On this week’s episode of ETF Prime, VettaFi’s Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research, talked 2025’s ETF industry hot topics with host Nate Geraci. Later, Mike Loukas, CEO of TrueMark Investments, discussed buffered products, investor concerns, and the firm’s structured outcome ETFs.
Schwab’s Fee Cuts
Conversation opened with a talk about Schwab’s recent fee cuts. They would lead to an estimated $20 million in savings for investors, Geraci estimated. While the ETF fee war hubbub has dulled in recent months, ETF fee competition remains an ongoing reality.
“When you think about retail investors, a lot of what they look for in these funds are the lower fees,” Islam explained. Major firms are often better positioned to remain competitive with their fees than smaller shops. Those smaller firms instead may have to turn to more innovative strategies to draw investors. Islam noted that it’s the interwoven story of the industry. Innovative strategies stand on one side, and the fight for lowest fees stand on the other. Geraci noted the recent plateauing of fees for the ETF industry as a whole, despite ongoing fee cuts. He surmised the plateau is likely due to the number of innovative, often active strategies, coming to market with their higher fees.
Vanguard’s ETF Share Class
Another hot topic for the industry this year is the proliferation of ETF share class filings and potential regulatory approval. Vanguard, the original pioneer of the share class for indexed funds, is one of the most recent firms to file for the new structure. However, according to Islam, over 60 other firms have already filed for an ETF share class to expand their existing mutual funds.
“I think obviously they think something is going to happen this year, which I think is sort of the general consensus. The SEC has been communicative with these issuers that have filed, and it seems like it will happen sometime this year,” Islam said of ETF share class approvals.
The two also discussed the pros and cons of being the first to file for new strategies with the SEC, growing concerns around private assets in the ETF wrapper, and the likelihood of a spot solana ETF.
TrueShares’ Loukas on Buffered ETFs
Asset manager TrueShares has over 22 active ETFs on the market. The firm was the first to launch uncapped buffer ETFs in 2020.
“We have a very distinctly bullish approach to the category,” Loukas said of buffered strategies. “That is because we believe if you want equity exposure — if you need some growth in the portfolio and equities is the way you’re trying to find it — then you need to preserve the growth characteristics of the equity investment.”
Buffered strategies seek to capture and harness upside volatility while mitigating volatility on the downside. These strategies use a variety of options positions to accomplish their desired investment outcomes. They’re also a category that has gotten more attention lately from investors and the industry as a whole.
TrueShares offers a Structured Outcome ETF series with an ETF that begins its 12-month investment period on the first of every month. It also offers funds like the TrueShares Quarterly Bull Hedge ETF (QBUL ) and the TrueShares Quarterly Bear Hedge ETF (QBER ). Both funds offer principal protection. However, QBUL benefits when the markets go up and QBER benefits when it declines.
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