BOXX etf any thoughts

We will evolve into them from time to time as part of our SPX trading. Yield isn't relevant as we are evolving into the box.

There is also no 13F filing requirement for cash - settled index products.

They can also be tax free under some corporate taxing schemes, but this has become very rare.
 
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While technically occ is not risk free, I bet its credit would be a < 5 bps.

The tax savings are significant. Take a state like MA. Treasuries will be subject to short term tax of 40percent. This will be subject to long term tax of 25percent plus long term tax of 5percent state. That is 10percent or 50bps of yield. And if you have a permanent (or very long term) allocation to the risk free rate then you would defer those taxes for a long time: that’s an extra 2percent yield for years. That can be worth an extra turn over 20 years.

Btw - in 2008, the OCC had no risk of going under but the box spread was substantially higher than the treasuries as libor basis blew out. I don’t remember how wide it was, but it might have been up to 100bps. And that was the greatest financial crisis in 3 generations.

But it’s all moot because, as @themickey , stated. You should just invest in the QQQ’s because it returns 15percent a year.


I looked at this a bit...couple comments
1) I think the risks is significantly higher than they imply. You are essentially buying options with some unknown counterparty with OCC as the theoretical backstop if they default. Default by the counterparty certainly seems much more likely than default on a t-bill. Governance of OCC seems chock full of wall street insiders, I'm not sure how one could trust them to have your best interests at heart any more than one found out they could trust DTCC during the GameStop debacle. What if the change rules or don't have enough collateral? What if they pull an LME and break a trade?
2) The tax benefits seem pointless for anyone with a state income tax. Tbills are exempt, this is not. The main argument seems to be that by not distributing dividends and instead appreciating in price you can defer tax. Also, the fund itself has some potential tax liability, unlike just owning treasuries.

My opinion. Rolling 1 month tbills in Treasury direct gets you 5.386%.
1 year returns on this are 5.29%.

It seems like the only advantage this has is trying to defer capital gains.

In exchange I think the risk is much higher.
"The insolvency of a brokerage firm could present risks for that firm’s customers, whether they are investors in options or in other securities. If a brokerage fi rm or the OCC Clearing Member that carries the fi rm’s accounts at OCC were to become insolvent, the fi rm’s customers could have some or all of their options positions closed out without their consent. Customers whose options positions
were not closed out under these circumstances might experience delays or other dif i culties in attempting to close out or exercise af f ected options positions. Similarly, the insolvency of an associate clearing house could present risks for the customers of brokerage fi rms whose accounts are carried through that associate clearing house."

In OCC's 96 page risk document, they mention insurance zero times. Therefore I assume they have none.
https://www.theocc.com/getmedia/a151a9ae-d784-4a15-bdeb-23a029f50b70/riskstoc.pdf;

There seem to be a wide variety of "devil in the details risks" like: what if the makeup of the index charges?
 
Yeah. @MarkBrown had a better link than the first.

I still have my doubts

Treasuries will be subject to short term tax of 40percent.
Wouldn't 1 month treasuries held to maturity by state tax free?

"Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes, and is reported on Form 1099-INT"
https://public.com/learn/how-are-tr...local taxes, and is reported on Form 1099-INT

It sounds like you're looking at a tradeoff between being taxed as income but avoiding state tax. Or being taxed as long term capital gains but paying state tax.
 
Yeah. @MarkBrown had a better link than the first.

I still have my doubts


Wouldn't 1 month treasuries held to maturity by state tax free?

"Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes, and is reported on Form 1099-INT"
https://public.com/learn/how-are-treasury-bills-taxed#:~:text=Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to,local taxes, and is reported on Form 1099-INT

It sounds like you're looking at a tradeoff between being taxed as income but avoiding state tax. Or being taxed as long term capital gains but paying state tax.

I have MarkBrown on ignore

yes. that is the tradeoff and deferral until you want it.
 
Yeah. @MarkBrown had a better link than the first.

I still have my doubts


Wouldn't 1 month treasuries held to maturity by state tax free?

"Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes, and is reported on Form 1099-INT"
https://public.com/learn/how-are-treasury-bills-taxed#:~:text=Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to,local taxes, and is reported on Form 1099-INT

It sounds like you're looking at a tradeoff between being taxed as income but avoiding state tax. Or being taxed as long term capital gains but paying state tax.
BOXX is a Nod to how real and how strong inflation in USA is. Cutting out all the manipulation of how US agencies calculate inflation.

If the Chart was not straight up..no one would even look at BOXX..5.25%..its just breaking even from a very very under calculated USA inflation. Most people with money they can tie up for 12 months are looking at S&P 500 and the government is trying very very hard to create establish S&P500 index without any risk at all. Because..no one can live on 5.25%. So basically, the S&P500 chart looks the same as BOXX.

And finally..many many people around the world would NOT consider T Bills to be the safest investment to hold. Most everyone east of Turkey would not consider holding the actual T Bill.
 
BOXX is a Nod to how real and how strong inflation in USA is. Cutting out all the manipulation of how US agencies calculate inflation.

If the Chart was not straight up..no one would even look at BOXX..5.25%..its just breaking even from a very very under calculated USA inflation. Most people with money they can tie up for 12 months are looking at S&P 500 and the government is trying very very hard to create establish S&P500 index without any risk at all. Because..no one can live on 5.25%. So basically, the S&P500 chart looks the same as BOXX.

And finally..many many people around the world would NOT consider T Bills to be the safest investment to hold. Most everyone east of Turkey would not consider holding the actual T Bill.

this post makes no sense.

take your medicine.
 
So why look at this vs SGOV, or just buying a tbill which would be about as low risk as one can get?
It’s all about tax treatment of income. If you buy SGOV, you get interest income, which is taxed as regular income. If you buy BOXX, you don’t get any interest or dividends, you get capital appreciation, which is taxed as capital gains. It’s immensely clever and quite an amazing product. But, if the tax difference is not a big deal for you, then don’t spend another minute looking at it.
 
- Tax wise if for Non US resident it does not make any diff then is holding BOXX better than holding T bills? If the return is higher with BOXX is it worth the risk that it is a ETF
-OCC going out of business is mentioned.. what are the chances if that happens it will be a much bigger meltdown
- The broker that BOXX uses may go under and would that affect BOXXs ability to continue?
 
- Tax wise if for Non US resident it does not make any diff then is holding BOXX better than holding T bills? If the return is higher with BOXX is it worth the risk that it is a ETF
-OCC going out of business is mentioned.. what are the chances if that happens it will be a much bigger meltdown
- The broker that BOXX uses may go under and would that affect BOXXs ability to continue?

if you have no tax benefit, there’s no reason to do the BOXX over treasuries.

I think the credit risk is deminimis.
 
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