The folks at a six-year-old, thematic ETF boutique are teaming up with a familiar ally to take on investors' exposure to the very biggest stocks. Meanwhile, the boutique's team is also celebrating a ten-figure milestone.

Last week (on Tuesday, October 22), Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and chief investment officer of Defiance ETFs [profile], unveiled the launch of the Defiance Large Cap Ex-Magnificent Seven ETF (XMAG on the Nasdaq). Also last week, Defiance Group Holdings LLC CEO Matt Bielski revealed that the Miami-based fund firm has surpassed $2 billion in AUM.

"A huge thank you to our incredible team, partners at Tidal Financial Group, and dedicated investors for helping us reach this major achievement. We're excited about the road ahead and the continued growth," Bielski writes in a LinkedIn post. (He founded Defiance ETFs in 2018.)

As for XMAG, it comes with an expense ratio of 35 basis points, and its inception date was October 21. As of yesterday (Wednesday, October 30), the new ETF had $6.4 million in AUM.

DGH serves as XMAG's sponsor, while BITA GmbH serves as index provider and Tidal Investments LLC [profile] serves as investment advisor. Tidal portfolio managers Qiao Duan and Charles Ragauss serve as the new fund's PM team.

XMAG is designed to track the BITA US 500 ex Magnificent 7 Index. That index is meant to provide exposure to the popular S&P 500 index, except that the new index provides that exposure while excluding stocks from the famous "Mag 7" companies: Alphabet (parent of Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta (parent of Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.

"We have heard loud and clear from institutional investors and advisors that they’re increasingly concerned about their sizable exposure to the Mag 7," Jablonski states:

Even clients who believe that the Mag 7 will continue to grow have seen their portfolios become engulfed by these companies, and they're looking for a solution. With XMAG, we're providing the market with the broad-based, diversified exposure that investors have always sought with the S&P 500. In offering this in an ETF, we're making the process of screening seven companies out of an index of 500 more efficient, and we're excited to see the market's reception to it.

XMAG is a series of Tidal Trust II. The new ETF'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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