Report Industry Investment Rating No relevant content provided. Report's Core View - In Q1 2025, the scale of US covered - call strategy ETFs exceeded $100 billion, with JPMorgan's products leading the industry in scale. The growth momentum of JPMorgan's covered - call strategy products is strong, and their income characteristics show strategic homology [3][7][106]. - JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) was established in May 2020. Its investment goal is to pursue current income while maintaining the expectation of capital appreciation. As of May 2025, it is the world's largest actively managed ETF [4][34][106]. - The fund's investment strategy is divided into the stock side and the options side. On the stock side, it selects S&P 500 component stocks to build a low - volatility portfolio; on the options side, it sells out - of - the - money call options through ELN [106]. - The fund's advantages such as income enhancement, stable dividends, low volatility, and low fees, as well as the rise of the investment advisory industry, jointly drive product demand [6][9][106]. Summary According to Related Catalogs 1. Overseas Covered - Call Strategy Funds Expand, and JPMorgan's Products Lead in Scale - **US Covered - Call Strategy ETF Scale Exceeds $100 Billion, and JPMorgan's Products Lead**: In 2024, the scale of US covered - call strategy products exceeded $100 billion. As of Q1 2025, the scale of US covered - call ETFs reached $101.807 billion. JPMorgan's covered - call strategy product scale accounted for 60.55% of the US covered - call strategy product scale, and its ETF scale accounted for 61.05% of the US covered - call strategy ETF scale [16][19][21]. - **JPMorgan's Covered - Call Strategy Products Have a Consistent Investment Framework and Strong Growth Momentum**: JPMorgan's covered - call strategy products have the same investment goal and similar investment strategies. From 2022 to 2024, the combined scale growth of 3 covered - call strategy products under JPMorgan exceeded $10 billion each year. Their income characteristics show strategic homology [7][26][27]. 2. JEPI: The Largest Actively Managed ETF - **Fund Basic Information**: JEPI was established in May 2020, with the S&P 500 Total Return Index as its performance benchmark. Its investment goal is to pursue current income while maintaining the expectation of capital appreciation, through creating an actively managed stock portfolio mainly composed of S&P 500 index component stocks and selling S&P 500 index call options through ELN [34][35]. - **Product Scale and Share Continuously Increase**: Starting from about $20 million at the initial listing, the product scale has been rising. As of May 20, 2025, the total asset management scale reached $40.024 billion, and the product share exceeded 700 million [35][36][39]. - **Product Positioning**: The product mainly invests in US stocks and ELN, with the investment area concentrated in the US. It has heavy positions in the information technology, finance, industry, and healthcare industries, and the stock investment is relatively dispersed [7][42][44]. 3. Product Strategy is Divided into Stock Portfolio and Covered - Call Strategy - **Main Strategy Composed of Defensive Stock Portfolio and Options Superposition Strategy**: The fund aims to reduce volatility and seek continuous premium income. Its investment portfolio is divided into a defensive stock portfolio constructed through fundamental research and an operation of selling out - of - the - money S&P 500 index options to generate monthly distributable income [50][53]. - **Stock Investment Strategy: Seeking to Create a Stock Portfolio with Lower Volatility than the S&P 500**: The fund invests at least 80% of its assets in stocks under normal circumstances, mainly in S&P 500 component stocks. It uses a systematic investment process to build a portfolio with lower volatility than the S&P 500 index [58]. - **The Product Invests in the Covered - Call Strategy through ELN and Continuously Obtains Option Premium Income**: ELN is an over - the - counter derivative. The fund's investment in ELN has a position limit, and it uses the covered - call strategy to embed a short position in call options. The option premium provided by ELN is an important source of the fund's income [63][64]. 4. Composite Advantages Jointly Drive Product Demand - **The Fund's Investment in ELN Has an Income Enhancement Advantage**: From 2023 to 2024, the fund's investment ratio in ELN was relatively stable, between 13% and 15%. The covered - call strategy embedded in ELN can enhance income, and the annualized interest rate of ELN is highly positively correlated with the VIX level [70][73]. - **The Fund's Continuous and Stable Dividend Mechanism Helps Enhance Investor Stickiness**: As of April 30, 2025, the fund's dividend rate was 8.93%. It creates income through dividend income and option premium and distributes dividends monthly in full [76][79]. - **The Fund Has the Advantage of Low Volatility**: Since its listing, the product's volatility and maximum drawdown performance have been better. As of Q1 2025, the annualized volatility was 12.71%, far lower than the 20.21% volatility of the S&P 500 index [88][90]. - **The Fund's Fee Creates a Low - Cost Strategic Advantage**: As an actively managed covered - call strategy ETF, JEPI has a fee of only 0.35%, lower than the passive equity ETFs in the US in 2024, meeting the low - fee preference of ETF investors [98]. - **Fund Investment Advisors and Institutional Investors Jointly Promote Product Demand**: The number of institutional investors has been continuously expanding, with the position - holding ratio stably above 30%. The position - holding ratio of investment advisors has increased significantly [99][103]. 5. Summary - The scale of US covered - call strategy ETFs exceeded $100 billion in Q1 2025, and JPMorgan led the industry with a market share of 60.55%. The growth momentum of JPMorgan's covered - call strategy products is strong [106]. - JEPI is the world's largest actively managed ETF. Its investment strategy is divided into the stock side and the options side, and its multiple advantages and the rise of the investment advisory industry jointly drive product demand [106].

Core Viewpoint - The article analyzes the strategies used by upstream companies in the sugar industry to hedge against price volatility through options, focusing on the effectiveness of different strategies during the 2023-2024 sugar market fluctuations [1][18]. Strategy Comparison - Sugar options have nonlinear profit and loss characteristics, providing companies with more strategies for risk management and enhancing operational stability [2]. - In 2023, the average daily trading volume of sugar options was 180,000 contracts, with an open interest of 420,000 contracts, indicating sufficient market size for hedging needs [2]. - Sugar prices experienced significant fluctuations, with a low of 5,500 yuan/ton and a high of 7,202 yuan/ton, prompting upstream companies to effectively utilize options to enhance profits [2]. Strategy Analysis - The article compares two main options strategies: covered call writing and protective put buying, focusing on their effectiveness in different market conditions [3]. - Covered call writing allows investors to enhance returns while holding long positions in sugar by selling corresponding call options, which can lower holding costs [4][6]. - Protective put buying serves as insurance against price declines, allowing companies to hedge against losses while still benefiting from potential price increases [9][10]. Experimental Setup and Parameters - The study uses market data from January 2023 to October 2024, during which sugar prices fluctuated from 5,500 yuan/ton to 7,200 yuan/ton, providing a complete bull-bear market cycle for analysis [12]. - The volatility index (VIX) for sugar showed significant fluctuations, with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 24, indicating a representative market dynamic for strategy comparison [12]. Results Analysis - The performance of four strategies was evaluated, with the protective put strategy ranking first due to its effective risk management in both rising and falling markets [14]. - The covered call writing strategy performed poorly in rising markets, highlighting the importance of volatility and market conditions in strategy selection [15][16]. Conclusion - The article concludes that upstream companies in the sugar industry can effectively use options for hedging against price volatility, emphasizing the importance of market conditions and volatility in strategy selection [18].