## [# Behind the Ticker: SILJ & the Amplify ETFs](/sections/podcasts/behind-ticker-silj-amplify-etfs)
# Behind the Ticker: SILJ & the Amplify ETFs
In this episode of *Behind the Ticker*, Christian Magoon, CEO of Amplify, talks the firm's income and growth ETF suites that includes the Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF (SILJ).
[](/authors/behind-ticker)
[By Behind The Ticker](/authors/behind-ticker)
Mar 30, 2026
Edited by: ETF.com Staff
[ + Follow ](/etf/login)
Share Email LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter)
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
googletag.display('js-dfp-tag-article_page_302x26');
});
Loading
let duration = 0, percent = '0', new_percent = '';
jwplayer("etfVideo").setup({
playlist: "https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fd8hE42w",
aspectratio: "16:9",
autostart: "viewable",
ga: {}
});
jwplayer().on('time', function(e) {
duration = e.duration
if (e.position >= duration * 0.25){
percent = '25';
}
if (e.position >= duration * 0.50){
percent = '50';
}
if (e.position >= duration * 0.75){
percent = '75';
}
if (e.position == duration){
percent = '100';
}
if (new_percent != percent){
// GTM Datalayer - Video Event
dataLayer.push({
'event': 'video',
'video_id': 'Fd8hE42w',
'video_percent': percent,
'video_url': 'http://www.etf.com/markdownify/node/136371'
});
new_percent = percent;
}
});
Behind the Ticker offers investors a chance to get under the hood of newer or more niche ETFs. Brad Roth, Managing Partner and CIO of Thor Financial Technologies, talks strategy and the human side of investing and ETFs with the individuals bringing these funds to market.
In this episode, Roth talks with Christian Magoon, CEO of Amplify ETFs, who discusses the firm's ethos when bringing ETFs to markets. The conversation touches on a variety of income and growth funds before focusing on the [**Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF (SILJ)**](https://www.etf.com/SILJ).
You can also listen to this episode on [**Spotify**](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VKW5WgJpPQbRnqAGO1cSG?si=c404bc6eb0324170), [**Apple Podcasts**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/40-funds-%2420b-and-the-case-for-junior-silver/id1682702118?i=1000757911456), or any of your preferred streaming platforms.
## Amplify's Income and Growth Approach
Christian Magoon has spent nearly three decades building ETF businesses from the ground up. He started as an intern at First Trust Portfolios back in 1997, helped launch the ETF business at Claymore in 2006 before the firm was acquired by Guggenheim and eventually folded into Invesco. Magoon eventually went on to launch Amplify ETFs in 2015 with their first fund debuting in April 2016. The firm is now approaching its 10-year anniversary with roughly 40 funds and $20 billion in assets under management.
Magoon describes the firm's product philosophy as a barbell of income strategies on one side and growth or thematic ETFs on the other, with an emphasis on being first to market in categories that weren't already well-represented in the ETF toolbox. The income side is anchored by the YieldSmart suite — led by [**DIVO**](https://www.etf.com/DIVO), [**IDVO**](https://www.etf.com/IDVO), and [**QDVO**](https://www.etf.com/QDVO) — which are actively managed funds that hold high-quality dividend-paying stocks and tactically write covered calls on individual securities. DIVO launched in 2016 as one of the first equity derivative income ETFs to write covered calls at the individual stock level rather than the index level, and it remains Amplify's largest fund.
On the growth side, Amplify has a string of first-to-market thematic funds that Magoon describes as investments in long-tail innovations that don't fit neatly into traditional sector categories. That list includes the first actively managed blockchain ETF ([**BLOK**](https://www.etf.com/BLOK), launched in 2018 and averaging 18% annually since inception), the first cybersecurity ETF ([**HACK**](https://www.etf.com/HACK)), the first online retail ETF, and the fund discussed at length in this episode — [**SILJ**](https://www.etf.com/SILJ), the first and only junior silver miners ETF. The firm launched 10 products in 2024, its highest output ever, and expects to match or exceed that pace in 2025.
## Opportunities In Junior Silver Miners
SILJ — the Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF — tracks a Nasdaq index of small and mid-cap silver mining companies, the only ETF in its category. It has been around since 2012 and recently won Alternative ETF of the Year from ETF Intelligence based on its performance in 2024. The fund holds approximately 42 names using a modified market-cap weighting methodology, with eligibility requirements focused on purity: companies must derive the majority of their revenue from silver mining, hold a meaningful share of global silver production, or be dedicated to silver exploration and development.
The investment thesis for silver rests on two distinct demand pillars. Approximately 60% of silver consumption comes from industrial uses — silver is the most electrically conductive metal on earth, making it essential for electronics, batteries, EVs, solar panels, and AI data center infrastructure. The remaining 40-50% is store-of-value demand, similar to gold but at a lower price point. Magoon argues this industrial demand component — driven by the same secular buildouts in AI, electrification, and clean energy that investors are already familiar with — gives silver a demand profile that gold simply doesn't have.
Junior silver miners function as a leveraged expression of silver prices. Because smaller mining companies build financial models around a projected silver price, a sustained move higher in the metal generates outsized profit leverage — junior miners can move three to four times what silver does in a bull market, and the most speculative small-cap names can move ten times. The flip side is equally true: when silver drops sharply, junior miners drop harder and faster, with less balance sheet cushion to absorb the volatility.
For advisors thinking about where SILJ fits, Magoon outlines three practical use cases: as a complement to an existing physical silver or gold ETF position for investors who want amplified upside exposure to the metal; as an allocation within an alternatives sleeve, given silver's historically low correlation to the S&P 500 (approximately 0.24 over long periods); or as a satellite holding alongside growth or thematic allocations in AI, electrification, or solar, where silver is a critical underlying material. Amplify also offers [**SLJY**](https://www.etf.com/SLJY) — a covered call version of SILJ that targets an 18% annual income distribution from option premiums while retaining approximately 50% of the upside, using the same YieldSmart logic applied to the silver mining space.
Amplify ETFs can be found at [**AmplifyETFs.com**](https://amplifyetfs.com), which includes fund commentary, white papers, performance history, video content, and access to the firm's ETF specialist team for advisor consultations.
---
*Disclaimer: The market insights, projections, and investment strategies expressed in this podcast are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ETF.com This content is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice.*
*Discover the news, data, and voices shaping the ETF community. Follow along* [***here***](https://www.etf.com/sections/podcasts).
[ + Follow ](/etf/login)
[ Behind The Ticker ](/authors/behind-ticker)
Join Brad Roth, Managing Partner and CIO of Thor Financial Technologies, as he interviews entrepreneurs and experts in the wealth management industry… [View Bio](/authors/behind-ticker)
Related Topics [Amplify](http://www.etf.com/topics/amplify)
[Growth](http://www.etf.com/topics/growth)
[Income](http://www.etf.com/topics/income)
[Silver Miners](http://www.etf.com/topics/silver-miners)