Fund Evaluator:

Ironclad Managed Risk Overview

Ironclad Managed Risk (IRONX) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Equity Hedged fund. Ironclad Funds launched the fund in 2010.

The investment seeks current income and gains. Under normal circumstances, the fund’s primary strategy consists of purchasing and selling put and call options on equity indexes, and exchange traded funds (“ETFs”). It may purchase and sell put and call options to adjust the risk and return of its overall investment positions.

About Ironclad Managed Risk (IRONX)

There are 1 members of the management team with an average tenure of 15.81 years: Rudy Aguilera (2010). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and CBOE S&P 500 One-Week PutWrite PR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Ironclad Managed Risk has 20 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 103.8% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Ironclad Managed Risk is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity fund group. Ironclad Managed Risk has 0.5% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 97.4%. There is 0.5% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Ironclad Managed Risk has 1.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $238 million in total assets, which is below the $432 million average for the Equity Hedged 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.

IRONX 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 Ironclad Managed Risk expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Equity Hedged category. Ironclad Managed Risk has an expense ratio of 1.28%, which is 8% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. 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. Ironclad Managed Risk has a portfolio turnover rate of 1%, indicating that holds its assets around 1.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 69% for the Equity Hedged category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Ironclad Managed Risk returned 0.4%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Equity Hedged category had an average return of -0.0%. 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 funds in that category.

Ironclad Managed Risk has a trailing yield of 0.06%, which is below the 0.94% 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.

Ironclad Managed Risk Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 4.6%, 0.8 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 9.9% over the past year (grade of D), 10.5% over the past three years (grade of C) and 9.1% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 7.5% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about Ironclad Managed Risk, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.