Why This ETF Can’t List on Major Exchanges
Tuttle’s GRFT fund aims to capitalize on the links between power and profit in government but was turned away by all the major US exchanges.
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Wall Street’s exchange-traded fund factory has spent the year testing how much it can push boundaries, but some ideas proved a step too far.
With more than $1.4 trillion flowing into ETFs last year, issuers have rolled out products that dial up leverage and chase mouth-watering yields. Connecticut-based Tuttle Capital Management recently pitched an ETF built around a provocative premise: that political influence itself can be an investable signal. The firm’s proposed Government Grift ETF, with the proposed ticker GRFT, aims to invest in companies perceived to benefit from their proximity to Washington decision-makers, from cabinet officials to members of Congress whose stock trades attract scrutiny. The problem? No one will list it.
“I think ‘grift’ implies that people are doing something wrong,” Tuttle Capital CEO Matt Tuttle recently told Bloomberg. “[T]he investment philosophy is awesome. We are looking for unusual congressional trades.”
Subversion Explosion
Every major US exchange, including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets, declined to offer the fund, according to Bloomberg. GRFT’s registration became effective with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the fourth quarter of 2025, but without getting listed on the exchanges, investors can’t buy and sell it.
GRFT’s snub is notable, given how permissive the regulatory landscape has been. Leveraged single-stock ETFs, crypto-linked funds and strategies tied to ultra-short-term options exploded last year, benefiting from a regulatory posture that loosened during the second Trump administration. Tuttle himself has been a regular contributor to that trend, filing for leveraged funds tied to Bitcoin and mega-cap tech names.
Rejection’s Sting. Tuttle’s product isn’t the only one that tracks policymakers, either. Two ETFs managed by Tidal Financial, the Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NANC) and its Republican counterpart (GOP), track securities bought by Democratic and Republican members of Congress, respectively.
“It’s using the ETF wrapper to unpack how our members of Congress are investing their money [and] what patterns exist across these funds,” Tidal co-portfolio manager Dan Weiskopf told ETF Upside at an industry event last year. “It’s disclosing that [the lawmakers are] mostly invested in large caps, yet they’re elected by a lot of people who are working in small companies. There’s a certain level of irony to them.”
