ETF Evaluator: Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF (CPSL) Follow This ETF

Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF Overview

Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF (CPSL) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Defined Outcome exchange-traded fund (ETF). Calamos launched the ETF in 2024.

The investment seeks to provide investors with capital appreciation. The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by providing investors with U.S. large-cap equity market exposure while attempting to limit downside risk through a laddered portfolio of twelve Calamos S&P 500®​ Structured Alt Protection ETFs. The fund is non-diversified.

About Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF (CPSL)

There are 6 members of the management team with an average tenure of 1.61 years: Eli Pars (2024), Jason Hill (2024), Jimmy Young (2024), Jordan Rosenfeld (2025), Anthony Vecchiolla (2024) and David O'Donohue (2024). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF has 13 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 83.3% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity ETF group. Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 90.6% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 8.3% (8.3% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF has 1.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $115 million in total assets, which is below the $185 million average for the Defined Outcome category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

CPSL Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Defined Outcome category. Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF has an expense ratio of 0.79%, which is 9% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 18%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 3% for the Defined Outcome category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF returned 0.1%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Defined Outcome category had an average return of 0.1%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.48% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Calamos Laddered S&P 500 Str Alt Prt ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 2.6%, 2.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 6.2% over the past year (grade of F).

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