ETF & SuperTrust History Files

As a public service, 40Act.com is posting a variety of historical documents and materials chronicaling the develpment of the SuperTrust, the first ETF, and ETFs generally.

We invite the '40 Act community to send us additional materials to deepen this collection. Please send your contributions to karl@40Act.com. Thanks!

Comment Letter by Karl-Otto Hartmann, Co-Founder and Editor of 40Act.com, re: SEC Request for Comment on Exchange-Traded Products, Release No. 34-75165, Aug. 16, 2015
SuperTrust Marketing Video 1990—the video is a great introduction to The SuperTrust and its component securities. It clearly depicts the use of the two SuperUnits as ETFs and how they can be divided into market risk management components. Note: the Trust and its securities are no longer offered. It closed in 1995.
“The SuperTrust™,” December 12, 1988, unpublished concept brochure illustrating the ETF concept for the first time plus its SuperTrust derivative securities based on the Hakansson superfund concept.
Speech by Joseph A. Grundfest, Commissioner, SEC, “’Perestroika’ on Wall Street: The Future of Securities Trading,” October 12, 1988, in which Commissioner Grundfest lays out why the development of “basket” trading of securities had become an important priority for U.S. securities markets at that time.
“Justification of SuperTrust 4(2) and 22(d) Exemptions sought under Section 6(c) of the Investment Company Act,” Hayne Leland and Mark Rubinstein, August 10, 1989: lays out the case to be made for the then unprecedented exemptive relief being sought by LOR.
“The SuperTrust,” Mark Rubinstein, unpublished article describing the SuperTrust concept, its origins and its justifications, December 20, 1990 with a Historical note added September 11, 2000.
“Supershares,” Mark Rubinstein, chapter published in Handbook of Equity Derivatives, Irwin, 1994, manuscript dated March 15, 1993, describing how the SuperTrust integrates the Hakansson superfund and supershare innovations.
Initial Application (for the SuperTrust Order), April 3, 1989; File No. 812-7283.
SEC comment letter dated May 30, 1989 regarding the initial application for the SuperTrust Order—lays out the Staff’s initial concerns nicely.
First Amended and Restated Application (for the SuperTrust Order), marked copy September 1, 1989; File No. 812-7283.
Proposed Notice of Application Exhibit C to the Fifth Amended and Restated Application for the SuperTrust Order, filed July 6, 1990).
SEC News Digest, Issue 90-204, October 22, 1990, containing the notice of the granting of the SuperTrust Order.
Final effective prospectus for The SuperTrust™ Trust for Capital Market Fund, Inc. Shares, May 29, 1992.
Summary Graphics marketing brochure for the SuperTrust, 1992—explains in fairly simple terms the SuperTrust’s complex of securities and their potential use.
"The Purchasing Power Fund: A New Kind of Financial Intermediary," Professor Nils H. Hakansson, as published in the Financial Anyalysts Journal (Nov.-Dec. 1976), (accessed on Prof. Hakansson's site on Aug. 16, 2015); seminal article laying the foundation for the SuperTrust
"Market Basket Alternatives," Professor Mark Rubinstein, first published in the Financial Analysts Journal, (Sept.-Oct. 1989). This article by Professor Rubinstein reflects on the various market basket security alternatives considered by Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates as it was developing the first ETFs.