HRSK vs PEPS

HRSKFToews Agility Shares Hedged Risk ETF

PEPSBParametric Equity Plus ETF

In short

HRSK Most S&P 500 options funds sell away upside for premium. HRSK buys protection instead: long-dated puts on its large-cap sleeve, shorter-dated calls to help pay for them, and no stated cap on gains.

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

HRSK The Fund seeks large-cap U.S. equity exposure while limiting adverse market risk through long-dated put options and using shorter-dated call options as part of its strategy.

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

• HRSK The contrarian build in a crowd of premium sellers: it holds large-cap US equity, buys long-dated put options to limit downside, and writes shorter-dated calls as part of the strategy.prnewswire.com
• No stated performance cap, so the equity side isn't structurally boxed in on the upside the way covered-call and buffer payoffs are.prnewswire.com
• Launched in 2026 via a Section 351 exchange, which let eligible investors move appreciated holdings in tax deferred and keep their original cost basis.prnewswire.com
• Toews has run managed-risk strategies since 1994, so the hedging playbook here is older than the ETF wrapper around it.prnewswire.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

• HRSK At 0.95% a year it runs above the 0.60% median for S&P 500 options funds, and rivals like IVVW (0.25%) and GPIX (0.35%) charge a fraction of it.
• Small asset base and light trading, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the category heavyweights'.
• Protection isn't free: put premiums come out of returns in calm markets, and the 2026 launch leaves a short record of how the overlay acts in a deep selloff.

• 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 HRSK profile⁠

Full PEPS profile⁠