MutualFundWire.com: 3 Boutiques Team Up to Bet On Deregulation

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Wednesday, June 11, 2025

3 Boutiques Team Up to Bet On Deregulation

Three boutiques near Dallas and New York City are teaming up with a Midwestern ETF-in-a-box shop to help investors bet on deregulation.

Yesterday, Michael Gayed, Hal Lambert, and Todd Stankiewicz unveiled the launch of the Free Markets ETF (FMKT on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Tidal Investments LLC (part of Tidal Financial Group) [profile] is FMKT's investment advisor, while the new fund has a trio of sponsors who are also subadivisors:

Fort Worth, Texas-based Point Bridge Capital, LLC (where Lambert is founder);

Harrison, New York-based Sykon Asset Management, LLC (where Stankiewicz serves as president and co-chief investment officer); and

Forest Hills, New York-based Tactical Rotation Management, LLC (TRM, where Gayed serves as president and CIO).

FMKT's inception date was Monday (June 9). The new equity ETF comes with an expense ratio of 76 basis points.

The new fund's PM team includes:

Joseph Castiglie, chief operating officer and co-CIO of Sykon;

Michael Venuto, CIO at Tidal Investments;

Gayed;

Lambert; and

Stankiewicz.

Gayed puts the launch of FMKT in the context of an estimated $2.1 trillion in annual costs associated with federal regulation.

"FMKT provides investors with targeted exposure to companies we believe are well-positioned to benefit as regulatory burdens are reduced, potentially unleashing significant value across multiple sectors," Gayed states.

"There is currently no other ETF in the U.S. marketplace that specifically targets the deregulation theme," Lambert states. "By focusing on companies with high regulatory cost sensitivity across sectors like healthcare, financial services, and energy, we aim to identify opportunities where margin expansion and operational improvements can drive outperformance."

Stankiewicz highlights a "three-step investment process — target, score, build" that powers FMKT and it's "high-conviction portfolio" (about 30 companies).

"We've designed this ETF to potentially benefit from both existing deregulation initiatives and anticipated policy shifts across administrations," Stankiewicz states.

FMKT is an actively managed series of Tidal Trust I. The new ETF's other service providers include:

ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor;

Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. as counsel;

Tait, Weller & Baker LLP as independent accounting firm;

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.