Where exactly do you see some of those opportunities developing from your standpoint about the types of thematics that you would use to capitalize on things that you think are going to be the next hot topic in the markets?

Well, I would say that parts, so we run a strategy called hedge growth, which basically, the basic premise is like, okay, if the S&P is up 20% a year, we're going to sort of target, it's not guaranteed because it's not like an insurance product or a buffer, but we want to sort of target like an 8 to 10% total return.

If the S&P is down 20%, we would hope and strive that this thing is going to be down 6%, 7%.

So within our model, we'll use buffered ETFs.

We'll use actively managed fixed income ETFs.

Those are, to me, some areas that you need skillful managers, people that are going to sort of navigate fixed income.

To us, the equity side of the picture is clean.

Where exactly do you think kind of this fund management business is going to gravitate a little bit more towards? Is it a pendulum that has gone from passive to active and maybe swings a little bit back towards the passive side of things eventually? Or do you feel as though this real thematic and active push is something that really is going to be the primary driver of the ETF business, not just in AUM, but also issues over the course of the next, say, three to five years?

There's questions about valuations, but if you're trying to find that next thing that should be in your portfolio outside of AI, where should we be looking?

Yeah, so we would say you should evolve your portfolio to AI adopters, right? So we like banks, right? Banks are heavily invested in AI.

Um, they have a strong IPO calendar, strong M&A calendar.

They're cheaper than the market, strong balance sheet, and they have a favorable rate, uh, environment set up.

So KWBW is one ETF that we're using to play that.

Uh, the second one is we just think, like, in general, you should evolve from the US hyperscalers to other beneficiaries.

So we like emerging markets and we have.

And how do you s- how do you exactly kinda get that exposure? Is it just emerging markets in general? They can just buy a country or a kind of broader, you know, a thematic fund for that? Or do you have to look at the types of industries or the geography specifically that you wanna go into?

How do you see it when it comes to exposure strategy?

So for me, from my standpoint, you know, obviously Shana just gave you, you know, a deep rundown.

She's the queen of all.

She knows the space really well.

You know, one thing I would say is that QIS, you know, sort of like has this issue where, you know, it's down, you know, 30, 50% year to date, one year.

So, you know, that's a quagmire we got to sort of look into and dive deep into.

You know, IAL just feels like very new, right? It was launched, I think, December of 2025.

Give us your mystery battle category and your EGF winner.

How do you see it when it comes to performance?

So I, I definitely agree with Shana.

Um, so we're gonna compare our performance of AIQ versus RSPT, so we have a wild card too.

That's just the equal weight, uh, technology ETF, um, from, from, uh, Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Technology.

So we're big fans of equal weight.

We just think that, you know, sort of let the market, you know, do the work for you and figure out the winners and losers.

Um, so year to date, RSPT, the Equal Weight S&P 500 Technology ETF, has beaten AIQ by about twelve percent.

It's interesting, too, to me, John, how you picked RSPT over XLK.

Just how seriously should we take it?

Well, I think you should.

I mean, if you look at the 10-year JGBs, you know, they're up 20 basis points over the last week.

That's a three sigma move.

So between JGBs, and you just mentioned the US 10-year, which just crossed, you know, 4 point, you know, 6%, I mean, it, there's a very significant repricing of rates going on.

Couple that with inflation expectations, which are now at four-year highs.

So when we build portfolios at Astoria, you know, we own the hyperscalers, 'cause we think that you, you gotta own them.

At what point does the 10-year yield become attractive to you?