Simplify files four funds that would take exposure through swaps on its own ETFs
The October 14 filing is not a launch: the adviser would waive a 0.10% management fee, the mix is not set, and the swaps would reference Simplify ETFs that charge their own.
Key takeaways
On October 14, Simplify Exchange Traded Funds filed to register four funds that would take stock, bond and managed-futures exposure mainly through total-return swaps on ETFs the firm already runs. Each name puts PLUS between two strategies. Simplify already uses that naming on the Simplify US Equity PLUS Managed Futures Strategy ETF CTAP.
The document is post-effective amendment No. 266 to the registration of Simplify Exchange Traded Funds, the trust that already holds the firm's ETFs. Post-effective means that registration is already in effect. This amendment would add four series.
Simplify asked for the amendment to become effective 75 days after filing. That request, 75 days after October 14, falls on December 28, and the prospectus is dated only December [_], 2026. The tickers are blank, NYSE Arca is still in brackets, and the cover says the information is not complete and may be changed, and that the securities may not be sold until the registration statement is effective.
The filing does not set the split
Simplify Asset Management would actively manage all four. The contract each summary names is a total-return swap. The fund would pay a counterparty a fixed or variable rate, and the counterparty would pay the fund the return of a Simplify ETF the adviser already manages.
That is a claim on another fund's return, not an exchange of one Simplify fund for another. The filing does not set the rate. It does not say how many dollars of that return each dollar in the new fund would get.
The primary references are four funds the firm already runs: the Simplify Aggregate Bond ETF AGGH, the Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF CTA, the Simplify Affinity World Leaders Equity ETF WLDR, and the Simplify US Equity Income ETF SPUC. The filing prints WLDR as the Simplify Affinity World Leaders ETF, omitting the word Equity.
The two funds that would use managed futures may also take that exposure with futures, or with swaps on other managed-futures funds. The adviser would choose among the instruments based on its view of which is the most economically efficient way to capture long-term returns.
Three funds say that under normal circumstances at least 80% of net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, would sit in a combination of the two named categories, held directly or through instruments with substantially similar economic characteristics. The 80% covers the combination. It is not 80% in each strategy.
Those three are Simplify Aggregate Bond PLUS Managed Futures Funds ETF, Simplify Global Equity PLUS Aggregate Bond ETF, and Simplify US Equity PLUS Aggregate Bond ETF.
Simplify Global Equity PLUS Managed Futures Funds ETF does not set that 80% policy. It says it has no set asset allocation or issuer targets and takes an opportunistic approach.
Simplify Global Equity PLUS Aggregate Bond ETF has the 80% policy and still says it has no set asset allocation or foreign issuer targets. In that fund, "global" means exposure to issuers in at least three countries.
None of the four states a percentage split between its two strategies. CTAP does. Simplify says that fund invests 100% in large-cap U.S. stocks and another 100% in a managed-futures strategy, both on the first dollar. The new filing does not use that language, and it does not name CTAP.
The filing describes WLDR as a passive fund tracking the FTSE StarMine Affinity World Leaders Index. It describes SPUC as a fund that invests primarily in U.S. equities and applies an option overlay.
The filing classifies each proposed fund as non-diversified. It says leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the fund's losses.
The adviser would earn more by picking its own ETFs
The fee table is the same for all four. Aside from the management fee, the lines are estimates for an initial fiscal year that has not happened.
The management fee is 0.10%, with no distribution fee and other expenses estimated at zero. Acquired-fund fees and expenses are estimated at 0.10%, and the footnote calls those the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies. Total annual operating expenses are 0.20%.
The adviser has agreed to waive its management fee, 0.10 percentage points, through at least a day in December 2027 that the filing leaves blank. Only the board of Simplify Exchange Traded Funds may end that agreement.
After the waiver, the table's total is 0.10%. That 0.10% is the acquired-fund estimate.
The filing says ETFs the fund invests in, directly or indirectly, are subject to advisory and other expenses, which the new fund would indirectly pay. The strategies allow the fund to hold those ETFs. They also say each strategy would be carried out primarily through the swap.
On Simplify's pages, CTA showed an expense ratio of 0.75% as of October 14, and WLDR showed a net expense ratio of 0.67% as of September 29, against 1.05% gross. AGGH showed a net expense ratio of 0.30% as of October 2, against 0.55% gross, and SPUC showed an expense ratio of 0.53% as of September 29.
The table does not set the rate paid to the counterparty, and it does not set how much of each reference fund a shareholder would get. The 0.10% estimate is not those ratios.
Each of the four summaries says the adviser is subject to conflicts of interest in allocating the fund's assets to an affiliated ETF. The filing says:
"The adviser will receive more revenue to the extent it selects an affiliated ETF rather than an unaffiliated ETF for inclusion in the Fund's portfolio."
ETFs in this story
Frequently asked questions
Which existing Simplify funds would the new ETFs reference?
The main swap references are the Simplify Aggregate Bond ETF, Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF, Simplify Affinity World Leaders Equity ETF and Simplify US Equity Income ETF.
What would the new funds cost?
The fee table shows a 0.10% management fee and an estimated 0.10% in acquired-fund fees, for 0.20% in total, or 0.10% after the adviser's waiver.
When could the funds become effective?
Simplify asked for the amendment to take effect 75 days after the October 14 filing, which works out to December 28.
Do the funds commit to a fixed mix of the two strategies?
No, none states a percentage split, and three only commit to at least 80% of net assets in the two categories combined.
