Equity Armor Investments, LLC (“EAI”, “we” or “our”) began business in June 2010 and its current
owners are Brian Stutland Revocable Trust (42.5%), Afshin Luke Rahbari (42.5%), and Joseph Tigay
(15%).
As of December 31, 2022, EAI has $157,240,198 in Discretionary Assets under management which
includes individual clients, other investment adviser clients, and mutual funds.
We provide investment supervisory services in return for a fee calculated as a percentage of assets
under management, as a flat-rate consulting fee, or an incentive fee only in our CTA programs. Services
are offered directly to clients or in a sub-advisory or licensing capacity. We offer advice on stocks
(exchange listed and over the counter), futures contracts, warrants, corporate debt, commercial paper,
certificates of deposit, municipal securities, U.S. Government Securities, option contracts on equities
and futures, and partnerships investing in real estate and oil and gas interests. The analysis methods
we use to evaluate investments and our strategies performances include charting, fundamental,
technical and cyclical analysis.
In addition to the above, EAI makes available the following services to clients based upon client goals:
1. Volatility Protection Strategies.
EAVOL Index is a daily rebalanced VIX and SPIKES futures trading strategy that is disseminated as
an index value by Cboe. SPIKES futures utilize SPY options. VIX futures utilize SPX options. The
goal of the index is to correlate to VIX and SPIKES futures returns. The EAVOL Index was created
to accommodate those looking to have long volatility exposure over a long time and avoid the
decay associated with such a transaction. The Index selects positions that present the least
potential for time decay while maintaining the highest correlation to VIX and SPIKES Index price
movement each day. The strategy return is calculated and disseminated with live and back
dated returns by Cboe as an index under the ticker: EAVOL. The index methodology is traded in
separately managed accounts, on behalf of its clients in a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA)
capacity and approved for EAI to trade in public funds. For more information about the EAVOL
index, please go to
www.equityarmorinvestments.com and click on the link to EAVOL Index
on the homepage.
2. Public Funds; The Rational Equity Armor Fund; EAVOL NASDAQ-100 Volatility Overlay Fund
Rational Equity Armor Fund
Equity Armor Investments is the portfolio manager and sub-advisor to the fund.
Investment Objective:
The Fund primarily invests in common stock of dividend paying companies included within the
S&P 500 Index. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in futures contracts on the Cboe
Volatility Index (the “VIX Index”) and through SPIKES, in cash and cash equivalents as a hedge
against the common stock, or other securities or futures or future options related to directly or
indirectly to VIX. The managers use a rules-based quantitative strategy to create a portfolio
composed of common stock that they believe offers the best return potential and low volatility
under the current economic environment. Stocks are selected based on a proprietary model
comprised of the following factors (i) domestic factors such as unemployment rate, corporate
cash flow, housing starts, auto sales, and new durable goods; (ii) monetary factors; (iii) interest
rates; (iv) various index levels including gold index, energy prices, consumer price index; and (v)
international factors such as euro exchange rates, FTSE 100, Tokyo stock exchange, and
agricultural exports. The Fund will invest in VIX futures, VIX options, SPIKES futures, SPIKES
options, S&P 500 futures and options, and/or cash equivalents in order to maintain a volatility
component that seeks to achieve 2/3 of the return of the EAVOL Trading Strategy.
CATALYST NASDAQ-100 HEDGED EQUITY FUND
Equity Armor Investments is the portfolio manager and sub-advisor to the fund.
Investment Objective:
The Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities that constitute the NASDAQ 100
Index (“NDX”). The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in futures contracts on the Cboe
Volatility Index (the VIX index), SPIKES futures and options, options on index Futures and in cash
and cash equivalents, including U.S. Treasury obligations, as a hedge against the Fund’s
exposure to the NDX. The Fund invests in VIX Futures utilizing the same methodology as the
Equity
Armor investments VOL 365 Index and use a trading strategy to correlate to the index
(“EAVOL Trading Strategy”), a strategy based on a proprietary VIX and SPIKES futures trading
strategy that seeks to correlate to VIX and SPIKES futures returns. The EAVOL trading strategy is
constructed pursuant to a rules-based volatility analysis that identifies investments that present
the least potential for time decay (i.e., the decline in the value of a contract over the passage of
time), while maintaining the highest correlation to VIX Index price movement each day. The
volatility overlay aims to minimize possible losses that are common in stock indexes so that
investors might be able to ride out market swings in pursuit of their long-term investment
objectives. The volatility overlay has an associated cost.
3. CTA Managed Futures.
EAI can utilize separately managed account margin (borrowed funds) in order to capture
volatility swings in the stock market using VIX and SPIKES futures according to the EAVOL index
methodology in conjunction with S&P 500 futures and options, NASDAQ 100 futures and
options, VIX options, and SPIKES options. Positions held are typically short in duration (less than
60 days).
• The Equity Armor Managed Futures program is most correlated to S&P 500 index
returns.
• While the Equity Armor Alpha program seeks more non-correlated returns to moves of
the stock market, using S&P 500 futures and options and the EAVOL trading strategy in
combination.
Other programs used are customizable depending on the client, all of which use the EAVOL
trading strategy as its core position to conduct hedging.
4. Outsourced CIO (“OCIO”) modeling
EAI can create personalized portfolios catered to individual client goals and risks. Advisers are
able to subscribe to the EAI asset allocation models for their clients, and EAI will act as Sub-
adviser, executing models for multiple accounts seamlessly. EAI can also use similar to service
individual accounts that have management agreements with EAI directly. EAI will do what it
does best, providing the execution, and asset rotation for advisors so they can focus on their
practice. EAI uses a rules-based quantitative strategy to create a portfolio composed of common
stock, Exchange Traded Funds, Exchange Traded Notes, public funds, and/or private funds that it
believes offer the best return potential and low volatility under the current economic
environment.
Securities are selected based on a proprietary model comprised of the following factors: (i)
domestic factors such as unemployment rate, corporate cash flow, housing starts, auto sales,
and new durable goods; (ii) monetary factors; (iii) interest rates; (iv) various index levels
including gold index, energy prices, consumer price index; and (v) international factors such as
euro exchange rates, FTSE 100, Tokyo stock exchange, and agricultural exports. The goal of the
strategy is to select those asset classes with prices that: (i) are primarily driven by the economy
rather than company-specific information; (ii) are neutral or suitable in the current economy
which determined by comparing statistical prices and the measured economic sensitivities to
current asset prices; (iii) do not exhibit excessive reaction to economic changes; and (iv) have
decreased in value in lesser amounts historically than the S&P 500 Index during periods of
declines in the S&P 500 Index. The sector allocation is assessed and rebalanced, if necessary, on
a quarterly basis, while bond to equity exposure is rebalanced monthly, including the allocation
to its own public fund.
As full compensation for its services, EAI may select public or private funds (“Funds”), all of
which may pay a management fee to EAI for services provided to such Funds for acting as
adviser or sub-adviser to the strategy. Thus, EAI may have incentive to utilize such Funds. Use of
such Funds will result in performance of the return of the strategy minus fees associated with
the ownership of the Funds.
Advisory services are tailored to the individual needs of clients, based upon a variety of factors
discussed with clients at the outset of services. Clients may impose restrictions on investing in
certain securities or types of securities by letting us know in writing. Also, clients are free to
meet or confer with their EAI account representative at any time. Results of EAI services are
discussed as conferences occur with each client.
We do not participate in any wrap fee program where the fee for our services is combined with
the fee or commissions that a client’s brokerage firm charges for transaction execution services.