Odds & Ends: First Nickel Miners ETF Debuts

This week included several notable exchange-traded fund launches, but perhaps the most interesting was the debut of the first ETF to focus specifically on nickel miners.  

The Sprott Nickel Miners ETF (NIKL) tracks an index of roughly 25 securities representing companies with significant nickel mining operations. Nickel is vital to the transition to a low carbon economy due to its use in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries. It launched on Wednesday. 

NIKL comes with an expense ratio of 0.75% and lists on the Nasdaq stock market. 

Cboe Vest and First Trust rolled out two more defined outcome ETFs via their partnership on Monday. The FT Cboe Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF – March (GMAR) and the FT Cboe Vest U.S. Equity Enhance & Moderate Buffer ETF – March (XMAR) both provide buffered exposure to price performance of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).  

GMAR will have an upside cap of 15.31% before expenses through its reset date of March 15, 2024, while protecting against the first 15% of downside during the outcome period.  

XMAR offers twice the upside price performance of SPY up to a cap of 13.01% while again protecting against the first 15% of downside. As with all defined outcome ETFs, the funds rely primarily on flexible exchange options on their reference asset to achieve their objectives.  

Both funds have expense ratios of 0.85% and list on Cboe Global Markets. 

Closures 

While more than 20 Invesco ETFs halted creations on Friday as they marched closer to their final closure set to happen around the end of the quarter, there were a number of other closure-related events during the week. 

The Morgan Creek - Exos Active SPAC Arbitrage ETF (CSH), which was set to cease to trade around March 24 has had a reprieve due to corporate actions related to the companies in its portfolio. It is now set to liquidate around April 12.  

Another SPAC fund, the Exos Active SPAC Arbitrage ETF (CHS) closed on Thursday.  

Two more closures were announced from AdvisorShares. The AdvisorShares Dorsey Wright Alpha Equal Weight ETF (DWEQ) and the AdvisorShares North Square McKee Core Reserves ETF (HOLD) are both scheduled to liquidate on or around April 10.  

Other Changes 

Two funds will change their names. On March 31, the Aptus Collared Income Opportunity ETF (ACIO) will change its name to the Aptus Collared Investment Opportunity ETF, while on April 3, the Innovator Loup Frontier Tech ETF (LOUP) becomes the Innovator Deepwater Frontier Tech ETF. 

On Wednesday, the expense ratio of the Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF (SPFF) decreased from 0.58% to 0.48%.  

And on Thursday, the Alpha Architect Tail Risk ETF (CAOS) underwent a 1-for-8 reverse split. 

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]