The architect of headline-grabbing ETFs going short on Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation and Jim Cramer’s stock picks Tuttle Capital Management is considering a European launch via a white-label issuer, CEO Matthew Tuttle told ETF Stream.
The revelation followed the launch of Tuttle’s long-awaited inverse Cramer ETF last week, with an ETF Streamarticle questioning whether there would be demand for such a product in the old continent.
Taking to Twitter, the firm’s CEO reshared the article and said: “Already talking to the guys at [HANetf], if there is demand we will do it.”
Speaking to ETF Stream, Tuttle said the firm would not be limited to its Cramer ETFs and would consider launching other products in Europe.
“It is a big world and the US is only part of it,” he said. “It is more expensive for an issuer to launch overseas so I would only bring something that is either already real successful here or has some distinction that may make it very successful there.”
Tuttle continued, stating his understanding is an ETF would need to reach $60m to break even in UCITS format, so he would look for his firm’s Cramer strategies to achieve four-times that amount in the US before bringing them to Europe.
The firm remains undecided on which white-label ETF issuer it would partner with on a prospective Europe entry, illustrating how the arrival of new white labelling entrants has made the space more competitive over the past year.
“I know the [HANetf] guys but the Leverage Shares guys reached out and claim they are cheaper,” Tuttle said. “At the end of the day, if someone is materially cheaper that will go a long way.
“I believe there are ways to wrap the US product so we would trade it like we do now so expertise in swaps would not matter, but possibly [Leverage Shares’] client base could.”
Tuttle’s move to Europe would mark the continent’s first issuer best-known for ETFs tracking the performance of investment personalities, a trend that has gathered pace in the US.
If the firm brought its Short Innovation ETF to Europe, it would join existing 1x, 3x and -3x ARK Innovation exchange-traded products (ETPs) launched by Leverage Shares in December 2021.
Tuttle would also be the latest US issuer to make the move to Europe after abdrn debuted with The Global Real Estate Active Thematics (GREAT) UCITS ETF (R8TA) last week.
Last year, US white-label ETF issuer Tidal Financial Group revealed it was primed to expand its business in Europe, with director of EMEA Telmo Rueda not ruling out the possibility of white labelling in the continent.
