140.82% 121.05%
20% 171% 138.46% 120.00%

 

Underlying Security 1.1X Bull Fund
-5% -5.50%
-4% -4.40%
-3% -3.30%
-2% -2.20%
-1% -1.10%
0% 0.00%
1% 1.10%
2% 2.20%
3% 3.30%
4% 4.40%
5% 5.50%

 

Table 4 below indicates the exposure to an underlying security that an intra-day purchase of a Bear Fund would be expected to provide based upon the movement in the value of the underlying security from the close of the market on the prior trading day. Such exposure holds until a subsequent sale on that same trading day or until the close of the market on that trading day. Table 4 indicates that, if an underlying security has moved 5% in a direction favorable to a 2X Bear Fund, the investor would receive exposure to the performance of the underlying security from that point until the investor sells later that day or the end of the day equal to approximately 173% of the investor’s investment.

 

Conversely, if the underlying security has moved 5% in a direction unfavorable to a 2X Bear Fund, an investor would receive exposure to the performance of the underlying security from that point until the investor sells later that day or the end of the day equal to approximately 233% of the investor’s investment.

 

The table includes a range of underlying security moves from 20% to -20% for a Bear Fund. Movement of an underlying security beyond the range noted below will result in exposure further from a Bear Fund’s daily inverse or inverse leveraged investment objective.

 

Table 4

 

Underlying Security 2X Bear Fund 1.5X Bear Fund 1.25X Bear Fund
-20% -114% -92.31% -80.00%
-15% -131% -104.08% -89.47
-10% -150% -117.39% -100.00
-5% -173% -132.56% -111.76
0% -200% -150.00% -125.00
5% -233% -170.27% -140.00
10% -275% -194.12% -157.14
15% -329% -222.58% -176.92
20% -400% -257.14% -200.00

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Underlying Security 1X Bear Fund
-5% -90%
-4% -92%
-3% -94%
-2% -96%
-1% -98%
0% -100%
1% -102%
2% -104%
3% -106%
4% -108%
5% -110%

 

The Projected Returns of the Funds for Periods Other Than a Single Trading Day. The Funds seek long leveraged, inverse, or inverse leveraged investment results on a daily basis — from the close of regular trading on one trading day to the close on the next trading day — which should not be equated with seeking a long leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged investment objective for any other period. For instance, if an underlying security gains 10% for a week, a 2X Bull Fund should not be expected to provide a return of 20% for the week even if it meets its daily leveraged investment objective throughout the week. This is true because of the financing charges noted above but also because the pursuit of daily goals may result in daily leveraged compounding, which means that the return of an underlying security over a period of time greater than one day multiplied by a Fund’s daily leveraged investment objective or inverse daily leveraged investment objective will not generally equal a Fund’s performance over that same period. In addition, the effects of compounding become greater the longer Shares are held beyond a single trading day.

 

The following tables set out a range of hypothetical daily performances during a given 10 trading days of an underlying security and demonstrate how changes in an underlying security impact the Funds’ hypothetical performance for a trading day and cumulatively up to, and including, the entire 10 trading day period. The charts are based on a hypothetical $100 investment in the Funds over a 10-trading day period and do not reflect fees or expenses of any kind.

 

Table 5 – Lacks a Clear Trend

 

Underlying Security 2X Bull Fund 2X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 105 5.00% 5.00% $110.00 10.00% 10.00% $90.00 -10.00% -10.00%
Day 2 110 4.76% 10.00% $120.48 9.52% 20.47% $81.43 -9.52% -18.57%
Day 3 100 -9.09% 0.00% $ 98.57 -18.18% -1.43% $ 96.23 18.18% -3.76%
Day 4 90 -10.00% -10.00% $ 78.86 -20.00% -21.14% $115.48 20.00% 15.48%
Day 5 85 -5.56% -15.00% $ 70.10 -11.12% -29.91% $128.31 11.12% 28.33%
Day 6 100 17.65% 0.00% $ 94.83 35.30% -5.17% $ 83.03 -35.30% -16.97%
Day 7 95 -5.00% -5.00% $ 85.35 -10.00% -14.65% $ 91.33 10.00% -8.67%
Day 8 100 5.26% 0.00% $ 94.34 10.52% -5.68% $ 81.71 -10.52% -18.28%
Day 9 105 5.00% 5.00% $103.77 10.00% 3.76% $ 73.54 -10.00% -26.45%
Day 10 100 -4.76% 0.00% $ 93.89 -9.52% -6.12% $ 80.55 9.52% -19.45%

 

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Underlying Security 1.5X Bull Fund 1.5X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 105 5.00% 5.00% $107.50 7.50% 7.50% $92.50 -7.50% -7.50%
Day 2 110 4.76% 10.00% $115.18 7.14% 15.18% $85.90 -7.14% -14.10%
Day 3 100 -9.09% 0.00% $99.47 -13.64% -0.53% $97.61 13.64% -2.39%
Day 4 90 -10.00% -10.00% $84.55 -15.00% -15.45% $112.25 15.00% 12.25%
Day 5 85 -5.56% -15.00% $77.49 -8.34% -22.51% $121.62 8.34% 21.62%
Day 6 100 17.65% 0.00% $98.02 26.48% -1.98% $89.41 -26.48% -10.59%
Day 7 95 -5.00% -5.00% $90.66 -7.50% -9.34% $96.12 7.50% -3.88%
Day 8 100 5.26% 0.00% $97.82 7.89% -2.18% $88.53 -7.89% -11.47%
Day 9 105 5.00% 5.00% $105.15 7.50% 5.15% $81.89 -7.50% -18.11%
Day 10 100 -4.76% 0.00% $97.65 -7.14% -2.35% $87.74 7.14% -12.26%

 

Underlying Security 1.25X Bull Fund 1.25X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 105 5.00% 5.00% $106.25 6.25% 6.25% $93.75 -6.25% -6.25%
Day 2 110 4.76% 10.00% $112.57 5.95% 12.57% $88.17 -5.95% -11.83%
Day 3 100 -9.09% 0.00% $99.78 -11.36% -0.22% $98.19 11.36% -1.81%
Day 4 90 -10.00% -10.00% $87.31 -12.50% -12.69% $110.46 12.50% 10.46%
Day 5 85 -5.56% -15.00% $81.24 -6.95% -18.76% $118.14 6.95% 18.14%
Day 6 100 17.65% 0.00% $99.16 22.06% -0.84% $92.08 -22.06% -7.92%
Day 7 95 -5.00% -5.00% $92.97 -6.25% -7.03% $97.83 6.25% -2.17%
Day 8 100 5.26% 0.00% $99.08 6.58% -0.92% $91.39 -6.58% -8.61%
Day 9 105 5.00% 5.00% $105.27 6.25% 5.27% $85.68 -6.25% -14.31%
Day 10 100 -4.76% 0.00% $99.01 -5.95% -0.99% $90.78 5.95% -9.22%

 

Underlying Security 1.1X Bull Fund 1X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance


Cumulative Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
 Day 1 105 5.00% 5.00% $205.50 5.50% 5.50% $95.00 -5.00% -5.00%
Day 2 110 4.76% 10.00% $111.02 5.24% 11.02% $90.47 -4.76% -9.53%
Day 3 100 -9.09% 0.00% $99.92 -10.00% -0.08% $98.69 9.09% -1.31%
Day 4 90 -10.00% -10.00% $88.93 -11.00% -11.07% $108.55 10.00% 8.55%
Day 5 85 -5.56% -15.00% $83.49 -6.12% -16.51% $114.58 5.56% 14.58%
Day 6 100 17.65% 0.00% $99.70 19.42% -0.30% $94.35 -17.65% -5.65%
Day 7 95 -5.00% -5.00% $94.22 -5.50% -5.78% $99.06 5.00% -0.94%
Day 8 100 5.26% 0.00% $99.67 5.79% -0.33% $93.84 -5.26% -6.16%
Day 9 105 5.00% 5.00% $105.15 5.50% 5.15% $89.14 -5.00% -10.86%
Day 10 100 -4.76% 0.00% $99.65 -5.24% -0.35% $93.38 4.76% -6.62%

 

The cumulative performance of the underlying security in Table 5 is 0% for 10 trading days. The hypothetical return for the 10-trading day period is -6.12% for a 2X Bull Fund, -2.35% for a 1.5X Bull Fund, -0.99% for a 1.25X Bull Fund and -0.35% for 1.1X Bull Fund and -19.45% for a 2X Bear Fund, -12.26% for a 1.5X Bear Fund, -9.22% for a 1.25X Bear Fund and -6.62% for a 1X Bear Fund. The volatility of the underlying security’s performance and lack of a clear trend results in performance for each Fund for the period which bears little relationship to the performance of the underlying security for the 10-trading day period.

248 

 

Table 6 – Rises in a Clear Trend

 

Underlying Security 2X Bull Fund 2X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 102 2.00% 2.00% $104.00 4.00% 4.00% $90.00 -4.00% -4.00%
Day 2 104 1.96% 4.00% $108.08 3.92% 8.08% $81.43 -3.92% -7.76%
Day 3 106 1.92% 6.00% $112.24 3.84% 12.23% $ 96.23 -3.84% -11.31%
Day 4 108 1.89% 8.00% $116.47 3.78% 16.47% $115.48 -3.78% -14.66%
Day5 110 1.85% 10.00% $120.78 3.70% 20.78% $128.31 -3.70% -17.82%
Day 6 112 1.82% 12.00% $125.18 3.64% 25.17% $ 83.03 -3.64% -20.81%
Day 7 114 1.79% 14.00% $129.65 3.58% 29.66% $ 91.33 -3.58% -23.64%
Day 8 116 1.75% 16.00% $134.20 3.50% 34.19% $ 81.71 -3.50% -26.31%
Day 9 118 1.72% 18.00% $138.82 3.44% 38.81% $ 73.54 -3.44% -28.85%
Day 10 120 1.69% 20.00% $143.53 3.38% 43.50% $ 80.55 -3.38% -31.25%

 

Underlying Security 1.5X Bull Fund 1.5X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 102 2.00% 2.00% $103.00 3.00% 3.00% $90.00 -3.00% -3.00%
Day 2 104 1.96% 4.00% $106.03 2.94% 6.03% $81.43 -2.94% -5.85%
Day 3 106 1.92% 6.00% $109.08 2.88% 9.08% $ 96.23 -2.88% -8.56%
Day 4 108 1.89% 8.00% $112.18 2.84% 12.18% $115.48 -2.84% -11.16%
Day5 110 1.85% 10.00% $115.30 2.78% 15.30% $128.31 -2.78% -13.63%
Day 6 112 1.82% 12.00% $118.45 2.73% 18.45% $ 83.03 -2.73% -15.99%
Day 7 114 1.79% 14.00% $121.63 2.69% 21.63% $ 91.33 -2.69% -18.25%
Day 8 116 1.75% 16.00% $124.83 2.63% 24.83% $ 81.71 -2.63% -20.40%
Day 9 118 1.72% 18.00% $128.05 2.58% 28.05% $ 73.54 -2.58% -22.45%
Day 10 120 1.69% 20.00% $131.30 2.54% 31.30% $ 80.55 -2.54% -24.42%

 

Underlying Security 1.25X Bull Fund 1.25X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 102 2.00% 2.00% $102.50 2.50% 2.50% $97.50 -2.50% -2.50%
Day 2 104 1.96% 4.00% $105.01 2.45% 5.01% $95.11 -2.45% -4.89%
Day 3 106 1.92% 6.00% $107.53 2.40% 7.53% $92.83 -2.40% -7.17%
Day 4 108 1.89% 8.00% $110.07 2.36% 10.07% $90.64 -2.36% -9.36%
Day5 110 1.85% 10.00% $112.62 2.31% 12.62% $88.54 -2.31% -11.46%
Day 6 112 1.82% 12.00% $115.18 2.28% 15.18% $86.53 -2.28% -13.47%
Day 7 114 1.79% 14.00% $117.76 2.24% 17.76% $84.59 -2.24% -15.41%
Day 8 116 1.75% 16.00% $120.33 2.19% 20.33% $82.73 -2.19% -17.27%
Day 9 118 1.72% 18.00% $122.92 2.15% 22.92% $80.96 -2.15% -19.04%
Day 10 120 1.69% 20.00% $125.52 2.11% 25.52% $79.25 -2.11% -20.75%

 

249 

 

Underlying Security 1.1X Bull Fund 1X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 102 2.00% 2.00% $102.20 2.20% 2.20% $98.00 -2.00% -2.00%
Day 2 104 1.96% 4.00% $104.40 2.16% 4.40% $96.07 -1.96% -3.93%
Day 3 106 1.92% 6.00% $106.61 2.11% 6.61% $94.22 -1.92% -5.78%
Day 4 108 1.89% 8.00% $108.82 2.08% 8.82% $92.43 -1.89% -7.57%
Day5 110 1.85% 10.00% $111.04 2.04% 11.04% $90.72 -1.85% -9.28%
Day 6 112 1.82% 12.00% $113.26 2.00% 13.26% $89.06 -1.82% -10.94%
Day 7 114 1.79% 14.00% $115.49 1.97% 15.49% $87.46 -1.79% -12.54%
Day 8 116 1.75% 16.00% $117.72 1.93% 17.72% $85.92 -1.75% -14.08%
Day 9 118 1.72% 18.00% $119.94 1.89% 19.94% $84.44 -1.72% -15.56%
Day 10 120 1.69% 20.00% $122.17 1.86% 22.17% $83.01 -1.69% -16.91%

 

The cumulative performance of the underlying security in Table 6 is 20% for 10 trading days. The hypothetical return for the 10-trading day period is 43.50% for a 2x Bull Fund, 31.30% for a 1.5X Bull Fund, 25.52% for a 1.25X Bull Fund and 22.17% for a 1.1X Bull Fund and -31.25% for a 2X Bear Fund, -20.75% for a 1.5X Bear Fund, -20.75% for a 1.25X Bear Fund and -16.91% for a 1X Bear Fund. In this case, because of the positive hypothetical underlying security trend, each Bull Fund’s hypothetical gain is greater than the applicable multiple of the hypothetical underlying security gain for the 10-trading day period and each Bear Fund’s hypothetical decline is less than the applicable multiple of the hypothetical underlying security gain for the 10-trading day period.

 

Table 7 – Declines in a Clear Trend

 

Underlying Security 2X Bull Fund 2X Bear Fund
  Value Daily Performance Cumulative
Performance
NAV Daily Performance Cumulative
Performance
NAV Daily Performance Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 98 -2.00% -2.00% $ 96.00 -4.00% -4.00% $ 96.00 4.00% 4.00%
Day 2 96 -2.04% -4.00% $ 92.08 -4.08% -7.92% $ 92.08 4.08% 8.24%
Day 3 94 -2.08% -6.00% $ 88.24 -4.16% -11.75% $ 88.24 4.16% 12.75%
Day 4 92 -2.13% -8.00% $ 84.49 -4.26% -15.51% $ 84.49 4.26% 17.55%
Day 5 90 -2.17% -10.00% $ 80.82 -4.34% -19.17% $ 80.82 4.34% 22.65%
Day 6 88 -2.22% -12.00% $ 77.22 -4.44% -22.76% $ 77.22 4.44% 28.10%
Day 7 86 -2.27% -14.00% $ 73.71 -4.54% -26.27% $ 73.71 4.54% 33.91%
Day 8 84 -2.33% -16.00% $ 70.29 -4.66% -29.71% $ 70.29 4.66% 40.15%
Day 9 82 -2.38% -18.00% $ 66.94 -4.76% -33.05% $ 66.94 4.76% 26.82%
Day 10 80 -2.44% -20.00% $ 63.67 -4.88% -36.32% $ 63.67 4.88% 53.99%

 

Underlying Security 1.5X Bull Fund 1.5X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 98 -2.00% -2.00% $ 97.00 -3.00% -3.00% $ 103.00 3.00% 3.00%
Day 2 96 -2.04% -4.00% $ 94.03 -3.06% -5.97% $ 106.15 3.06% 6.15%
Day 3 94 -2.08% -6.00% $ 91.10 -3.12% -8.90% $ 109.46 3.12% 9.46%
Day 4 92 -2.13% -8.00% $ 88.18 -3.20% -11.82% $ 112.97 3.20% 12.97%
Day 5 90 -2.17% -10.00% $ 85.31 -3.26% -14.69% $ 116.65 3.26% 16.55%
Day 6 88 -2.22% -12.00% $ 82.47 -3.33% -17.53% $ 120.53 3.33% 20.53%
Day 7 86 -2.27% -14.00% $ 79.66 -3.41% -20.34% $ 124.64 3.41% 24.64%
Day 8 84 -2.33% -16.00% $ 76.87 -3.50% -23.13% $ 129.01 3.50% 29.01%
Day 9 82 -2.38% -18.00% $ 74.12 -3.57% -25.88% $ 133.61 3.57% 33.61%
Day 10 80 -2.44% -20.00% $ 71.42 -3.66% -28.59% $ 138.50 3.66% 38.50%

 

250 

 

Underlying Security 1.25X Bull Fund 1.25X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative
Performance
NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 98 -2.00% -2.00% $97.50 -2.50% -2.50% $102.5 2.50% 2.50%
Day 2 96 -2.04% -4.00% $95.01 -2.55% -4.99% $105.11 2.55% 5.11%
Day 3 94 -2.08% -6.00% $92.54 -2.60% -7.46% $107.85 2.60% 7.85%
Day 4 92 -2.13% -8.00% $90.08 -2.66% -9.92% $110.72 2.66% 10.72%
Day 5 90 -2.17% -10.00% $87.64 -2.71% -12.36% $113.72 2.71% 13.72%
Day 6 88 -2.22% -12.00% $85.20 -2.78% -14.80% $116.88 2.78% 16.88%
Day 7 86 -2.27% -14.00% $82.79 -2.84% -17.21% $120.20 2.84% 20.20%
Day 8 84 -2.33% -16.00% $80.38 -2.91% -19.62% $123.69 2.91% 23.69%
Day 9 82 -2.38% -18.00% $77.98 -2.98% -22.02% $127.38 2.98% 27.38%
Day 10 80 -2.44% -20.00% $75.61 -3.05% -24.39% $131.27 3.05% 31.27%

 

Underlying Security 1.1X Bull Fund 1X Bear Fund
  Value

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance NAV

Daily

Performance

Cumulative Performance
  100     $100.00     $100.00    
Day 1 98 -2.00% -2.00% $97.80 -2.20% -2.20% $102.00 2.00% 2.00%
Day 2 96 -2.04% -4.00% $95.61 -2.24% -4.39% $104.08 2.04% 4.08%
Day 3 94 -2.08% -6.00% $93.42 -2.29% -6.58% $106.24 2.08% 6.24%
Day 4 92 -2.13% -8.00% $91.23 -2.34% -8.77% $108.50 2.13% 8.50%
Day 5 90 -2.17% -10.00% $89.05 -2.39% -10.95% $110.85 2.17% 10.85%
Day 6 88 -2.22% -12.00% $86.88 -2.44% -13.12% $113.31 2.22% 13.31%
Day 7 86 -2.27% -14.00% $84.71 -2.50% -15.29% $115.88 2.27% 15.88%
Day 8 84 -2.33% -16.00% $82.54 -2.56% -17.46% $118.58 2.33% 18.58%
Day 9 82 -2.38% -18.00% $80.38 -2.62% -19.62% $121.40 2.38% 21.40%
Day 10 80 -2.44% -20.00% $78.22 -2.68% -21.78% $124.36 2.44% 24.36%

 

The cumulative performance of the underlying security in Table 7 is -20% for 10 trading days. The hypothetical return for the 10-trading day period is -36.32% for a 2X Bull Fund, -28.59% for a 1.5X Bull Fund, -24.39% for a 1.25X Bull Fund and -21.78% for a 1.1X Bull Fund and 53.99% for a 2X Bear Fund, 38.50% for a1.5X Bear Fund, 31.27% for a 1.25X Bear Fund and 24.36 for a 1X Bear Fund. In this case, because of the negative hypothetical underlying security trend, each Bull Fund’s hypothetical decline is less than the applicable multiple of the hypothetical underlying security decline for the 10-trading day period and each Bear Fund’s hypothetical gain is greater than applicable multiple of the hypothetical underlying security decline for the 10-trading day period.

 

Additional Risks of Investing in the Funds

 

Risk is inherent in all investing. Investing in the Funds involves risk, including the risk that you may lose all or part of your investment. There can be no assurance that the Funds will meet their stated objectives. Before you invest, you should consider the following supplemental disclosure pertaining to the Principal Risks set forth above as well as additional Non-Principal Risks set forth below in this prospectus.

251 

 

Principal Risks

 

Derivatives Risk. The Funds’ use derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Funds to greater risks and larger losses or smaller gains than investing directly in the reference asset(s) underlying those derivatives. A derivative refers to any financial instrument whose value is derived, at least in part, from the price of an underlying security, asset, rate or index. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative’s original cost.

 

 

Swap Agreement Risk. The Funds expect to use swap agreements as a means to achieve their investment objectives. Swap agreements are generally traded in OTC markets and have only recently become subject to regulation by the CFTC. CFTC rules, however, do not cover all types of swap agreements. Investors, therefore, may not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with the Funds’ swap agreements. The lack of regulation in these markets could expose investors to significant losses under certain circumstances, including in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by participants. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to uncleared OTC swap agreements is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, the Funds are subject to increased counterparty risk with respect to the amount they expect to receive from counterparties to uncleared swaps. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, the Funds could suffer significant losses on these contracts and the value of an investor’s investment in the Funds may decline. OTC swaps of the type that may be utilized by the Funds are less liquid than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are generally entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. Swaps are also subject to the risk of imperfect correlation between the value of the reference asset underlying the swap and the swap. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify a Fund’s gains and losses. Moreover, with respect to the use of swap agreements, if the underlying security has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in a Fund’s net assets, the terms of a swap agreement between a Fund and its counterparty may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction with the Fund. In that event, a Fund may be unable to enter into another swap agreement or invest in other derivatives to achieve the desired exposure consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. This, in turn, may prevent a Fund from achieving its investment objective, even the underlying security reverses all or a portion of its intraday move by the end of the day. As a result, the value of an investment in a Fund may change quickly and without warning.

 

Each Fund will be subject to regulatory constraints relating to level of risk the Fund may incur through its derivative portfolio. To the extent this risk exceeds these regulatory thresholds over an extended period, a Fund may determine that it is necessary to make adjustments to the Fund’s investment strategy, including the desired leveraged performance for the Fund.

 

Leverage Risk. Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of a Leveraged Bear Fund or Bull Fund, and may magnify any differences between the performance of a Leveraged Bear Fund or Bull Fund and its underlying security. Because each Leveraged Bear Fund or Bull Fund includes a multiplier of its underlying security, a single day movement in an underlying security approaching 50% for the 2X Bear Funds and 2X Bull Funds, 67% for the 1.5X Bear Fund and 1.5X Bull Fund, 80% for the 1.25X Bear Funds and 1.25X Bull Funds, and 91% for the 1.1X Bull Fund at any point in the day could result in the total loss of an investor’s investment if that movement is contrary to the investment objective of a Leveraged Bear Fund or Bull Fund, even if the underlying security subsequently moves in an opposite direction, eliminating all or a portion of the earlier movement. This would be the case with any such single day movements in the underlying security, even if the underlying security maintains a level greater than zero at all times.

252 

 

Compounding Risk. The Funds have a single day investment objective, and the Funds’ performance for any other period is the result of its return for each day compounded over the period. The performance of the Funds for periods longer than a single day will very likely differ in amount, and possibly even direction, from their stated multiple of the daily return of the underlying security for the same period, before accounting for fees and expenses. Compounding affects all investments, but has a more significant impact on an inverse or leveraged fund that rebalances daily. This effect becomes more pronounced as underlying security volatility and holding periods increase. The Funds’ performance for a period longer than a single day can be estimated given any set of assumptions for the following factors: (a) underlying security volatility; (b) underlying security performance; (c) period of time; (d) financing rates associated with inverse or leveraged exposure; and (e) other Fund expenses. The charts below illustrates the impact of two principal factors — underlying security volatility and underlying security performance — on Fund performance. The charts shows estimated returns for each Fund for a number of combinations of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance over a one-year period. Actual volatility, underlying security and Fund performance may differ significantly from the charts below. Performance shown in the charts assumes: (a) no Fund expenses; and (b) borrowing/lending rates (to obtain leveraged exposure) of zero percent. If Fund expenses and/or actual borrowing/ lending rates were reflected, the Funds’ performance would be lower than shown.

 

In the graph below, areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 2X Bull Fund can be expected to return less than 200% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 2X Bull Fund can be expected to return more than 200% of the performance of the underlying security. A 2X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated 2X Bull Fund Returns

 

One Year
Underlying

Security

200%

One Year

Underlying

Security

Volatility Rate

Return

Return

10%

25%

50%

75%

100%

-60%

-120%

-84.2%

-85.0%

-87.5%

-90.9%

-94.1%

-50%

-100%

-75.2%

-76.5%

-80.5%

-85.8%

-90.8%

-40%

-80%

-64.4%

-66.2%

-72.0%

-79.5%

-86.8%

-30%

-60%

-51.5%

-54.0%

-61.8%

-72.1%

-82.0%

-20%

-40%

-36.6%

-39.9%

-50.2%

-63.5%

-76.5%

-10%

-20%

-19.8%

-23.9%

-36.9%

-53.8%

-70.2%

0%

0%

-1.0%

-6.1%

-22.1%

-43.0%

-63.2%

10%

20%

19.8%

13.7%

-5.8%

-31.1%

-55.5%

20%

40%

42.6%

35.3%

12.1%

-18.0%

-47.0%

30%

60%

67.3%

58.8%

31.6%

-3.7%

-37.8%

40%

80%

94.0%

84.1%

52.6%

11.7%

-27.9%

50%

100%

122.8%

111.4%

75.2%

28.2%

-17.2%

60%

120%

153.5%

140.5%

99.4%

45.9%

-5.8%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 2X Bull Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 2X Bull Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 40% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 2X Bull Fund could be expected to return –5.8% under such a scenario. A 2X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.5X Bull Fund can be expected to return less than 150% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.5X Bull Fund can be expected to return more than 150% of the performance of the underlying security. A 1.5X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

253 

 

Estimated 1.5X Bull Fund Returns

 

One
Year
 Underlying Security
150% One Year Underlying Security Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -90% -74.8% -75.3% -77.0% -79.5% -82.6%
-50% -75% -64.8% -65.5% -67.8% -71.4% -75.7%
-40% -60% -53.7% -54.6% 57.7% -62.4% -68.1%
-30% -45% -41.7% -42.8% -46.7% -52.6% -59.7%
-20% -30% -28.7% -30.1% -34.8% -42.1% -50.8%
-10% -15% -14.9% -16.6% -22.3% -30.9% -41.3%
0% 0% -0.4% -2.3% -8.9% -19.0% -31.3%
10% 15% 14.9% 12.7% 5.0% -6.6% -20.7%
20% 30% 31.0% 28.4% 19.7% 6.5% -9.7%
30% 45% 47.7% 44.8% 35.0% 20.0% 1.9%
40% 60% 65.0% 61.8% 50.8% 34.1% 13.8%
50% 75% 83.0% 79.5% 67.3% 48.8% 26.3%
60% 90% 101.6% 97.9% 84.3% 63.9% 39.1%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of the 1.5X Bull Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 1.5X Bull Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 30% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 1.5X Bull Fund could be expected to return 19.7% under such a scenario. A 1.5X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

In the graph below, areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.25X Bull Fund can be expected to return less than 125% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.25X Bull Fund can be expected to return more than 125% of the performance of the underlying security. A 1.25X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below. 

 

Estimated 1.25X Bull Fund Returns

 

One
Year
Underlying
Security
125% One Year Underlying Security Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -75% -68.2% -68.5% -69.4% -70.9% -72.8%
-50% -62.5% -58.0% -58.4% -59.6% -61.5% -64.0%
-40% -50% -47.3% -47.7% -49.2% -51.6% -54.8%
-30% -37.5% -36.1% -36.6% -38.4% -41.4% -45.2%
-20% -25% -24.5% -25.1% -27.2% -30.7% -35.3%
-10% -12.5% -12.5% -13.2% -15.7% -19.7% -25.0%
0% 0% -0.2% -1.0% -3.8% -8.4% -14.5%
10% 12.5% 12.5% 11.6% 8.3% 3.2% -3.6%
20% 25% 25.4% 24.4% 20.8% 15.0% 7.4%
30% 37.5% 38.6% 37.5% 33.5% 27.1% 18.7%
40% 50% 52.0% 50.8% 46.5% 39.5% 30.3%
50% 62.5% 65.7% 64.4% 59.6% 52.0% 42.0%
60% 75% 79.7% 78.2% 73.1% 64.8% 53.9%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 1.25X Bull Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 1.25X Bull Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 25% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 1.25X Bull Fund could be expected to return 20.8% under such a scenario. A 1.25X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

In the graph below, areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.1X Bull Fund can be expected to return less than 110% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.1X Bull Fund can be expected to return more than 110% of the performance of the underlying security. A 1.1X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

254 

 

Estimated 1.1X Bear Fund Returns

 

One
Year
 Underlying Security
110% One Year Underlying Security Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% -66% -60% -60% -61% -62% -64%
-50% -55% -51% -51% -53% -55% -56%
-40% -44% -41% -42% -43% -46% -48%
-30% -33% -32% -33% -34% -36% -40%
-20% -22% -22% -23% -24% -27% -32%
-10% -11% -11% -11% -14% -18% -22%
0% 0% 0% -1% -4% -7% -13%
10% 11% 11% 11% 8% 4% -4%
20% 22% 22% 22% 18% 15% 7%
30% 33% 33% 33% 29% 24% 16%
40% 44% 46% 45% 40% 35% 26%
50% 55% 57% 56% 53% 47% 36%
60% 66% 70% 69% 64% 57% 48%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 1.1X Bull Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 1.1X Bull Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a 22% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 1.1X Bull Fund could be expected to return 18% under such a scenario. A 1.1X Bull Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below. 

 

In the graph below, areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 2X Bear Fund can be expected to return less than -200% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 2X Bear Fund can be expected to return more than -200% of the performance of the underlying security. A 2X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

255 

 

Estimated 2X Bear Fund Returns

 

One Year
Underlying

Security

-200%

One Year

Underlying

Security

Volatility Rate

Return

Return

10%

25%

50%

75%

100%

-60%

120%

506.5%

418.1%

195.2%

15.6%

-68.9%

-50%

100%

288.2%

231.6%

88.9%

-26.0%

-80.1%

-40%

80%

169.6%

130.3%

31.2%

-48.6%

-86.2%

-30%

60%

98.1%

69.2%

-3.6%

-62.2%

-89.8%

-20%

40%

51.6%

29.5%

-26.2%

-71.1%

-92.2%

-10%

20%

19.8%

2.3%

-41.7%

-77.2%

-93.9%

0%

0%

-3.0%

-17.1%

-52.8%

-81.5%

-95.0%

10%

-20%

-19.8%

-31.5%

-61.0%

-84.7%

-95.9%

20%

-40%

-32.6%

-42.4%

-67.2%

-87.2%

-96.5%

30%

-60%

-42.6%

-50.9%

-72.0%

-89.1%

-97.1%

40%

-80%

-50.5%

-57.7%

-75.9%

-90.6%

-97.5%

50%

-100%

-56.9%

-63.2%

-79.0%

-91.8%

-97.8%

60%

-120%

-62.1%

-67.6%

-81.5%

-92.8%

-98.1%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 2X Bear Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 2X Bear Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -40% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 2X Bear Fund could be expected to return -67.2% under such a scenario. A 2X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

Areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.5X Bear Fund can be expected to return less than -150% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.5X Bear Fund can be expected to return more than -150% of the performance of the underlying security. A 1.5X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated 1.5X Bear Fund Returns

 

One
Year
Underlying
Security
-150% One Year Underlying Security Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 90% 287.9% 251.6% 147.4% 37.7% -39.4%
-50% 75% 177.6% 151.6% 77.0% -1.5% -56.6%
-40% 60% 111.2% 91.4% 34.6% -25.1% -67.0%
-30% 45% 67.6% 51.9% 6.9% -40.5% -73.8%
-20% 30% 37.2% 24.3% -12.5% -51.3% -78.6%
-10% 15% 14.9% 4.2% -26.7% -59.2% -82.0%
0% 0% -1.9% -11.1% -37.4% -65.2% -84.7%
10% -15% -14.9% -22.9% -45.8% -69.8% -86.7%
20% -30% -25.3% -32.3% -52.4% -73.5% -88.3%
30% -45% -33.8% -40.0% -57.8% -76.5% -89.7%
40% -60% -40.8% -46.3% -62.2% -79.0% -90.7%
50% -75% -46.6% -51.6% -65.9% -81.0% -91.7%
60% -90% -51.5% -56.1% -69.1% -82.8% -92.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of the underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 1.5X Bear Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 1.5X Bear Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -30% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, the 1.5X Bear Fund could be expected to return –52.4% under such a scenario. A 1.5X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below. 

 

In the graph below, areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.25X Bear Fund can be expected to return less than -125% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 1.25X Bear Fund can be expected to return more than -125% of the performance of the underlying security. A 1.25X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

256 

 

Estimated 1.25X Bear Fund Returns

 

One
Year
Underlying
Security
-125% One Year Underlying Security Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 75% 210% 187.9% 121.2% 42.5% -23.0%
-50% 62.5% 134.5% 117.8% 67.3% 7.8% -41.7%
-40% 50% 86.7% 73.4% 33.2% -14.1% -53.6%
-30% 37.5% 54.0% 43.0% 9.9% -29.2% -61.7%
-20% 25% 30.3% 21.1% -7.0% -40.1% -67.6%
-10% 12.5% 12.5% 4.5% -19.7% -48.3% -72.0%
0% 0% -1.4% -8.4% -29.6% -54.7% -75.5%
10% -12.5% -12.5% -18.7% -37.5% -59.8% -78.2%
20% -25% -21.5% -27.1% -44.0% -63.9% -80.5%
30% -37.5% -29.0% -34.0% -49.3% -67.3% -82.3%
40% -50% -35.3% -39.9% -53.8% 70.2% -83.9%
50% -62.5% -40.6% -44.8% -57.6% -72.7% -85.2%
60% -75% -45.2% -49.1% -60.9% -74.8% -86.4%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 1.25X Bear Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 1.25X Bear Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -25% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 1.25X Bear Fund could be expected to return -44% under such a scenario. A 1.25X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below.

 

In the graph below, areas shaded red (or dark gray) represent those scenarios where a 1X Bear Fund can be expected to return less than -100% of the performance of the underlying security and those shaded green (or light gray) represent those scenarios where a 1X Bear Fund can be expected to return more than -100% of the performance of the underlying security. A 1X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown below as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Correlation Risk” below.

 

Estimated 1X Bear Fund Returns

 

One
Year
 Underlying Security
-100% One Year  Underlying Security Volatility Rate
Return Return 10% 25% 50% 75% 100%
-60% 60% 148.55% 134.42% 95.28% 43.98% -5.83%
-50% 50% 99.13% 87.77% 56.26% 15.23% -24.77%
-40% 40% 66.08% 56.57% 30.21% -4.08% -37.57%
-30% 45% 42.43% 34.25% 11.56% -17.98% -46.76%
-20% 20% 24.67% 17.47% -2.47% -28.38% -53.72%
-10% 10% 10.83% 4.44% -13.28% -36.52% -58.79%
0% 0% -0.25% -6.04% -22.08% -42.90% -63.23%
10% -10% -9.32% -14.64% -29.23% -48.27% -66.67%
20% -20% -16.89% -21.75% -35.24% -52.72% -69.67%
30% -30% -23.29% -27.84% -56.41% -71.94% -71.94%
40% -40% -28.78% -33.01% -44.63% -59.81% -74.23%
50% -50% -33.55% -37.52% -48.57% -62.60% -76.19%
60% -60% -37.72% -41.51% -51.96% -65.19% -78.12%

 

The foregoing table is intended to isolate the effect of underlying security volatility and underlying security performance on the return of a 1X Bear Fund and is not a representation of actual returns. For example, a 1X Bear Fund may incorrectly be expected to achieve a -20% return on a yearly basis if the underlying security return were 20%, absent the effects of compounding. As the table shows, with underlying security volatility of 50%, a 1X Bear Fund could be expected to return -35.24% under such a scenario. A 1X Bear Fund’s actual returns may be significantly better or worse than the returns shown above as a result of any of the factors discussed above or in “Principal Risks — Correlation Risk” below. 

 

257 

 

Correlation Risk. A number of factors may affect a Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with its underlying security, and there is no guarantee that the Funds will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve a high degree of correlation may prevent the Funds from achieving their investment objectives, and the percentage change of a Fund’s NAV each day may differ, perhaps significantly in amount, and possibly even direction, from their stated multiple of the percentage change of the underlying security on such day.

 

In order to achieve a high degree of correlation with its underlying security, each Fund seeks to rebalance its portfolio daily to keep exposure consistent with its investment objective. Being materially under- or overexposed to its underlying security may prevent a Fund from achieving a high degree of correlation with its underlying security and may expose the Fund to greater leverage risk. Market disruptions or closure, regulatory restrictions, market volatility, illiquidity in the markets for the financial instruments in which a Fund invests, and other factors will adversely affect a Fund’s ability to adjust exposure to requisite levels. The target amount of portfolio exposure is impacted dynamically by an underlying security’s movements, including intraday movements. Because of this, it is unlikely that a Fund will have perfect exposure during the day or at the end of each day and the likelihood of being materially under- or overexposed is higher on days when the underlying security is volatile, particularly when the underlying security is volatile at or near the close of the trading day.

 

A number of other factors may also adversely affect a Fund’s correlation with its underlying security, including fees, expenses, transaction costs, financing costs associated with the use of derivatives, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities or financial instruments in which a Fund invests. The Funds may take or refrain from taking positions in order to improve tax efficiency, comply with regulatory restrictions, or for other reasons, each of which may negatively affect the Funds’ correlation with the underlying securities. The Funds may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Funds, potentially resulting in the Funds being under- or overexposed to the underlying securities. Additionally, the Funds’ underlying investments and/or reference assets may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day as the Funds, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Funds and changes in the level of the underlying securities. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Funds and the underlying securities and may hinder a Fund’s ability to meet its daily investment objective on or around that day.

258 

 

Rebalancing Risk. If for any reason a Fund is unable to rebalance all or a portion of its portfolio, or if all or a portion of the portfolio is rebalanced incorrectly, a Fund’s investment exposure may not be consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In these instances, a Fund may have investment exposure to its underlying security that is significantly greater or less than its stated multiple. As a result, a Fund may be more exposed to leverage risk than if they had been properly rebalanced and may not achieve its investment objective.

 

Trading Halt Risk. Although an underlying issuer’s shares are listed for trading on an exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be available at all times and the exchange may halt trading of such shares in certain circumstances. A halt in trading in the underlying issuer’s shares may, in turn, result in a halt in the trading in the Fund’s shares. Trading in the underlying issuer’s and/or Fund’s shares on the exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the exchange, make trading in the underlying issuer’s and/or Fund’s shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in the underlying issuer’s and/or Fund’s shares on an exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to exchange “circuit breaker” rules.” In the event of a trading halt for an extended period of time, the Fund may be unable to execute arrangements with swap counterparties that are necessary to implement the Fund’s investment strategy.

 

Counterparty Risk. Investing in derivatives involves entering into contracts with third parties (i.e., counterparties). The use of derivatives involves risks that are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The Funds will be subject to credit risk (i.e., the risk that a counterparty is or is perceived to be unwilling or unable to make timely payments or otherwise meet its contractual obligations) with respect to the amount they expect to receive from counterparties to derivatives and repurchase agreements entered into by the Funds. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or fails to perform its obligations, or if any collateral posted by the counterparty for the benefit of the Funds are insufficient or there are delays in the Funds’ ability to access such collateral, the value of an investment in the Funds may decline.

 

Short Sale Exposure Risk. The Bear Funds will seek inverse or “short” exposure through financial instruments, which would cause a Bear Fund to be exposed to certain risks associated with selling short. These risks include, under certain market conditions, an increase in the volatility and decrease in the liquidity of the instruments underlying the short position, which may lower a Bear Fund’s return, result in a loss, have the effect of limiting a Bear Fund’s ability to obtain inverse exposure through financial instruments, or require a Bear Fund to seek inverse exposure through alternative investment strategies that may be less desirable or more costly to implement. To the extent that, at any particular point in time, the instruments underlying the short position may be thinly traded or have a limited market, including due to regulatory action, a Bear Fund may be unable to meet its investment objective due to a lack of available securities or counterparties. During such periods, a Bear Fund’s ability to issue additional Creation Units may be adversely affected. Obtaining inverse exposure through these instruments may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends or payments by any assets underlying a Bear Fund’s short positions, if any, would negatively impact a Bear Fund.

 

Inverse Correlation Risk. Short (inverse) positions are designed to profit from a decline in the price of a particular reference asset. Investors in the Bear Funds will lose money when an underlying security rises, which is the opposite result from that of traditional funds. A single day or intraday increase in the performance of an underlying security may result in the total loss or almost total loss of an investor’s investment, even if the underlying security subsequently moves lower. Like leveraged funds, inverse funds may be considered to be aggressive. Inverse positions may also be leveraged. Such instruments may experience imperfect negative correlation between the price of the investment and the underlying security or index. The use of inverse instruments may expose a Bear Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested only in “long” positions.

259 

 

Indirect Investment Risk. The issuers of the underlying securities are not affiliated with the Trust, the Advisor, or any affiliates thereof and is not involved with this offering in any way, and has no obligation to consider the Fund in taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of Shares. The Advisor has not made any due diligence inquiry with respect to the publicly available information of the underlying issuers in connection with this offering. Investors in the Shares will not have voting rights or rights to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the common shares of the underlying issuers.

 

Intraday Price Performance Risk. The intraday performance of shares of the Funds traded in the secondary market generally will be different from the performance of the Funds when measured from one NAV calculation-time to the next. When shares are bought intraday, the performance of a Fund’s shares relative to its underlying security until the Fund’s next NAV calculation time will generally be greater than or less than the Fund’s stated multiple times the performance of the underlying security.

 

Automotive Companies Risk. The automotive industry can be highly cyclical, and companies in the industry may suffer periodic operating losses. Automotive companies can be significantly affected by labor relations and fluctuating component prices. Developments in automotive technologies (e.g., autonomous vehicle technologies) may require significant capital expenditures that may not generate profits for several years, if ever. Automotive companies may be significantly subject to government policies and regulations regarding imports and exports of automotive products. Governmental policies affecting the automotive industry, such as taxes, tariffs, duties, subsidies, and import and export restrictions on automotive products can influence industry profitability. In addition, such companies must comply with environmental laws and regulations, for which there may be severe consequences for non-compliance. While most of the major automotive manufacturers are large companies, certain others may be non-diversified in both product line and customer base and may be more vulnerable to certain events that may negatively impact the automotive industry.

 

Semiconductor Company Risk. Competitive pressures may have a significant effect on the financial condition of semiconductor companies and, as product cycles shorten and manufacturing capacity increases, these companies may become increasingly subject to aggressive pricing, which hampers profitability. Reduced demand for end-user products, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity, and other factors could adversely impact the operating results of companies in the semiconductor sector. Semiconductor companies typically face high capital costs and may be heavily dependent on intellectual property rights. The semiconductor sector is highly cyclical, which may cause the operating results of many semiconductor companies to vary significantly. The stock prices of companies in the semiconductor sector have been and likely will continue to be extremely volatile.

 

Energy Companies Risk. The success of energy companies may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by energy companies may decline for many reasons, including, among other things, changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources, exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Energy companies may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of energy companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of energy companies. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, political strife or natural disasters.

260 

 

Aviation Industry Risk. Risks associated with aviation industry include, but are not limited to, risks related to commercial aircraft, the leasing of aircraft by commercial airlines and the commercial aviation industry generally, as well as with respect to any one aircraft or type of aircraft, the particular maintenance and operating history for the aircraft or its components, the model and type of aircraft, the jurisdiction of registration and regulatory risk. In addition to the foregoing, market events such as economic declines and recessions, geopolitical conflicts and the occurrence or threat of pandemics, terrorism or war can have a material adverse effect on the aviation industry generally, especially when such market events cause material declines in travel, increases in costs or future uncertainty for airlines, aircraft or the commercial aviation industry generally. For example, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel has substantially declined, and many airlines have become dependent, at least in part, on government aid. There can be no assurance that this government aid will continue, that it will be sufficient to sustain airlines or the industry generally, or that it will limit or prevent decreases in the value of securities related to the aviation industry

 

Payments Industry Risk. Companies in the payments industry are subject to major changes in technology, security considerations, taxes, government regulation, general economic conditions, competition and potential political influences. Competition is a threat to payments companies, much of which is derived from related technology risks. Competitors in this industry include financial institutions and well-established payment processing companies, but the industry is also facing new competitive pressure from non-traditional participants in the payments industry. Keeping up with technology changes requires a significant amount of research, software and product development, which may be costly. This investment in technology is not guaranteed to earn a positive return, depending on the success of the technology developed. While digital payments are expected to continue to grow as an overall portion of transactions as a whole, the payments industry is cyclical and a material and/or sustained downturn in the economy may materially impact the business models of such companies.

 

Financial Companies Risk. Financial companies, such as retail and commercial banks, insurance companies and financial services companies, are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, extensive government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets, industries or products (such as commercial and residential real estate loans) and competition from new entrants and blurred distinctions in their fields of business.

 

Pharmaceuticals Industry Risk. Companies in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. The profitability of some companies in the pharmaceuticals industry may be dependent on a relatively limited number of products. In addition, their products can become obsolete due to industry innovation, changes in technologies, or other market developments. Many new products in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to government approvals, regulation, and reimbursement rates. The process of obtaining government approvals may be long and costly. Many companies in the pharmaceuticals industry are heavily dependent on patents and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies.

 

Cloud Computing Companies Risk. Cloud computing companies include companies that provide remote computation, software, data access and storage services. The risks related to investing in such companies include disruption in service caused by hardware or software failure, interruptions or delays in service by third-party data center hosting facilities and maintenance providers, security breaches involving certain private, sensitive, proprietary and confidential information managed and transmitted by cloud computing companies, and privacy concerns and laws, evolving Internet regulation and other foreign or domestic regulations that may limit or otherwise affect the operations of such companies. In addition, the business models employed by the companies in the cloud computing industry may not prove to be successful.

261 

 

Retail Companies Risk. Retail companies are companies that are engaged in operating merchandise stores, which include department stores, discount stores, warehouse clubs and superstores, specialty stores, and home improvement and home furnishings stores. The retail industry is very competitive and the success of these companies is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics, consumer tastes, fads, marketing campaigns and other factors that impact supply and demand can also affect the success of retail products in the marketplace.

 

Liquidity Risk. In certain circumstances, such as the disruption of the orderly markets for the financial instruments in which the Funds invest, the Funds might not be able to acquire or dispose of certain holdings quickly or at prices that represent true market value in the judgment of the Adviser. Markets for the financial instruments in which the Funds invest may be disrupted by a number of events, including but not limited to economic crises, health crises, natural disasters, excessive volatility, new legislation, or regulatory changes inside or outside of the U.S. For example, regulation limiting the ability of certain financial institutions to invest in certain financial instruments would likely reduce the liquidity of those instruments. These situations may prevent a Fund from limiting losses, realizing gains or achieving a high long leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged correlation with its underlying security.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Funds may incur high portfolio turnover to manage the Funds’ investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Funds’ Shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of portfolio transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains. Each of these factors could have a negative impact on the performance of the Funds.

 

Market Risk. The value of a particular security, or Shares of the Funds in general, may fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Funds and their investments. For example, because of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. In addition, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Funds’ portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Funds’ Shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Funds’ Shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value. Shares of the Funds could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Valuation Risk. The Funds may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Funds could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Funds would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Funds at that time. The Funds’ ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

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Concentration Risk. Each Fund will be concentrated in the industry assigned to its underlying issuer (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets in investments that provide long leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged exposure, as applicable, to the industry assigned to the underlying issuer). A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry may present more risks than a portfolio broadly diversified over several industries.

 

Collateral Investments Risk. The Funds’ use of Collateral Investments may include obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bills, notes and bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, money market funds, short term bond ETFs and corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper.

 

Some securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, in which case the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate. Although the Funds may hold securities that carry U.S. Government guarantees, these guarantees do not extend to shares of the Funds.

 

Money market funds are subject to management fees and other expenses. Therefore, investments in money market funds will cause the Funds to bear indirectly a proportional share of the fees and costs of the money market funds in which they invests. At the same time, the Funds will continue to pay their own management fees and expenses with respect to all of its assets, including any portion invested in the shares of the money market fund. It is possible to lose money by investing in money market funds.

 

Short term bond ETFs will generally invest in short-term instruments (i.e., duration of less than one year). The amount of time until a fixed-income security matures can lead to various risks, including changes in interest rates over the life of a bond. Short-term fixed income securities generally provide lower returns than longer-term fixed income securities. The average maturity of an ETF’s investments will affect the volatility of the ETF’s share price.

 

Corporate debt securities such as commercial paper generally are short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by businesses. Corporate debt may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest. Corporate debt securities carry both credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk is the risk that the Funds could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due. Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment-grade generally are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.

 

Debt Securities Risk. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Funds may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

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Call Risk. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. The Funds are subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. The Funds would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the Funds’ income.

 

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

 

Volatility Risk. Volatility is the characteristic of a security or other asset, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. The value of the Funds’ investments in swaps – and therefore the value of an investment in the Funds – could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. If you are not prepared to accept significant and unexpected changes in the value of the Funds and the possibility that you could lose your entire investment in the Funds, you should not invest in the Funds.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in the Funds’ portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. The Funds may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

 

Cyber Security Risk. The Funds are susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Funds to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Funds to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Funds’ digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Funds’ third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, or custodian, as applicable, or issuers in which the Funds invest, can also subject the Funds to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. While the Funds have established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Additionally, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Funds do not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Funds. The Funds have a limited number of institutions that act as APs on an agency basis (i.e. on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Funds and no other AP is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Shares may trade at a discount to the Funds’ net asset value and possibly face delisting.

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Active Management Risk. The Funds are actively-managed and their performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Funds. Such judgments about the Funds’ investments may prove to be incorrect. If the investments selected and the strategies employed by the Funds fail to produce the intended results, the Funds could underperform as compared to other funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies, or could have negative returns.

 

Active Market Risk. Although the Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Shares will develop or be maintained. Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at or above the respective Fund’s net asset value. Securities, including the Shares, are subject to market fluctuations and liquidity constraints that may be caused by such factors as economic, political, or regulatory developments, changes in interest rates, and/or perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Funds could decline in value or underperform other investments.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The market price of the Funds’ Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Funds’ net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the Shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Funds trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that Shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of Shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Funds’ Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Funds’ underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Funds’ Shares and their net asset value. Furthermore, the Funds may at times limit or suspend entirely the issuance of new Creation Units, which could have the effect of enhancing the premium or discount associated with the Funds’ Shares.

 

Operational Risk. The Funds are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Funds’ service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Funds and the Adviser 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.

 

Credit Risk. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments.

 

Market Maker Risk. If the Funds have lower average daily trading volumes, they may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of Shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Funds’ net asset values and the price at which the Shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or APs to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Funds’ portfolio securities and the Funds’ market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intra-day bid-ask spreads for Shares.

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New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Funds have no operating history and currently have fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Funds’ market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Funds are classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Funds are only limited as to the percentage of their assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Code. The Funds seek to achieve daily results that correspond to a multiple of the daily performance of a single issuer by entering into one or more swap agreements. In seeking this objective, the Funds may invest a relatively high percentage of their assets in swap agreements with a single counterparty or a few counterparties. As a result, the Funds may experience increased volatility and be more susceptible to a single economic or regulatory occurrence affecting the issuer or one or more of the counterparties.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Funds must satisfy certain diversification and other requirements. In particular, a Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. The application of these requirements to certain investments (including swaps) that may be entered into by the Funds is unclear. In addition, the application of these requirements to the Fund’s investment objective is not clear, particularly because the Fund’s investment objective focuses on the performance of the stock of a single issuer. If a Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

 

Security Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause a security held by the Funds to be more volatile than the market generally. The value of an individual security or particular type of security may be more volatile than the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

Non-Principal Risks

 

Inflation Risk. Inflation may reduce the intrinsic value of increases in the value of the Funds. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the value of the Funds’ assets can decline as can the value of the Funds’ distributions.

 

Legislation and Litigation Risk. Legislation or litigation that affects the value of securities held by the Funds may reduce the value of the Funds. From time to time, various legislative initiatives are proposed that may have a negative impact on certain securities in which the Funds invest. In addition, litigation regarding any of the securities owned by the Funds may negatively impact the value of the Shares. Such legislation or litigation may cause the Funds to lose value or may result in higher portfolio turnover if the Adviser determines to sell such a holding.

 

Management of the Funds

 

The Funds are series of Investment Managers Series Trust II, an investment company registered under the 1940 Act. The Funds are treated as separate funds with their own investment objectives and policies. The Trust is organized as a Delaware statutory trust. The Board is responsible for the overall management and direction of the Trust. The Board elects the Trust’s officers and approves all significant agreements, including those with the Adviser, Sub-Adviser, custodian and fund administrative and accounting agent.

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Investment Adviser

 

AXS Investments LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, serves as the Fund’s adviser pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”).

 

In its capacity as Adviser, AXS Investments manages the Funds’ investments subject to the supervision of the Board. The Adviser also arranges for transfer agency, custody, fund administration, distribution and all other services necessary for the Funds to operate. Further, the Adviser continuously reviews, supervises, and administers the Funds’ investment program.

 

The principal office of the Adviser is located at 181 Westchester Ave, Suite 402, Port Chester, New York 10573. The telephone number of the Fund is (866) 984-2510.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

The individual members of the team responsible for the day-to-day management of each Fund’s portfolios are listed below.

 

Matthew Tuttle is a portfolio manager of the Fund. Prior to joining AXS, Mr. Tuttle was the Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager of Tuttle Capital Management since 2012. Mr. Tuttle holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from Clark University. Parker Binion is a portfolio manager of the Fund. Prior to joining AXS in January 2021, Mr. Binion was a portfolio manager of Kerns Capital Management, Inc. since September 2014, and was responsible for managing the firm’s separately managed account strategies and hedging/net exposure strategies. Prior to 2014, Mr. Binion was an investment advisor representative with Heritage Capital from 2012 to 2014. He holds an A.B. in political science with a concentration in economics from Duke University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Texas at Austin. For additional information concerning AXS Investments, including a description of the services provided to the Funds, please see the statement of additional information for the Funds. Additional information regarding the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of Shares may also be found in the statement of additional information.

 

Manager of Managers Structure

 

The Funds and the Adviser have received an exemptive order from the SEC to operate under a manager of managers structure that permits the Adviser, with the approval of the Board, to appoint and replace sub-advisers, enter into sub-advisory agreements, and materially amend and terminate sub-advisory agreements on behalf of each Fund without shareholder approval (the “Manager of Managers Structure”). Under the Manager of Managers Structure, the Adviser has ultimate responsibility, subject to oversight by the Board, for overseeing a Fund’s sub-adviser(s) and recommending to the Board the hiring, termination, or replacement of any such sub-adviser(s). The exemptive order does not apply to any sub-adviser that is affiliated with a Fund or the Adviser.

 

The Manager of Managers Structure enables each Fund to operate with greater efficiency and without incurring the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approvals for matters relating to sub-advisers or sub-advisory agreements. The Manager of Managers Structure does not permit an increase in the overall management and advisory fees payable by a Fund without shareholder approval. Shareholders will be notified of any changes made to sub-advisers or sub-advisory agreements within 90 days of the changes.

 

Management Fee

 

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between the Adviser and the Trust, on behalf of the Funds, the Adviser manages each Fund’s assets and operations of the Funds.

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For each Fund, the Adviser is paid an annual management fee of 0.95% of the respective Fund’s average daily net assets, calculated daily and payable monthly.

 

A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the Investment Advisory Agreement on behalf of the Funds will be available in the Funds’ Semi-Annual Report to shareholders for the fiscal period ended September 30, 2022.

 

Fund Expenses

 

Each Fund is responsible for its own operating expenses (all of which will be borne directly or indirectly by the Fund’s shareholders), including among others, legal fees and expenses of counsel to the Fund and the Fund’s independent trustees; insurance (including trustees’ and officers’ errors and omissions insurance); auditing and accounting expenses; taxes and governmental fees; listing fees; fees and expenses of the Fund’s custodians, administrators, transfer agents, registrars and other service providers; expenses for portfolio pricing services by a pricing agent, if any; expenses in connection with the issuance and offering of shares; brokerage commissions and other costs of acquiring or disposing of any portfolio holding of the Fund and any litigation expenses.

 

The Advisor has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or pay for operating expenses of each Fund to ensure that the total annual fund operating expenses (exclusive of any (i) front-end or contingent deferred loads, (ii) brokerage fees and commission, (iii) acquired fund fees and expenses, (iv) fees and expenses associated with instruments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments (including for example options and swap fees and expenses), (v) borrowing costs (such as interest and dividend expense on securities sold short), (vi) taxes, (vii) other fees related to underlying investments (such as option fees and expenses or swap fees and expenses), or (viii) extraordinary expenses such as litigation (which may include indemnification of Fund officers and trustees or contractual indemnification of Fund service providers (other than the Fund’s advisor) do not exceed 1.15% of the respective Fund’s average daily net assets. This agreement is in effect until the dates indicated in the table below and it may be terminated before that date only by the Trust’s Board of Trustees.

 

Any reduction in advisory fees or payment of fund expenses made by AXS in a fiscal year may be reimbursed by the Funds for a period ending three years after the date of reduction or payment if AXS so requests. Such reimbursement may be requested from a Fund if the reimbursement will not cause the Fund’s annual expense ratio to exceed the lesser of (a) the expense limitation in effect at the time such fees were waived or payments made, or (b) the expense limitation in effect at the time of the reimbursement. Reimbursement of fees waived or payments made will be made on a “first in, first out” basis so that the oldest fees waived or payments are satisfied first. All other reimbursement is contingent upon the Board’s subsequent review of the reimbursed amounts. Each Fund must pay current ordinary operating expenses before the Advisor is entitled to any reimbursement of fees and/or fund expenses.

 

Buying and Selling Fund Shares

 

Fund shares are listed for trading on the Exchange. When you buy or sell the Funds’ shares on the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price. You may incur customary brokerage commissions and charges and 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. The shares of the Funds will trade on the Exchange at prices that may differ to varying degrees from the daily NAV of such shares. A “Business Day” with respect to the Funds is any day on which the Exchange is open for business. The Exchange is generally open Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and 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.

 

Each Fund’s NAV is calculated as of 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the normal close of regular trading on the NYSE, on each day the NYSE is open for trading. If for example, the NYSE closes at 1:00 p.m. New York time, the Funds’ NAVs would still be determined as of 4:00 p.m. New York time. In this example, portfolio securities traded on the NYSE would be valued at their closing prices unless the Trust’s Valuation Committee determines that a “fair value” adjustment is appropriate due to subsequent events. The NAV is determined by dividing the value of a Fund’s portfolio securities, cash and other assets (including accrued interest), less all liabilities (including accrued expenses), by the total number of outstanding shares. A Fund’s NAV may be calculated earlier if permitted by the SEC. The NYSE is closed on weekends and most U.S. national holidays. However, foreign securities listed primarily on non-U.S. markets may trade on weekends or other days on which the Fund does not value its shares, which may significantly affect a Fund’s NAV on those days.

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Each Fund’s securities generally are valued at market price. Securities are valued at fair value when market quotations are not readily available. The Board has adopted procedures to be followed when a Fund must utilize fair value pricing, including when reliable market quotations are not readily available, when a Fund’s pricing service does not provide a valuation (or provides a valuation that, in the judgment of the Advisor, does not represent the security’s fair value), or when, in the judgment of the Advisor, events have rendered the market value unreliable (see, for example, the discussion of fair value pricing of foreign securities in the paragraph below). Valuing securities at fair value involves reliance on the judgment of the Advisor and the Board (or a committee thereof), and may result in a different price being used in the calculation of a Fund’s NAV from quoted or published prices for the same securities. Fair value determinations are made in good faith in accordance with procedures adopted by the Board. There can be no assurance that a Fund will obtain the fair value assigned to a security if it sells the security.

 

In certain circumstances, a Fund employs fair value pricing to ensure greater accuracy in determining daily NAV and to prevent dilution by frequent traders or market timers who seek to exploit temporary market anomalies. Fair value pricing may be applied to foreign securities held by a Fund upon the occurrence of an event after the close of trading on non-U.S. markets but before the close of trading on the NYSE when a Fund’s NAV is determined. If the event may result in a material adjustment to the price of a Fund’s foreign securities once non-U.S. markets open on the following business day (such as, for example, a significant surge or decline in the U.S. market), a Fund may value such foreign securities at fair value, taking into account the effect of such event, in order to calculate the Fund’s NAV.

 

Other types of portfolio securities that a Fund may fair value include, but are not limited to: (1) investments that are illiquid or traded infrequently, including “restricted” securities and private placements for which there is no public market; (2) investments for which, in the judgment of the Advisor, the market price is stale; (3) securities of an issuer that has entered into a restructuring; (4) securities for which trading has been halted or suspended; and (5) fixed income securities for which there is not a current market value quotation.

 

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares

The Funds do not impose any restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Creation Units; however, the Funds reserve the right to reject or limit purchases at any time as described in the SAI. When considering that no restriction or policy was necessary, the Board evaluated the risks posed by arbitrage and market timing activities, such as whether frequent purchases and redemptions would interfere with the efficient implementation of the Funds’ investment strategies, or whether they would cause a Fund to experience increased transaction costs. The Board considered that, unlike traditional mutual funds, shares of the Funds are issued and redeemed only in large quantities of shares known as Creation Units available only from the Funds directly to Authorized Participants, and that most trading in the Funds occurs on the Exchange at prevailing market prices and does not involve the Funds directly. Given this structure, the Board determined that it is unlikely that trading due to arbitrage opportunities or market timing by shareholders would result in negative impact to the Funds or their shareholders. In addition, frequent trading of shares of the Funds done by Authorized Participants and arbitrageurs is critical to ensuring that the market price remains at or close to NAV.

 

Availability of Information

Each Business Day, the following information will be available at www.axsinvestments.com with respect to each Fund: (i) information for each portfolio holding that will form the basis of the next calculation of a Fund’s net asset value per share; (ii) a Fund’s net asset value per share, market price, and premium or discount, each as of the end of the prior Business Day; (iii) a table showing the number of days a Fund’s shares traded at a premium or discount during the most recently completed calendar year and the most recently completed calendar quarter since that year; (iv) a line graph showing Fund share premiums or discounts for the most recently completed calendar year and the most recently completed calendar quarter since that year; (v) a Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the last thirty calendar days; and (vi) if during the past year a Fund’s premium or discount was greater than 2% for more than seven consecutive trading days, a statement that a Fund’s premium or discount, as applicable, was greater than 2% and a discussion of the factors that are reasonably believed to have materially contributed to the premium or discount.

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Dividends, Distributions and Taxes

 

Fund Distributions

The Funds pay out dividends from their net investment income annually and distributes their net capital gains, if any, to investors at least annually.

 

Dividend Reinvestment Service

Brokers may make available to their customers who own shares of the Funds the Depository Trust Company book-entry dividend reinvestment service. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and capital gains will automatically be reinvested in additional whole shares of the respective Fund purchased on the secondary market. Without this service, investors would receive their distributions in cash. To determine whether the dividend reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker. Brokers may require a Fund’s shareholders to adhere to specific procedures and timetables.

 

Federal Income Tax Consequences

The following discussion is very general and does not address investors subject to special rules, such as investors who hold Fund shares through an IRA, 401(k) plan or other tax-advantaged account. The Statement of Information contains further information about taxes. Because each shareholder’s circumstances are different and special tax rules may apply, you should consult your tax advisor about your investment in a Fund.

 

You will generally have to pay federal income taxes, as well as any state or local taxes, on distributions received from a Fund, whether paid in cash or reinvested in additional shares. If you sell Fund shares, it is generally considered a taxable event. Distributions of net investment income, other than distributions a Fund reports as “qualified dividend income,” are taxable for federal income tax purposes at ordinary income tax rates. Distributions of net short-term capital gains are also generally taxable at ordinary income tax rates. Distributions from a Fund’s net capital gain (i.e., the excess of its net long-term capital gain over its net short-term capital loss) are taxable for federal income tax purposes as long-term capital gain, regardless of how long the shareholder has held Fund shares.

 

Dividends paid by a Fund (but none of a Fund’s capital gain distributions) may qualify in part for the dividends-received deduction available to corporate shareholders, provided certain holding period and other requirements are satisfied. Distributions that a Fund reports as “qualified dividend income” may be eligible to be taxed to non-corporate shareholders at the reduced rates applicable to long-term capital gain if derived from the Fund’s qualified dividend income and if certain other requirements are satisfied. “Qualified dividend income” generally is income derived from dividends paid by U.S. corporations or certain foreign corporations that are either incorporated in a U.S. possession or eligible for tax benefits under certain U.S. income tax treaties. In addition, dividends that a Fund receives in respect of stock of certain foreign corporations may be qualified dividend income if that stock is readily tradable on an established U.S. securities market.

 

Since each Fund’s income is derived primarily from sources that do not pay dividends, it is not expected that a substantial portion of the dividends paid by the Funds will qualify either for the dividends-received deduction for corporations or for any favorable U.S. federal income tax rate available to non-corporate shareholders on “qualified dividend income.”

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You may want to avoid buying shares of a Fund just before it declares a distribution (on or before the record date), because such a distribution will be taxable to you even though it may effectively be a return of a portion of your investment.

 

Although distributions are generally taxable when received, dividends declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record as of a date in such month and paid during the following January are treated as if received on December 31 of the calendar year when the dividends were declared.

 

Information on the federal income tax status of dividends and distributions is provided annually.

 

Dividends and distributions from a Fund and net gain from sales of Fund shares will generally be taken into account in determining a shareholder’s “net investment income” for purposes of the Medicare contribution tax applicable to certain individuals, estates and trusts.

 

If you do not provide your Fund with your correct taxpayer identification number and any required certifications, you will be subject to backup withholding on your dividends and other distributions. The backup withholding rate is currently 24%.

 

Dividends and certain other payments made by a Fund to a non-U.S. shareholder are subject to withholding of federal income tax at the rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be determined in accordance with any applicable treaty). Dividends that are reported by a Fund as “interest-related dividends” or “short-term capital gain dividends” are generally exempt from such withholding. In general, a Fund may report interest-related dividends to the extent of its net income derived from U.S.-source interest and a Fund may report short-term capital gain dividends to the extent its net short-term capital gain for the taxable year exceeds its net long-term capital loss. Backup withholding will not be applied to payments that have been subject to the 30% withholding tax described in this paragraph.

 

Under legislation commonly referred to as “FATCA,” unless certain non-U.S. entities that hold shares comply with requirements of the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) that will generally require them to report information regarding U.S. persons investing in, or holding accounts with, such entities, a 30% withholding tax may apply to Fund distributions payable to such entities. A non-U.S. shareholder may be exempt from the withholding described in this paragraph under an applicable intergovernmental agreement between the United States and a foreign government, provided that the shareholder and the applicable foreign government comply with the terms of the agreement.

 

An Authorized Participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time and the sum of the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus the amount of any cash paid for such Creation Units. A person who redeems Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the aggregate market value of any securities received plus the amount of any cash received for such Creation Units. The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position.

 

Any gain or loss realized upon a creation of Creation Units will be treated as capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the securities exchanged therefor as capital assets, and otherwise will be ordinary income or loss. Similarly, any gain or loss realized upon a redemption of Creation Units of a Fund will be treated as capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the shares of the Fund comprising the Creation Units as capital assets, and otherwise will be ordinary income or loss. Any capital gain or loss realized upon the creation of Creation Units will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the securities exchanged for such Creation Units have been held for more than one year, and otherwise will be short-term capital gain or loss. Any capital gain or loss realized upon the redemption of Creation Units of a Fund will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares of the Fund comprising the Creation Units have been held for more than one year, and otherwise, will generally be short-term capital gain or loss. Any capital loss realized upon a redemption of Creation Units held for 6 months or less will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any amounts treated as distributions to the applicable Authorized Participant of long-term capital gains with respect to the Creation Units (including any amounts credited to the Authorized Participant as undistributed capital gains).

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Each Fund has the right to reject an order for Creation Units if the purchaser (or a group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares of the Fund so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Section 351 of the Code, the Fund would have a basis in any securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. Each Fund also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination. If a Fund does issue Creation Units to a purchaser (or a group of purchasers) that would, upon obtaining the shares of the Fund so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund, the purchaser (or a group of purchasers) may not recognize gain or loss upon the exchange of securities for Creation Units.

 

Persons purchasing or redeeming Creation Units should consult their own tax advisors with respect to the tax treatment of any creation or redemption transaction.

 

Distributor

 

IMST Distributors, LLC (the “Distributor”) serves as the distributor of Creation Units for the Funds on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Shares.

 

The Trust 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 Funds are authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of their average daily net assets each year to reimburse the Distributor for amounts expended to finance activities primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units or the provision of investor services. The Distributor may also use this amount to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are APs for providing distribution assistance, including broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services. The Funds do not and have no current intention of paying 12b-1 fees. However, in the event 12b-1 fees are charged in the future, because these fees are paid out of a Fund’s assets, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than certain other types of sales charges.

 

FUND SERVICE PROVIDERS 

 

Co-Administrators. UMB Fund Services, Inc. (“UMBFS”), 235 West Galena Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212, and Mutual Fund Administration, LLC (“MFAC”), 2220 E. Route 66, Suite 226, Glendora, California 91740 (collectively the “Co-Administrators”), act as co-administrators for the Funds. Pursuant to the Co-Administration Agreement, the Co-Administrators receive a fee for administration services based on each Fund’s average daily net assets, which is paid by the Advisor.

 

Transfer Agent. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., located at 50 Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02110, serves as the Funds’ transfer agent. The transfer agent provides record keeping and shareholder services.

 

Custodian. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., located at 50 Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02110, serves as the Funds’ custodian. The custodian holds the securities, cash and other assets of the Fund.

 

Fund Accounting Agent. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., located at 50 Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02110, serves as the fund accounting agent for the Funds. The fund accounting agent calculates each Fund’s daily NAV.

 

Legal Counsel. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (“Morgan Lewis”), 600 Anton Boulevard, Suite 1800, Costa Mesa, California 92626, serves as legal counsel to the Trust and to the Independent Trustees. Chapman and Cutler LLP, 320 South Canal Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606, serves as legal counsel to the Advisor.

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Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. Tait, Weller & Baker LLP, Two Liberty Place, 50 South 16th Street, Suite 2900, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102-2529, serves as the Funds’ independent registered public accounting firm and is responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of each Fund.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

Investments by Other Registered Investment Companies 

For purposes of the 1940 Act, each Fund is treated as a registered investment company. Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of the Funds. Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act permits registered investment companies to invest in exchange-traded funds offered by the Trust, including the Funds, beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1) subject to certain terms and conditions, including that such registered investment companies enter into an agreement with the Trust.

 

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 each Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (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 of the Funds, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares of the Funds, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(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 of the Funds that are part of an unsold allotment within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Funds are reminded that under Rule 153 under the Securities Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Exchange is satisfied by the fact that the Funds’ Prospectus is available on the SEC’s electronic filing system. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is only available with respect to transactions on an exchange.

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Financial Highlights

 

The Funds are new and have no performance history as of the date of this prospectus. Financial information therefore is not available.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by Tesla, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of Tesla, Inc. in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by NVIDIA Corporation pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of NVIDIA Corporation in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

  

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by ConocoPhillips Company pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of ConocoPhillips Company in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by Boeing Company pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of Boeing Company in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by PayPal Holdings, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of PayPal Holdings, Inc. in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by Wells Fargo & Company pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of Wells Fargo & Company in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by Pfizer Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of Pfizer Inc. in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by Salesforce.com, inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of Salesforce.com, inc. in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Information provided to or filed with the SEC by Nike, Inc. pursuant to the Exchange Act, including the financial statements of Nike, Inc. in its Form 10-K, can be located by reference to the SEC file number 001-34756 through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

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image

 

AXS TSLA Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: TSLQ)

AXS TSLA Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: TSLU)

AXS 1.25X NVDA Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: NVDS)

AXS 1.25X NVDA Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: NVDB)

AXS 2X COP Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: COPQ)

AXS 2X COP Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: COPL)

AXS 1.25X BA Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: BAS)

AXS 1.25X BA Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: BAT)

AXS 1.5X PYPL Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: PYPS)

AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: PYPT)

AXS 1.25X WFC Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: WFCS)

AXS 1.25X WFC Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: WFCT)

AXS 2X PFE Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: PFES)

AXS 2X PFE Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: PFEL)

AXS 1.5X CRM Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: CRMS)

AXS 1.5X CRM Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: CRML)

AXS 2X NKE Bear Daily ETF
(Ticker: NKEQ)

AXS 2X NKE Bull Daily ETF
(Ticker: NKEL)

 

 Each a series of Investment Managers Series Trust II

 

                                                                                  

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

Statement of Additional Information (SAI)

The SAI provides additional details about the investments and techniques of the Funds 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.

 

Shareholder Reports

Additional information about the Funds’ investments will be available in the Funds’ annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. In the Funds’ annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Funds’ performance during its most recent fiscal year.

 

The Funds’ SAI is available and annual and semi-annual reports will be available, free of charge, on the Funds’ website at www.axsinvestments.com. You can also obtain a free copy of the Funds’ SAI or annual and semi-annual reports, request other information, or inquire about the Funds by contacting a broker that sells shares of the Funds or by calling the Funds (toll-free) at 1-866-984-2510 or by writing to the applicable Fund at: AXS Funds P.O. Box 2175 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201.

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Reports and other information about the Funds are also available:

 

Free of charge, on the SEC’s EDGAR Database on the SEC’s Internet site at http://www.sec.gov; or

 

For a duplication fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: [email protected].

 

 

SEC File #: 333-191476

811-22894

276