ARK Plans Space Exploration ETF

[Editor’s Note: This article was one of ETF.com's most popular of 2021.]

ARK Funds, the biggest and most successful equity active manager in the ETF space, with almost $40 billion in U.S.-listed ETF assets spread across seven funds, put in registration this week a space-focused ETF, the ARK Space Exploration ETF (ARKX).

ETF filings typically don’t elicit this much excitement, but ARK’s massive success with funds such as the $21 billion ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and its thematic siblings made ARKX the talk of the week—a filing that was said to have single-handedly boosted the whole space-related stock segment.

ARKX will have the same research-based, disruption-focused DNA that other ARK ETFs share. In the prospectus, ARK said this ETF will invest in U.S. and international space exploration companies that are innovating and disrupting products and services in this segment. ARKX is going to be a high-conviction portfolio for those seeking access to opportunities “beyond the surface of the Earth.”

ARKX will go head to head with funds such as the Procure Space ETF (UFO), which is a $44 million global aerospace and defense ETF, and the SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT), which is a U.S.-focused index-based basket of companies engaged in space and deep sea exploration.

ARK has not disclosed planned fees for the fund, but all of its ETFs cost 0.75% in expense ratio, or $75 per $10,000 invested. 

Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected]