Latest news with #ETFUpside
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What's Inside the SEC's Latest Crypto ETF Guidance
After more than a year of watching crypto ETFs run amok on the playground, regulators have finally shown up with a juice box and some ground rules. The Securities and Exchange Commission rolled out some of its most detailed guidance yet for crypto exchange-traded products last week, zeroing in on risks relating to price volatility, potential hacks and market manipulation. The agency reported finding common misunderstandings in new crypto ETF filings and asked issuers to be much more specific about custody, including how they're protecting private keys and whether they're using cold, warm or hot storage. As assets in Bitcoin funds topped $131 billion last week, the new guidance is a clear signal that it's finally time for crypto funds to put on the training wheels. 'This isn't about slowing down innovation,' said Aisha Hunt, a principal at the law firm Kelley Hunt. 'It's about forcing a shift from boilerplate to substance.' READ ALSO: State Street's PRIV Lands First Daily Inflows in Months and JPMorgan Files to Launch Money Market ETF Interest in crypto ETFs has skyrocketed since the launch of the record-breaking iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) in January of last year. There are now dozens of new fund filings before the SEC, and some funds that track smaller coins, like Solana, are already trading. Along with a 'plain English' overview of the trust, the agency said prospectuses should also include information regarding: Incidental rights, including 'forks, airdrops, or similar events,' that either split the networks or produce more coins for investors. The fact that underlying crypto per share will decline as assets are sold to pay fees and expenses. For investors, it raises the bar for transparency and should help advisors and their clients better understand how new crypto products are operating. For issuers, it can help streamline the approval process. 'It's a wake-up call to rethink disclosure as an ongoing risk management function,' Hunt told ETF Upside. 'The SEC wants issuers to show they actually understand, and can communicate, the unique operational and market risks of crypto assets.' Can I Drive? The SEC's shift from a more oppositional stance under former chairman Gary Gensler to a more accepting framework under Atkins doesn't mean the agency is taking its hands off the wheel, Hunt added. Instead, it may be proof that regulators are beginning to take these products much more seriously. 'If anything, the approval wave created a new urgency to tighten guardrails,' she said. 'The message is clear: Permission doesn't mean passivity.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Will AI Give the Free Markets ETF an Edge?
Michael Gayed got an idea last November, shortly after President Donald Trump was elected — design an ETF around opportunities created by deregulation. There wasn't anything like it at the time, and there was a big reason for that, Gayed told ETF Upside. The data analysis necessary to enable such a fund to get ahead of likely regulatory changes would have required an unreasonably large team of managers. Artificial intelligence, however, could help the fund take on tasks that weren't practical before, such as parsing the smallest bits of public information to identify potential changes to regulations. 'There's no other fund out there that's focused on deregulation,' he said. 'We built out an entire AI that looks at things ranging from executive orders, legislative actions, speeches, and myriad information on the government side.' READ ALSO: Active Strategies Are Coming for Model Portfolios and Vanguard Changes Leadership on 44 Funds, Including World's Largest The Free Markets ETF, which launched June 10, represents a collaboration among several companies. The actively managed product is subadvised by Sykon Asset Management, Point Bridge Capital, and Gayed's firm Tactical Rotation Management. 'The combination of those three groups working together is just powerful,' said Michael Venuto, chief investment officer at Tidal, which provides third-party services to the Free Markets ETF. 'It's doing rather well. I'm quite impressed with the organic flows.' The ETF represents about $12 million in assets and saw more than 400,000 shares traded on its first day, Gayed said. At least some of the interest in the new product is attributable to his own brand — he publishes The Lead-Lag Report and has a large social media following. He asked an audience of small business owners via a poll on X whether tax cuts, tariffs, or deregulation would affect them the most, with the latter winning by a considerable margin, he said. 'You can argue that this is Trump's last real play … Deregulation is the one thing people can agree on.' Some other details about the Free Markets ETF: It charges 76 basis points. Its top holdings are First American Government Obligations money markets, Uranium Energy, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, McKesson and Robinhood. Free as Free Can Be: The tightly regulated utilities sector is less volatile than the broader market, but that may change with deregulation, Gayed said. While such a shift could create opportunities for active managers, the ETF also has significant allocations to gold and bitcoin. 'Those are sort of your purest expression of free markets,' he said. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Invesco Hires Crypto Product Leader from JPMorgan
Invesco means business when it comes to crypto. The asset manager last week brought on a global head of digital assets, hiring JPMorgan alum Kathleen Wrynn for the newly created position. Wrynn, who most recently was executive director of global technology strategy at JPMorgan, oversees the strategic direction and management of Invesco's digital asset portfolio. That extends beyond the firm's $1.6 billion in digital assets ETFs, including tokenized assets and cryptocurrencies more broadly, a company spokesperson told ETF Upside. 'She will work closely with the global technology organization to identify and lead opportunities to leverage blockchain technology, such as initiatives to tokenize our funds and integrate digital assets into our investment strategies,' the spokesperson said. READ ALSO: Who Benefits Most from Dual-Share Class ETFs? and Single-Stock ETF Market Swells With Firehose of New Products The hiring is a result of the company's new global product leadership team, an organization Invesco announced in April. That team will help the company continue to build products across 'active and rules-based, public and private capabilities,' according to Invesco. Across the industry, digital assets have not been a priority for most firms, but that may be changing: The Trump administration's Securities and Exchange Commission is openly friendly to crypto and may soon approve a variety of new ETFs. Data from Cerulli Associates show: 11% of asset managers said digital assets were a priority area for products in 2024, compared with just 3% who said so in 2023 but 19% saying the same in 2022. Financial advisors are increasingly using crypto. This year, 21% said they use or discuss it with clients, up from 11% two years ago. Over half of those who do, 55%, use spot-price crypto ETFs. Universe of ETFs: Invesco's lineup includes three ETFs focused on the blockchain and crypto world as well as three spot-price funds. The firm touts its Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO) 'as having a relatively low tracking difference and one of the tightest average intraday premium discount spreads of spot bitcoin ETFs,' the spokesperson said. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Who Benefits Most from Dual-Share Class ETFs?
The benefits of dual share classes may not be shared with the whole class. With ETF dual share class approval likely around the corner — and as asset managers continue to convert their existing mutual funds into exchange-traded funds — advisors and fund managers are busy preparing to offer the structures to clients. Even Vanguard, the only company to offer the structure before its patent expired in 2023, recently filed as well. The strategy would help mutual fund shareholders avoid unwanted capital gains distributions and retirement savers who would gain access to ETF share classes of traditional mutual funds in their 401(k)s. Mutual funds in general may become obsolete, said Osaic's chief market strategist Phil Blancato. 'The seesaw from mutual fund to ETF asset flows is going to flip so significantly that we'll be surprised by it, if not shocked by it,' he told ETF Upside. Knowing which clients to provide dual share classes to — and what types of accounts stand to benefit the most — is key for advisors looking to maximize portfolios. READ ALSO: Single-Stock ETF Market Swells With Firehose of New Products and Invesco Hires Crypto Product Leader from JPMorgan As the floodgates open and allow for a broadly available multishare class structure for the first time ever, experts say advisors need education, and a plan in place, to ensure they'll stay ahead of the curve. Some clients with unrealized capital gains receive distributions, wanted or not, from an actively traded mutual fund every time there's a tax event or active trading. Dual share classes can help them avoid this because ETF securities can change hands without a distribution, said Brian Spinelli, Halbert Hargrove's co-chief investment officer. 'This could really help us get away from some traditional mutual funds that clients have had to sit on for years, if not decades, because of capital gain issues,' he said. Three other pros of the structure will benefit clients with retirement accounts, according to Blancato: Savings: ETFs' cheaper fees, lower administration costs, and tax efficiencies will make them a key tool for clients looking to maximize their retirement contributions. (Recent research shows brokerages stand to lose up to $30 billion in fees following approval.) Transparency: Shareholders will be informed more frequently where their money is going due to ETF reporting standards. Flexibility: Dual share class approval will allow for investing in the mutual fund equivalents of ETFs that might not be allowed in certain 401(k)s because of companies' rules against including them in retirement plans. Back to School: Another necessity is educating both clients and advisors — particularly in a world where mutual funds may play a diminished role in the investment landscape. 'Seventy percent of the country's assets are with people over the age of 65 who have no idea what they're invested in,' Blancato said. 'There's got to be something that says: 'Hey, your account is going to change. You might notice some changes. Here's why.' I think that's going to be critically important.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Schwab Keeps Industry's ETF Fee Cuts Rolling
It's not just a 'cheap trick' — Charles Schwab this week cut fees this week on four ETFs. It wants you to want them. The company on Monday cleaved costs, in some cases by as much as half, on its $4 billion 1000 Index ETF (3 basis points, down from 5); $48 billion International Equity ETF (3, down from 6); $4.4 billion International Small-Cap Equity ETF (8, down from 11); and $10 billion Emerging Markets Equity ETF (7, down from 11). 'We continually review our cost-effective product suite to find new opportunities to lower costs for investors,' John Sturiale, head of product management and innovation at Schwab Asset Management, said in a statement to ETF Upside. 'With these fee reductions, all Schwab market-cap weighted index ETFs are now available for less than 10 basis points.' READ ALSO: Weight-Loss Drug ETFs Generate Skinnier Returns Than Expected and WisdomTree Branches Out to Private Credit It's not the first time in recent history that Schwab has pared expenses on its exchange-traded funds. In February, it reduced the fee on its International Dividend Equity ETF from 14 basis points to 8. It also dropped fees on seven of its passive fixed income ETFs in 2022, with all but one dropping to 3 basis points. The company further trimmed its remaining ETFs in that category to 3 basis points a year later. The fresh round of fee cuts shows 'a continued desire on Schwab's part to be a low-cost leader in ETFs,' said Zach Evens, a manager research analyst at Morningstar Research Services. Of course, the company also has to compete with the likes of Vanguard, State Street, and others that provide bargain-basement pricing, he noted. And Vanguard earlier this year made the biggest set of fee cuts in its history — it reduced expenses by an average of 20% across 87 funds. Along with the new ETF fee reductions, Schwab announced share splits for half a dozen of its mutual funds: The Schwab 1000 Index, US Large-Cap Growth Index and Total Stock Market Index funds will see splits of 10-1, 8-1 and 7-1, respectively. The Schwab S&P 500 Index, US Mid-Cap Index and US Large-Cap Value Index funds will get split by 6-1, 5-1 and 4-1, respectively. But Don't Give Yourself Away: Costs have come down considerably in ETFs, particularly on an asset-weighted basis. Investors choose passive ETFs largely because of the low costs, so shopping around for the best deals makes sense. 'Investors overwhelmingly favor cheap products and cheap ETFs,' Evens said. 'And that brings down the average fee that investors pay.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
