An institutional asset management veteran's Gotham startup is teaming up to enter the ETF space.

This morning, David Allen, managing director and principal owner of Octane Investments, unveiled the launch of the New York City-based firm's first exchange-traded fund: the Octane All-Cap Value Energy ETF (OCTA on the Nasdaq). The new, actively managed fund is powered by Octane as sponsor and subadvisor, plus Tidal Investments LLC [profile] as sponsor.

OCTA's inception was yesterday, and the fund is a series of Tidal Trust II. The new ETF comes with an expense ratio of 30 basis points, which bakes in a 30bps fee waiver promised through October 31, 2025.

The new fund's PM team includes: Qiao Duan, portfolio manager at Tidal; Charles Ragauss, PM at Tidal; and Allen himself.

Allen stated that he is "pulling back the curtain on the Octane philosophy." He explains that OCTA is powered by his firm's proprietary investment "decision tree." With a series of questions, Allen narrows energy sector stocks down to a portfolio of about 30 holdings.

Allen puts the launch of OCTA in the context of investors holding "historically low levels" of exposure to traditional energy companies.

"But the solution is not simply to allocate more to the biggest and broadest energy funds on the market as doing so only means investors will continue to miss out on the potential growth and yield to be found when taking a more robust, systematic approach to allocating to the sector," Allen states. "Our active value approach is uniquely suited to the specific challenges and opportunities inherent in investing in the energy sector, particularly when viewed through the lens of today's distorted markets."

Allen launched Octane last year with a specific focus on investing in traditional energy company equities. He previously spent about 18 years on the institutional teams at Schroders and AllianceBernstein, after more than a decade as a foreign exchange dealer and trader. He is an alumnus at the University of Pennsylvania.

OCTA's other service providers include: Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor; Sullivan & Worcester LLP as counsel; Tidal ETF Services, LLC as administrator; U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (dba U.S. Bank Global Fund Services) as fund accountant, sub-administrator, and transfer agent; and U.S. Bank National Association as custodian. 

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