ProShares has introduced a Russell 2000 exchange-traded fund powered by a daily call option strategy. It’s the third daily call ETF in its lineup of products. 

Selling covered call options allows investors to make income on securities they’re holding, making premiums off the options if they expect the underlying stock not to move very much. While traditional covered calls allow investors to hold long positions for a month on the securities they’re selling options for, with daily options, investors can sell every day and take advantage of the underlying stocks’ rising prices over the month. If they were holding an option on a longer holding, the rising price of the underlying security means they’d be exposed, having to sell to the option holders at the lower price.

ProShares has seized upon daily call strategies with the launch of several ETFs. It started with the ProShares S&P 500 High Income ETF (ISPY) late last year.  After that came the ProShares Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (IQQQ) in March. 

The new fund, the ProShares Russell 2000 High Income ETF (ITWO), tracks the CBOE Russell 2000 Daily Covered Call Index, according to Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at Bethesda, Md.-based ProShares. 

“The benefit [of the daily call option] is you can fully participate in the equity market and get the returns that traditional monthly strategies leave on the table,” he said in an interview. “For the first time you can really put together a diversified equity income approach getting the income you want from the covered calls, but it’s going to behave like the Russell.” 

The index mimics the performance of an investment strategy that brings together a short and long position in Russell 2000 call options. Specifically, it offers a daily covered call strategy that sells call options with one day to expiration each trading day. The ProShares fund invests in Russell 2000 stocks and then gains exposure to daily call options through the use of swap agreements, the firm said. 

"Our view is ITWO is really positioned and designed to really deliver small-cap returns and high income so it can really be a valuable additional element of that equity income construction,” Hyman said. 

With the latest ETF being the third in the firm’s covered call suite, advisors have the option to use them collectively or individually, he added. 

“Because they behave like underlying equities now, each of those elements has a constructive role either alone or together ... in a well-diversified equity income approach,” Hyman said. 

The new ETF has a management fee of 55 basis points, which is the same as that of ProShares’ other covered call ETFs. It will be available at most major platforms and broker-dealers. Covered call strategies are continuing to gain momentum in the industry, and Hyman believes that trend will continue for some time. 

“No doubt covered call strategies and equity income-oriented strategies we think are going to continue to be quite popular as folks move into the drawdown phase of the investment arch,” Hyman said.