Personal Finance News
SoFi Introduces Enhanced Yield ETF $THTA
The FinTech turned bank SoFi has launched another new ETF — this one focused on providing an enhanced yield.
About the ETF:
SoFi has introduced its newest exchange traded fund: SoFi Enhanced Yield ETF (ticker symbol $THTA). According to the company, the new ETF is meant to generate a monthly income for investors. To do this, it utilizes a portfolio of short-term Treasury Bills alongside an options trading strategy. As the ETF’s landing page explains, “The strategy seeks to generate income by holding short-duration US Treasuries without material interest risk while capturing enhanced income by selling volatility premiums using high probability defined risk option spreads.”
This new Enhanced Yield ETF joins SoFi’s growing list of proprietary exchange traded funds. In 2019, SoFi debuted its first two ETF: SoFi Select 500 ETF and SoFi Next 500 ETF. Since then, the bank has also created ETFs based around popularly held stocks (The SoFi Social 50 ETF), smart energy (SoFi Smart Energy ETF), a weekly dividend (SoFi Weekly Dividend ETF), and more. Another early SoFi ETF — SoFi Gig Economy ETF — was rebranded to the SoFi Be Your Own Boss ETF last year.
$THTA is actively managed by ZEGA Financial and has an expense ratio of 0.49%. As of this writing, shares of the ETF are trading for just north of $20 each.
More on SoFi:
While originally synonymous with student loans, SoFi has since become a major FinTech player, offering banking, investing, loan, and credit card products. In 2022, following its acquisition of Golden Pacific Bancorp, SoFi Bank was formed. Elsewhere, the SoFi name has gained prominence in popular culture as it retains naming rights to the Los Angeles stadium that’s home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers.
According to SoFi, it now has more than 6.9 million members using its various products — all of which can be found on the company’s site and in its mobile app.
My thoughts:
While I don’t 100% understand the mechanics behind this offering (and a horribly written press release didn’t help me much), I’m always intrigued by an ETF meant to create income. Of course, with $THTA being brand new, it’s not yet clear just how much yield investors can actually expect. It’s also worth noting that, although SoFi is behind this ETF and would certainly like you to use their SoFi Invest platform, it can be purchased from pretty much any brokerage. In fact, I bought a share on Robinhood — so we’ll see how this SoFi Enhanced Yield ETF performs from here.