Toews Agility Shares Managed Risk ETF (MRSK)

The Toews Agility Shares Managed Risk ETF exists to answer a very old investor dilemma: how to participate in equity gains without enduring equity losses. It does not resolve the dilemma — no financial instrument can — but it constructs a serious attempt through a disciplined use of options.

MRSK holds core exposure to the S&P 500 index through constituent exchange-traded funds. That gives the fund its growth engine. But it does not leave that exposure naked. Instead, the fund purchases long-dated put options on the S&P 500 index — what investors call LEAP puts, standing for long-term equity anticipatory securities. A put option gives its holder the right to sell the index at a fixed price, acting as insurance against sharp declines. If the market falls 30%, the put cushions the blow. But puts are expensive. Holding them for months or years costs real money. So MRSK finances part of that cost by writing both put and call options on S&P 500 index futures. The puts it sells are out of the money, meaning they kick in only if the market falls below a certain level. The calls it sells are also out of the money, capping the fund’s upside participation.

The strategy is a deliberate trade-off. MRSK accepts a ceiling on how much it can gain in a roaring bull market — the sold call absorbs excess returns above that strike — in exchange for a floor below which it will not lose as much in a crash. The math is structured to make the sold options offset the cost of the purchased puts, keeping the overall hedge relatively cheap. But cheap is not free, and nothing is certain. The puts are hedges, not guarantees; the sold options fund them, not perfectly.

The fund was launched in June 2020 and has accumulated roughly 293 million in assets. Since inception, it has delivered an annualized return of approximately 10.92%, modestly lagging the S&P 500’s long-term average but outperforming during years when the market suffered sharp corrections. A shareholder who bought at inception and rode through the pandemic volatility, the 2022 bear market, and the 2023–2024 rally would have compounded capital with meaningfully less stomach pain than a pure equity index holder, though at the cost of foregone gains in the biggest up years.

The fund targets investors who need growth above inflation rates — and thus cannot live with an all-bonds portfolio — but have genuine risk constraints. A retiree drawing from a portfolio needs to avoid a 40% decline that would force liquidation at the worst moment. A younger investor with low risk tolerance might find the standard equity allocation too psychologically difficult to hold through a bear market. For these cohorts, MRSK offers a genuine service: participation in equity returns with a designed brake on downside severity.

The real risks are subtle. First, purchased hedges work best in sharp, quick declines; a slow, grinding bear market that erodes value over months can see the puts expire with less value realized. Second, the sold options cap gains precisely when momentum is strongest — when shareholders would most want to profit. Third, the fund is actively managed, which means fee-related drag beyond the underlying expense ratio, which is modest by options-strategy standards. Finally, no hedge is perfect or permanent. A severe market dislocation that exceeds the put strikes’ protection would leave shareholders exposed to large losses despite the insurance apparatus.

The fund is for disciplined investors who accept that insurance costs money, who value downside-limited participation over maximum upside capture, and who understand that hedges are guarantees against nothing — only reduced-severity outcomes in certain scenarios. Not for aggressive growth seekers or those who believe market timing can be beaten consistently.