LionShares Launches Debut ETF, TOT, to Capture U.S. Equities’ Total Return

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09/03/2025 - 09:00 AM

Newly founded issuer introduces an innovative tax-advantaged solution targeting investors’ real return on the U.S. equity market

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- LionShares, a newly established ETF issuer led by former quantitative trader Sofia Massie, announces today the launch of the LionShares U.S. Equity Total Return ETF (NYSE Arca: TOT). The actively managed fund is designed to give investors streamlined access to the broad U.S. equity market while aiming to pay no dividends, thereby minimizing tax drag.

TOT aims to provide long-term capital growth by investing in exchange-traded funds that track the broad U.S. equity market, with the flexibility to use futures or options when needed for efficiency. What makes its strategy innovative is that, unlike traditional equity ETFs that pass taxable dividends to shareholders, TOT actively minimizes dividend distributions to eliminate the tax drag that chips away at performance year after year. Through this approach, TOT seeks to help investors keep more of their returns compounding within the fund, removing the need to reinvest dividends and enabling full-time investment.

TOT’s strategy was born from the recognition that there was a gap in the ETF marketplace. “Many investors prefer to reinvest dividends as soon as possible. What they truly seek is exposure to the total return of the market,” said Sofia Massie, Founder and CEO of LionShares. “Often overlooked, tax drag can quietly erode investors’ performance compounding for years. We looked to eliminate this obstacle at the foundation of the ETF’s design by removing distributions. Our goal with this innovation is to provide investors with a more efficient product to achieve their long-term investing objectives and give back control over the timing of taxable income.”

With a low net expense ratio of 0.0749%*, TOT was designed with cost-sensitive investors in mind. The fund’s ultimate goal is to provide investors with efficient, diversified exposure to U.S. equities, providing a robust foundation for their portfolios.

The launch of TOT reflects growing investor demand for actively managed products that go beyond basic equity exposure and address the structural issues that quietly weigh on performance. LionShares is an ETF-native issuer, with the strategy behind TOT built from the ground up to fundamentally optimize investors’ end portfolio by minimizing distributions and simplifying access to after-tax efficiency.

*Fees incurred by the fund after fee waiver. The Advisor has contractually agreed to a fee waiver, and it remains in effect until at least 09/01/2026. TOT’s gross expense ratio is 0.25%.

About LionShares
LionShares is an ETF issuer based in New York, NY, dedicated to building next-generation investment products that combine sophisticated strategy with investor-friendly design. Founded by former Jane Street trader Sofia Massie, LionShares is committed to innovation, accessibility, and helping investors maximize long-term outcomes through efficient fund structures.

Disclosures

Before investing in the fund, the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully. The statutory and summary prospectus contain this and other important information about the fund. Copies may be obtained by visiting lionsharesetf.com or calling 855-885-7363. Read it carefully before investing.

Investing involves risks including the loss of principal.

The Fund is recently organized with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a history on which to base their investment decision. There can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size.

The Fund is actively-managed and there is no guarantee that the investment decisions made by the portfolio managers in implementing these investment strategies will produce the returns expected by the investment advisor and sub-advisor.

Securities of large-capitalization stocks can perform differently from other segments of the equity market or the equity market as a whole and may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges. Equity securities and market risks that could affect the value of a Fund's shares and the total return on your investment include the possibility that the equity securities held by a Fund will experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value due to local, regional, or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events.

ETFs are subject to additional risks that do not apply to conventional mutual funds, including the risks that the market price of an ETF's shares may trade at a premium or discount to its net asset value, an active secondary trading market may not develop or be maintained, or trading may be halted by the exchange in which they trade, which may impact an ETF's ability to sell its shares. Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the ETF. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

LionShares U.S. Equity Total Return ETF is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC.