HEDG vs PEPS

HEDGCEquable Shares Hedged Equity ETF

PEPSBParametric Equity Plus ETF

In short

HEDG A hedged-equity mutual fund that changed clothes. HEDG holds S&P 500 exposure through ETFs, sells covered calls, then spends much of that premium on put spreads. Option income here is fuel for the hedge, not the headline payout.

PEPS Active management at index-fund pricing. PEPS holds a U.S. large-cap base, then writes S&P 500 calls against offsetting long exposure: a beta-neutral overlay built to add return rather than swap upside for income.

Stated mandate

HEDG The fund's stated mandate combines seeking income with mitigating risk and pursuing long-term capital appreciation.

PEPS The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. It is actively managed, using a U.S. large-cap equity base and beta-neutral call overwriting on the S&P 500 with offsetting long exposure to seek incremental total return.

Why people hold it

• HEDG Two-sided overlay: covered calls generate premium, put spreads put it to work cushioning drawdowns, rather than routing every dollar of premium to distributions.prnewswire.com
• Not a blank-slate launch. It is the EQHEX mutual fund converted tax-free into an ETF in 2025, same team, same strategy, with the prior track record carried into the wrapper.prnewswire.com
• The label matches the contents: US large-cap exposure referenced to the S&P 500, held through ETFs, with the options program layered on top. No style drift to decode.equableshares.com

• PEPS 0.10% is index-fund pricing for an actively managed strategy. Even the cheap, well-regarded active peers cost more: DFAU at 0.12%, FELC at 0.18%.
• Not a covered-call fund. The sold S&P 500 calls are paired with offsetting long exposure, so the overlay seeks incremental total return instead of capping upside.
• Ordinary 1940 Act ETF wrapper, U.S. large-cap equity, distributions paid quarterly. The complexity lives in the overlay, not the tax paperwork.
• Cost is the standout: the typical active U.S. equity ETF in this group charges several times what PEPS does, and fee drag is the one input you know in advance.

Worth knowing

• HEDG The 0.92% fee sits above the typical S&P 500 options-income fund, and reaching index exposure through other ETFs layers underlying fund costs on top of that.stocktitan.net
• Trades lightly next to category heavyweights like XYLD and SPYI, so spreads can be wider, and cash goes out quarterly rather than monthly.
• Written calls give up part of a strong rally, and premium spent buying puts is premium not paid out, so income runs lighter than pure call-writing peers.prnewswire.com

• PEPS Launched in November 2024. The overlay has not yet run through a full market cycle, so there is limited history to judge it on.
• A small, thinly traded fund. Bid-ask spreads can run wider than a mega-cap index ETF's, which shows up most on larger orders.
• The options leg adds moving parts: short index calls lose value in a sharp rally, and the offsetting long exposure is what has to make that back.

Full HEDG profile⁠

Full PEPS profile⁠