Jeffrey Ptak on Basis Pointing

Thanks. I guess it depends on how we define win/lose. If we're focused on time-weighted returns (forget flows; return of capital; etc.), I would think/hope you'd get an acceptable total return in absolute, if not relative, terms if the underlying rose sharply as you'd participate in some of that. If the stock was volatile but range bound seems that could also translate to a decent total return in absolute and relative terms. When you bring flows into the picture, that's when it becomes much dicier imo. TSLY is not an isolated example - I estimate that 32 of their 46 ETFs have suffered dollar losses since incept through 3/31/25 (20 of the 46 had time-weighted losses; so it's partly the ETF seeing a loss and partly how investors seem to be using these). All told, these ETFs appear to have incurred nearly half a billion in dollar losses in aggregate over their lifetimes through 3/31/25.