Toews Managed Risk returned 12.19% in 2025 against 17.88% for the S&P 500
Northern Lights Fund Trust filed a Form 497K on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, for the Toews Agility Shares Managed Risk ETF, an August 28 summary prospectus that shows a 12.19% 2025 return against 17.88% for the S&P 500 Total Return Index.
The Toews Agility Shares Managed Risk ETF MRSK, which seeks large-cap U.S. equity exposure and uses options to limit losses and reduce volatility, returned 12.19% before taxes in the year ended December 31, 2025. The August 28, 2026 summary prospectus Northern Lights Fund Trust put in use Wednesday names the S&P 500 Total Return Index as the primary benchmark, at 17.88% for the same year, and still prints the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index, at 8.91%. The paper is a Form 497K, filed under Rule 497(k) when that summary is the prospectus in use, effective on filing for an existing NYSE Arca fund.
The filing says the primary benchmark “has been changed to the S&P 500 Total Return Index because it is a more appropriate index given the Fund’s strategy and portfolio holdings.” That sentence was already in the fund’s August 28, 2025 summary prospectus. Toews Corporation, the adviser, used the same line in a May 20, 2026 summary prospectus for Toews Managed Risk Equity Fund, a mutual fund in the same trust. None of those papers says why a covered-call index stopped being the right primary comparison. The SEC’s 2022 amendments to Form N-1A require the primary line to be a broad-based securities market index that represents the overall equity or debt market; a fund may also show a narrower or strategy index. Wednesday’s filing does not cite that rule.
Fees and the 2027 cap
The net expense ratio is 0.98%. The adviser has contractually agreed to keep direct operating expenses at or below 0.95% through at least August 31, 2027, with possible recoupment on a rolling three-year basis. The 0.98% net figure includes acquired-fund fees of 0.03%; the cap excludes them. Only the fund’s board may terminate the agreement, on 60 days’ written notice to the adviser.
Options overlay and 0% turnover
The fund seeks S&P 500 exposure through index futures, S&P 500 ETFs, and/or the index’s component stocks, buying put options against those positions and buying or writing additional calls and puts to reduce volatility. Portfolio turnover for the most recent fiscal period is listed at 0%. The statement of additional information calculates that rate excluding creation-unit deliveries and securities, including options, that mature or expire within a year of purchase. Phillip Toews, president of the adviser, is named as a co-portfolio manager with Randall Schroeder, managing director; Jason Graffius, chief operating and financial officer; and Charles Collins, head of trading, each in the role since the fund commenced operations in June 2020. MRSK held $321 million as of Thursday.
The next fact sheet and shareholder report will keep measuring the fund against the S&P 500 Total Return Index, the comparison a downside-protection overlay is built to lag when stocks rise.