Amplify files to house Fairlead's $305 million TACK, fee still blank
Amplify ETF Trust filed a 485APOS on September 8, 2026 to register Amplify Fairlead Tactical Sector ETF as the proposed home for TACK, a $305 million fund whose fee table is still blank.
Shareholders in Fairlead Tactical Sector ETF TACK will be asked to approve moving $305 million of assets to a new sponsor on a fee cut that exists only as an expectation. Amplify ETF Trust on Tuesday registered Amplify Fairlead Tactical Sector ETF as the receiving series in a 485APOS marked “Subject to Completion”; the paper does not fill in a management fee. Four days earlier, TACK’s own trust told holders the acquiring fund’s fee and expense ratio “are expected to be lower” than the 0.69% they pay now. The filing is how an existing trust adds a series, not a launch, and the prospectus says it is incomplete and may change.
The receiving fund Amplify put on file
The 485APOS registers a separate series of Amplify ETF Trust, listed and principally traded on NYSE Arca, with Amplify Investments LLC as adviser. The fund would seek capital appreciation with limited drawdowns, rotating among the eleven S&P sectors and adding gold and Treasuries when the model turns defensive.
The strategy language is specific. The fund anticipates 5 to 8 ETF positions, roughly equal among the sector holdings and variable in the Treasury and gold sleeves, rebalanced monthly. It applies trend-following and overbought/oversold filters, then ranks the sector ETFs that pass by momentum. In severe defensive conditions it may put as much as 75% of the portfolio in Treasury ETFs.
Capitol Series Trust already proposed the move
On Friday, September 4, Capitol Series Trust filed a supplement to TACK’s May 31, 2026 prospectus. At a meeting on June 17, its board approved a plan to reorganize TACK into Amplify Fairlead Tactical Sector ETF, described as a newly created series of Amplify ETF Trust. The acquiring fund would take the assets and assume the liabilities. TACK shareholders would receive acquiring-fund shares equal in net asset value to what they held. The trust says it expects the transaction to be tax-free for federal income tax purposes, and that interests will not be diluted.
Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC is TACK’s adviser today. After a closing, Amplify Investments LLC would become adviser. Katie Stockton, CMT, TACK’s portfolio manager since inception, would stay in that role and be primarily responsible for day-to-day management. The two papers that govern the handoff disagree on the legal entity that will run the money: the September 4 supplement names Fairlead Strategies, LLC as current and continuing subadviser, while the 485APOS names Fairlead Asset Management LLC, the same entity Amplify lists as sub-adviser on its tactical bitcoin ETF BNAV.
The supplement is the document that speaks to holders. It says the acquiring fund will have the same investment objective and substantially similar principal strategies and risks. It also says the management fee and expense ratio “are expected to be lower” than TACK’s. The fund’s current net expense ratio is 0.69%. The 485APOS does not confirm that cut. TACK charges that fee on $305 million, the same rate Main Sector Rotation ETF SECT charges on $2.88 billion and just under the 0.70% on State Street’s US Sector Rotation ETF XLSR ($1.06 billion). The Amplify move promises a cheaper future under a bigger sponsor; the registration does not yet say how much cheaper.
The reorganization is subject to shareholder approval and other conditions. Holders of record are to receive a proxy statement/prospectus. The trust says the reorganization is expected in December 2026. The supplement does not set a meeting date or a record date, and the proxy that would name both has not gone out. Until then, Cary Street continues to manage the fund and the shares keep trading on NYSE Arca.
What TACK holds while the paper sits in registration
TACK is not a filing-stage product. It has been trading since March 22, 2022. As of Tuesday, September 8, it had $305 million in assets and closed at $32.40. Average volume is thin: about 20,000 shares a day, or roughly $639,000.
The live book matches the strategy the Amplify prospectus copies. As of Wednesday morning the fund was in seven sector SPDRs at roughly equal weights, with small sleeves in short-term Treasuries, long-term Treasuries, and gold.
That mix is the limited-drawdown mandate in practice: most of the fund is in S&P sectors, a slice is not. Through Tuesday the fund’s total return lagged the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY in every window.
TACK lagged SPY in each return window through Tuesday
- TACK
- SPY
- YTD
- TACK 8.9%
- SPY 13%
- 1-year
- TACK 13%
- SPY 20%
- 3-year
- TACK 41%
- SPY 77%
The gap is the other side of a fund that can leave equities. Annualized volatility on TACK’s series was 11.1%, against 17.1% for SPY.
Amplify already has a Fairlead fund
On July 29 Amplify launched BNAV, with net assets of about $2.5 million. TACK is the established book, more than a hundred times that size. Amplify’s own platform is built around much larger funds: Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF DIVO alone holds $7.87 billion. The June 17 board vote at Capitol Series Trust came before BNAV listed, so the TACK reorganization was in motion before that launch. Tuesday’s 485APOS is the receiving vehicle catching up with a plan TACK’s board had already approved.
A holder who wanted to vote this week could not. No record date and no meeting date have been set, and the fund they would be voting on has trailed the S&P 500 over three years while trading about $639,000 a day.
Frequently asked
What is actually being proposed?
TACK would be reorganized into a newly created Amplify series that takes its assets and liabilities, with shareholders receiving Amplify fund shares equal in net asset value to what they hold.
Will the fee go down?
The shareholder supplement says the acquiring fund's management fee and expense ratio are expected to be lower than TACK's 0.69%, but the Amplify registration leaves the fee table blank.
Who would manage the money?
Amplify Investments would become adviser and Katie Stockton would stay on as portfolio manager, though the two filings name different Fairlead legal entities as subadviser.
Can shareholders vote yet?
No: the proxy has not gone out and no meeting date or record date has been set, with the reorganization expected in December.