Behind the Ticker

In a recent episode of Behind the Ticker, Kevin Carter, founder of EMQQ Global, shared his journey into investment management and the inspiration behind his suite of emerging market internet ETFs, including INQQ, which focuses on India’s rapidly growing internet sector. With a background that began at Robertson Stephens in 1992 and included pioneering direct indexing and active indexing, Carter’s passion for emerging markets and digital transformation culminated in the creation of EMQQ Global and its targeted ETF offerings.
Carter discussed the investment thesis for INQQ, highlighting India’s unique position as the world’s largest and fastest-growing emerging market. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, robust demographics, and a booming middle class, India presents unparalleled opportunities for consumption-driven growth. Carter emphasized India’s ongoing infrastructure and technological advancements under Prime Minister Modi, particularly the “India Stack,” a revolutionary digital public infrastructure. The stack has transformed India’s economy by enabling biometric identification, digital payments, and financial inclusion for over 800 million people in just a few years.
INQQ provides investors exposure to the burgeoning internet sector in India, which Carter described as being in its early stages of growth. The ETF focuses on publicly traded Indian internet companies that meet market cap and liquidity thresholds, offering a diversified portfolio across various verticals, including e-commerce, payments, and online travel. Companies like Paytm and MakeMyTrip exemplify the opportunities available as digital adoption accelerates, with many sectors still in the nascent stages of development.
Carter underscored the importance of INQQ as a standalone investment opportunity within emerging markets, appealing to those seeking targeted exposure to India’s digital transformation.

In a recent episode of “Behind the Ticker,” Petra Bakosova from Hull Tactical discussed the unique approach behind the Hull Tactical Asset Allocation ETF, HTUS. Bakosova, who has been with Hull Tactical since its inception, has a background in applied mathematics and previously worked at proprietary trading firms. She explained that Hull Tactical’s investment strategy draws inspiration from founder Blair Hull’s background as both a blackjack card counter and a legendary options trader. Hull’s principles—making frequent, proportional bets based on advantage, and prioritizing risk management—form the backbone of HTUS’s tactical approach.
HTUS, launched in 2015, is a tactical asset allocation fund that aims to outperform the S&P 500 without exceeding its volatility. The fund combines data-driven market timing with quantitative models that analyze approximately 40 publicly available indicators. These indicators are organized into categories: macroeconomic factors, fundamentals, technical anomalies, and sentiment. The strategy is fully dynamic, adjusting S&P 500 exposure daily based on signals generated from these models. HTUS typically ranges from 50% to 150% exposure, though it has flexibility from fully invested to flat or even short.
A unique feature of HTUS is its daily rebalancing, a process that allows the fund to remain agile and responsive to market changes. Bakosova detailed that HTUS leverages SPY and E-mini futures for S&P 500 exposure and incorporates SPX options to adjust for market sentiment and volatility. The fund’s sentiment indicators include sources like MarketPsych, Halbert, and Ned Davis, which track social media and news sentiment. Bakosova highlighted the importance of diversification in HTUS’s modeling process, as each indicator provides different market insights over various time horizons.
HTUS is intended as a sophisticated, hedge fund-like strategy within an ETF structure, appealing to advisors seeking an alternative to traditional large-cap core holdings. Bakosova emphasized that Hull Tactical is focused on continual research and model refinement, with plans to incorporate more advanced AI and machine learning techniques.

In a recent episode of “Behind the Ticker,” Joanna Gallegos, co-founder of BondBloxx, shares her extensive background in ETFs and the innovative fixed income strategies her firm employs. Gallegos, who has been in the ETF industry her entire career, began at Barclays Global Investors during the early days of iShares before moving to JP Morgan to help start their ETF business. She co-founded BondBloxx in October 2021 with a team of experienced ETF professionals from firms like BlackRock, Vanguard, and JP Morgan, aiming to address the underdevelopment of fixed income products in the ETF market.
Gallegos explains that BondBloxx was created to bring more precision to fixed income investing through ETFs. The firm’s product line focuses on high-yield sector and credit rating ETFs, offering a range of tools that allow investors to tailor their exposure more precisely. The company identified a gap in the market for more specific fixed income products, particularly in the high-yield space, where traditional broad market exposures were no longer sufficient for the evolving financial landscape.
One of the standout products discussed is the BondBloxx CCC Rated US High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (ticker: XCCC). This ETF provides diversified exposure to over 220 bonds in the CCC rating category, which typically comprises about 10-11% of a broad high-yield index. Gallegos highlights that XCCC offers investors a significant yield pickup, with yields around 12%, and has shown impressive price appreciation in 2023. This ETF is designed to complement broad high-yield exposures by allowing investors to add a higher concentration of CCC-rated bonds, benefiting from their higher yields and potential price appreciation as interest rates decline.
Gallegos addresses common misconceptions about CCC-rated bonds, emphasizing that the current market fundamentals for high-yield bonds are strong, and the overall default rates are not above historical norms. She explains that the diversified nature of XCCC, with hundreds of bonds, mitigates individual default risks and offers a more stable investment compared to picking individual high-yield bonds. The ETF’s monthly rebalancing ensures it stays aligned with the ICE BofA CCC & Lower US High Yield Constrained Index, providing consistent exposure to the target credit rating.
For advisors and investors, Gallegos suggests that XCCC can be a valuable addition to an existing high-yield allocation, rather than a replacement. It allows investors to lean into the higher yield opportunities within the high-yield spectrum, especially in an environment where rates are expected to remain high for longer. This approach can enhance overall portfolio yield and performance, making XCCC a strategic tool for optimizing fixed income investments.

In a recent episode of “Behind the Ticker,” Taylor Krystkowiak, co-founder of ThemesETFs, shared insights into his career and the innovative strategies behind ThemesETFs. Krystkowiak, who has worked at various firms ranging from Fortune 500 companies to boutique asset managers, brought his extensive experience in macroeconomic analysis and investment strategy to ThemesETFs. The firm, founded by Jose Gonzalez, focuses on providing thematic and fundamental investment strategies at competitive price points, offering a range of ETFs that cater to current market demands.
ThemesETFs aims to differentiate itself by offering niche investment strategies at about 40% lower fees compared to the category average. Their first batch of ETFs includes sectors like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, banks, airlines, and European luxury brands. Krystkowiak emphasizes that their goal is to provide investors with targeted exposure to specific market sectors while minimizing fees to enhance overall portfolio performance. By offering a variety of investment options, ThemesETFs seeks to cater to investors’ diverse needs and preferences.
A focal point of the discussion was the Global Systematically Important Bank ETF (GSIB). GSIB targets the 28 globally systemically important banks, often referred to as “too big to fail” institutions. These banks are held to higher regulatory standards to ensure financial stability, making them more resilient during economic downturns. Krystkowiak highlights that GSIBs have outperformed other banks and the broader market, especially during rising interest rate environments. Since January 2022, GSIBs have shown a return of over 35%, compared to a 7% decline in the broader banking sector and modest gains in major indices.
Krystkowiak explains that GSIB’s success is attributed to their lower exposure to commercial real estate, higher capitalization, and better liquidity. These banks have also benefited from increased customer deposits and diversified income streams, such as investment banking and wealth management fees. With a quarterly rebalancing strategy, GSIB maintains an equal-weight exposure to all 28 banks on the Financial Stability Board’s list, ensuring a balanced investment approach.
In terms of positioning within a portfolio, Krystkowiak suggests that GSIB can replace broad financial sector exposure or even serve as a core equity growth component. The ETF offers a way to diversify growth beyond tech-heavy names, providing stability and performance amidst market volatility. ThemesETFs employs a lean business model, utilizing artificial intelligence for efficient outreach and distribution, which allows them to offer lower fees to investors.

In a recent episode of “Behind the Ticker,” David Allen, CFA and founder of Octane Investments, discussed his background in finance and the firm’s strategy for its recently launched All-Cap Value Energy ETF (ticker: OCTA). Allen, who began his career in 1992 as a trader at Merrill Lynch and witnessed significant market events like the breaking of the Bank of England, developed a keen interest in geopolitics and energy markets early on. His experience spans institutional sales and trading, which later inspired him to start Octane Investments to capitalize on what he identified as a market gap created by divestment from traditional energy sectors.
Allen explains that Octane Investments was founded to take advantage of the “carbon risk premium” and other risk premiums inherent in the energy market, such as the equity risk premium, the small cap premium, and the value premium. The firm focuses on identifying undervalued companies in the energy sector, particularly those that are being overlooked or divested due to environmental concerns. OCTA, Octane’s All-Cap Value Energy ETF, is structured around an all-cap value strategy, investing in energy companies with stable earnings, strong balance sheets, and a commitment to returning capital to shareholders.
Throughout the conversation, Allen emphasized the significant opportunity in traditional energy sectors, despite the increasing focus on sustainability and renewable energy. He highlighted that many investors are avoiding energy stocks, leading to a scarcity of capital and undervalued opportunities in the market. OCTA seeks to capture this value by focusing on companies that are profitable, financially stable, and returning capital to shareholders, such as through buybacks and debt elimination. Allen explained that the fund’s holdings are curated based on a decision tree that screens for price-to-earnings ratios, balance sheet strength, and capital return strategies.
Allen also touched on how OCTA offers exposure to a range of energy subsectors, including refiners and tankers, and discussed how the fund’s structure mitigates risks by limiting exposure to any single company. The ETF is rebalanced weekly, and the portfolio includes companies from developed markets, avoiding exposure to non-OECD markets where political risks are higher. Allen sees OCTA as a strong complementary allocation for investors who are underweight in energy and stressed that, with energy representing less than 4% of the S&P 500, there is a structural underweight in the sector that his ETF addresses.