Hamilton Reiner on Navigating Volatility With Active ETFs

Options-based ETFs were in vogue in 2025 with derivative income ETFs gathering $54 billion to boost their asset base to $127 billion. Meanwhile, defined outcome strategies, which managed $76 billion, swelled by $13 billion  While asset managers continue to build out their lineup to meet growing demand, the two largest funds are offered by JPMorgan. In an exclusive dialogue at TMX VettaFi’s New York office, Hamilton Reiner, Head of U.S. Equity Derivatives at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, broke down the mechanics of the firm’s most popular income and hedged equity strategies.

Reiner emphasized that “intentional design” is at the heart of the firm’s success in providing lower-beta experiences.

The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI A) launched in May 2020 and has swelled to $43 billion in assets. The ETF was designed to solve a specific problem: delivering income when fixed income markets were lacking yield. According to Reiner, the strategy is built on providing “income and some of the upside” by starting with a fundamentally defensive long portfolio.

“There is a significant active component to the 90 to 120 names we invest in,” Reiner explained. He noted that the process focuses on stocks with predictable earnings to minimize the impact of market sell-offs.

A critical differentiator for JEPI is its use of index-level options to prevent capping individual stock gains. Reiner warned against traditional overriding strategies where investors may inadvertently root against their own holdings. “Oftentimes people work really, really hard to go out and find their favorite stocks and then sell calls on their favorite stocks and they end up rooting against themselves. You end up having your winners taken away from you and you’re left with your losers.” At the end of 2025, JEPI offered an 8.9% dividend yield.

Following JEPI’s success, the firm launched the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ A+) in 2022. The $34 billion JEPQ targets “growth in tech, income, and less volatility.” This fills a gap for income-seekers who lack technology exposure.

The underlying long portfolios for these ETFs rely on a deep research engine. For JEPQ specifically, Reiner highlighted an “AI enabled equity portfolio” process that scans over 50,000 news sources daily across 40 languages and 90 countries. This data-science approach informs fundamental research at a scale that traditional methods cannot match. At the end of 2025, JEPQ offered an 11.7% dividend yield.

Many other firms have experienced demand with their own income-generating, options-based ETFs. However, they are all looking up at the JPMorgan suite. With JEPI and JEPQ commanding a combined $77 billion in assets as of January 2026, the firm has set a high bar for the industry.

For investors more concerned with protection than pure income, Reiner and team have offered the JPMorgan Hedged Equity Laddered Overlay ETF (HELO B+) since 2023. This $3.8 billion ETF utilizes a laddered approach, staggering three-month hedges one month apart to reduce path dependency and provide a more consistent beta.

Reiner explained that the goal of HELO is to help clients get and stay invested by providing a defensive buffer. “Regardless of the environment, equity investors are focused on managing risk. We expect strong demand for HELO as investors look for outcome-oriented solutions that provide the hedged experience through the ETF wrapper.” Traditional bonds do not always act as effective hedges, whereas a strategy like HELO can offer protection.

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