SUBJECT TO COMPLETION
Dated March 13, 2026
THE INFORMATION HEREIN IS NOT COMPLETE AND MAY BE CHANGED. WE MAY NOT SELL THESE SECURITIES UNTIL THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT FILED WITH THE U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION IS EFFECTIVE. THIS PROSPECTUS IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL THESE SECURITIES AND IS NOT SOLICITING AN OFFER TO BUY THESE SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE OFFER OR SALE IS NOT PERMITTED.

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Defiance KSM TipRanks Analyst ETF
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PROSPECTUS
[ ], 2026
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has not approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Defiance KSM TipRanks Analyst ETF - FUND SUMMARY
Investment Objective
The Defiance KSM TipRanks Analyst ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the performance, before fees and expenses, of the TipRanks US Momentum Analysts iNDEX (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below.
| Annual Fund Operating Expenses(1) (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) | |
| Management Fee | []% |
| Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees | 0.00% |
| Other Expenses(2) | 0.00% |
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | []% |
| (1) | The Fund’s investment adviser, Tidal Investments LLC (the “Adviser”), a Tidal Financial Group company, will pay, or require a sub-adviser to pay, all of the Fund’s expenses, except for the following: advisory and sub-advisory fees, interest charges on any borrowings made for investment purposes, dividends and other expenses on securities sold short, taxes, brokerage commissions and other expenses incurred in placing orders for the purchase and sale of securities and other investment instruments, acquired fund fees and expenses, accrued deferred tax liability, distribution fees and expenses paid by the Fund under any distribution plan adopted pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 Act (the “1940 Act”), litigation expenses, and other non-routine or extraordinary expenses. |
| (2) | Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year. |
Expense Example
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The Example does not take into account brokerage commissions that you may pay on your purchases and sales of Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| 1 Year | 3 Years |
| $[] | $[] |
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in total annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund is newly organized, portfolio turnover information is not yet available.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that uses a passive management (or indexing) approach to track the performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index tracks, subject to the Index rules described below, the performance of 50 U.S. exchange-listed companies evidencing high positive price momentum. Price momentum refers to the financial concept that an asset’s recent price performance (up or down) is likely to continue. The Index is calculated, administered, and disseminated by VettaFi (“Index Provider”) and owned by TipRanks Ltd. (“Index Owner”).
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The Index
| I. |
Eligible Universe |
The Index’s eligible universe includes U.S. exchange-listed companies, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) of foreign companies (“U.S. Listed Companies”).
| II. | Constituent Selection |
| ● | The Index’s initial universe is the 500 largest U.S. Listed Companies based on market capitalization. |
| ● | The Index Provider then ranks these 500 U.S. Listed Companies based on the current number of analyst buy recommendations each U.S. Listed Company has received (“Analyst Recommendations Score”). From this ranking, the portfolio is further reduced to the top 100 U.S. Listed Companies |
| ● | Each of these 100 U.S. Listed Companies is then assigned a momentum score (“Stock Momentum Ranking”) based on the following criteria: |
| ○ | Current share price relative to prior 8 months average share price; and |
| ○ | 50 day average share price relative to 200 day average share price |
| ● | Based on this Stock Momentum Ranking, the top 50 U.S. Listed Companies comprise the Index. Certain U.S. Listed Companies may issue multiple classes of equity, which can result in the Index holding more than 50 constituents. |
| III. | Weighting |
Constituents are market cap-weighted with the following constraints:
| ● | The number of U.S. Listed Companies from the same sector is capped at 20. |
| ● | Each U.S. Listed Company’s weight is capped at 6%. |
| ● | There is a sector weight cap of 40%. |
| ● | Each U.S. Listed Company’s weighting factor will be increased or reduced by up to 25% as a result of the combined score of the Analyst Recommendations Score and the Stock Momentum Ranking. U.S. Listed Companies with the highest scores will receive increased weighting, while those with the lowest scores will receive reduced weighting |
| ● | Excess weights are redistributed proportionally among the rest of the uncapped securities. This redistribution is repeated iteratively until all the capping conditions are met. |
To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund is expected to be concentrated in that same sector or industry. As of December 31, 2025, issuers in the information technology sector represented a significant portion of the Index.
| IV. | Rebalancing |
Components of the Index are reconstituted and rebalanced on a quarterly basis.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally will invest directly or indirectly in all of the Index components. However, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy, meaning it may invest directly or indirectly in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics closely resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Index as a whole, when the Adviser believes it is in the best interests of the Fund (e.g., when replicating the Index involves practical difficulties or substantial costs, an Index constituent becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable, or less liquid, or as a result of legal restrictions or limitations that apply to the Fund but not to the Index).
The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2025, the Index contained 51 constituents.
Principal Investment Risks
The principal risks of investing in the Fund are summarized below. As with any investment, there is a risk that you could lose all or a portion of your investment in the Fund. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its investment objective. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s Prospectus titled “Additional Information About the Fund - Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund.”
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Equity Market Risk. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stock and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from specific issuers. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Fund invests.
Sector and Industry Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors or industries of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors and industries. The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in the following sectors and industries and, therefore, the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting each of these sectors and industries.
| ○ | Information Technology Sector Risk. The information technology sector includes companies engaged in internet software and services, technology hardware and storage peripherals, electronic equipment instruments and components, and semiconductors and semiconductor equipment, among other things. Information technology companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Information technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of information technology companies may face rapid product obsolescence due to technological developments and frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Failure to introduce new products, develop and maintain a loyal customer base, or achieve general market acceptance for their products could have a material adverse effect on a company’s business. Companies in the information technology sector are heavily dependent on intellectual property and the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections may adversely affect the profitability of these companies |
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in securities or other instruments of non-U.S. issuers involve certain risks not involved in domestic investments and may experience more rapid and extreme changes in value than investments in securities of U.S. companies. Financial markets in foreign countries often are not as developed, efficient, or liquid as financial markets in the United States, and therefore, the prices of non-U.S. securities and instruments can be more volatile. In addition, the Fund will be subject to risks associated with adverse political and economic developments in foreign countries, which may include the imposition of economic sanctions. Generally, there is less readily available and reliable information about non-U.S. issuers due to less rigorous disclosure or accounting standards and regulatory practices.
ADRs Risk. ADRs involve risks similar to those associated with investments in foreign securities and give rise to certain additional risks. ADRs listed on U.S. exchanges are issued by banks or trust companies, and entitle the holder to all dividends and capital gains that are paid out on the underlying foreign shares (Underlying Shares). When the Fund invests in ADRs as a substitute for an investment directly in the Underlying Shares, the Fund is exposed to the risk that the ADRs may not provide a return that corresponds precisely with that of the Underlying Shares. Investment in ADRs may be less liquid than the Underlying Shares in their primary trading market.
ETF Risks
| ○ | Authorized Participants, Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are authorized to purchase and redeem Shares directly from the Fund (known as Authorized Participants or APs). In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services; or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. |
| ○ |
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares. Investors buying or selling Shares in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers, as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of Shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the bid-ask spread. The bid-ask spread varies over time for Shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if Shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if Shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, a relatively small investor base in the Fund, asset swings in the Fund and/or increased market volatility may cause increased bid-ask spreads. Due to the costs of buying or selling Shares, including bid-ask spreads, frequent trading of Shares may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in Shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
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| ○ | Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount) due to supply and demand of Shares or during periods of market volatility. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for Shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant. |
| ○ | Trading. Although Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as [] (the Exchange), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that Shares will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of Shares may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than Shares. This adverse effect on liquidity for the Fund’s shares may lead to wider bid-ask spreads and differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of the shares. |
Economic and Market Risk. The Fund’s investments are subject to changes in general economic conditions, general market fluctuations and the risks inherent in investment in securities and other financial instruments. Investment markets can be volatile and prices of investments can change substantially due to various factors including, but not limited to, economic growth or recession, changes in interest rates, inflation, changes in the actual or perceived creditworthiness of issuers, and general market liquidity. Economies and financial markets throughout the world are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one country or region will adversely impact markets or issuers in other countries or regions. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to securities in the general financial markets, a particular financial market, or other asset classes, due to a number of factors, including inflation (or expectations for inflation), deflation (or expectations for deflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, market instability, financial system instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control programs and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.
Market Capitalization Risk
| ○ | Large-Capitalization Investing. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion. Large-capitalization companies may also be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes. |
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.
Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund. As a result, a decline in the value of an investment in a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers could cause the Fund’s overall value to decline to a greater degree than if the Fund held a more diversified portfolio.
Operational Risk. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Adviser seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
Momentum Risk. A momentum style of investing may emphasize investing in securities that have had better recent performance compared to other securities. Securities exhibiting marked recent outperformance may be more volatile than securities across the broader market, and momentum may be an indicator that a security’s price is peaking. Momentum can turn quickly and cause significant variation from other types of investments. To the extent it has exposure to momentum strategies, the Fund may experience significant losses if momentum stops, reverses or otherwise behaves differently than predicted.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index.
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Third Party Data Risk. The composition of the Index, and consequently the Fund’s portfolio, is heavily dependent on information and data calculated and published by an independent third party calculation agent (“Third Party Data”). When Third Party Data proves to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon may lead to the inclusion or exclusion of securities from the Index that would have been excluded or included had the Third Party Data been correct and complete. If the composition of the Index reflects such errors, the Fund’s portfolio can also be expected to reflect the errors.
Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and the Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Index. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested in Index components at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.
Underlying Index Risk. Neither the Fund’s investment adviser nor the Index Provider or Index Owner is able to guarantee the continuous availability or timeliness of the production of the Index. The calculation and dissemination of the Index values may be delayed if the information technology or other facilities of the Index Provider, Index Owner, data providers and/or relevant stock exchange malfunction for any reason. A significant delay may cause trading in shares of the Fund to be suspended. Errors in Index data, computation and/or the construction in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider, Index Owner, or other applicable party for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders.
Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund has not completed a full calendar year of operations as of the date of this Prospectus. When such information is included, this section will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance history from year to year and showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Although past performance of the Fund is no guarantee of how it will perform in the future, historical performance may give you some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. Updated performance information will be available on the Fund’s website at www.defianceetfs.com.
Management
Investment Adviser: Tidal Investments LLC, a Tidal Financial Group company, serves as investment adviser to the Fund.
Portfolio Managers:
The following individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund:
Qiao Duan, CFA®, Portfolio Manager for the Adviser, has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since its inception in 2026.
Andy Hicks, Portfolio Manager for the Adviser, has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since its inception in 2026.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by the CFA Institute .
Purchase and Sale of Shares
The Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. The Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.
Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, such as the Exchange, and individual Shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through brokers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount).
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Shares (the “bid” price) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Shares (the “ask” price) when buying or selling Shares in the secondary market. This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “bid-ask spread.”
When available, information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, how often Shares traded on the Exchange at a premium or discount, and bid-ask spreads can be found on the Fund’s website at www.defianceetfs.com.
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Tax Information
Fund distributions are generally taxable to shareholders as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is in an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.
Financial Intermediary Compensation
If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Adviser or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training, or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index.
An investment objective is fundamental if it cannot be changed without the consent of the holders of a majority of the outstanding Shares. The Fund’s investment objective has not been adopted as a fundamental investment policy and therefore may be changed without the consent of the Fund’s shareholders upon approval by the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Tidal Trust II (the “Trust”) and 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.
Principal Investment Strategies
TipRanks US Momentum Analysts iNDEX
The Index is calculated, administered, and disseminated by VettaFi and owned by TipRanks Ltd. The Adviser was not involved in the creation of the Index, does not have any ownership in the Index and does not receive any fees associated with the use of the Index.
Rebalancing Schedule
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced on a quarterly basis as of the close of business of the third Friday in March, June, September, and December.
Manager of Managers Structure
While the Fund does not currently have a sub-adviser, the Fund and the Adviser have received exemptive relief from the SEC permitting the Adviser (subject to certain conditions and the approval of the Board) to change or select new unaffiliated sub-advisers without obtaining shareholder approval. The relief also permits the Adviser to materially amend the terms of agreements with an unaffiliated sub-adviser (including an increase in the fee paid by the Adviser to the unaffiliated sub-adviser (and not paid by the Fund)) or to continue the employment of an unaffiliated sub-adviser after an event that would otherwise cause the automatic termination of services with Board approval, but without shareholder approval. Shareholders will be notified of any unaffiliated sub-adviser changes. The Adviser has the ultimate responsibility, subject to oversight by the Board, to oversee a sub-adviser and recommend their hiring, termination and replacement. The exemptive relief applies to sub-advisers that are either wholly owned by the Adviser or its parent company, as well as to unaffiliated sub-advisers, including those whose affiliation arises solely from their sub-advisory relationship.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
The principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with those of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. As with any investment, there is a risk that you could lose all or a portion of your investment in the Fund. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s NAV per share, trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its investment objective. The following risks could affect the value of your performance in the Fund:
ADRs Risk. ADRs involve risks similar to those associated with investments in foreign securities and give rise to certain additional risks. ADRs listed on U.S. exchanges are issued by banks or trust companies, and entitle the holder to all dividends and capital gains that are paid out on the underlying foreign shares (Underlying Shares). When the Fund invests in ADRs as a substitute for an investment directly in the Underlying Shares, the Fund is exposed to the risk that the ADRs may not provide a return that corresponds precisely with that of the Underlying Shares. Investment in ADRs may be less liquid than the Underlying Shares in their primary trading market.
Economic and Market Risk. The Fund’s investments are subject to changes in general economic conditions, general market fluctuations and the risks inherent in investment in securities and other financial instruments. Investment markets can be volatile and prices of investments can change substantially due to various factors including, but not limited to, economic growth or recession, changes in interest rates, inflation, changes in the actual or perceived creditworthiness of issuers, and general market liquidity. Economies and financial markets throughout the world are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one country or region will adversely impact markets or issuers in other countries or regions. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to securities in the general financial markets, a particular financial market, or other asset classes, due to a number of factors, including inflation (or expectations for inflation), deflation (or expectations for deflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, market instability, financial system instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control programs and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.
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Equity Market Risk. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stock and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from specific issuers. Equity securities may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Fund invests.
ETF Risks
| ○ | Authorized Participants, Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are authorized to purchase and redeem Shares directly from the Fund (known as Authorized Participants or APs). In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services; or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. |
| ○ | Costs of Buying or Selling Shares. Investors buying or selling Shares in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers, as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of Shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the bid-ask spread. The bid-ask spread varies over time for Shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if Shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if Shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, a relatively small investor base in the Fund, asset swings in the Fund and/or increased market volatility may cause increased bid-ask spreads. Due to the costs of buying or selling Shares, including bid-ask spreads, frequent trading of Shares may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in Shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments. | |
| ○ | Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount) due to supply and demand of Shares or during periods of market volatility. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for Shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant. |
| ○ | Trading. Although Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as The Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC. (the Exchange), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that Shares will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of Shares may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than Shares. This adverse effect on liquidity for the Fund’s shares may lead to wider bid-ask spreads and differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of the shares. |
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in securities or other instruments of non-U.S. issuers involve certain risks not involved in domestic investments and may experience more rapid and extreme changes in value than investments in securities of U.S. companies. Financial markets in foreign countries often are not as developed, efficient, or liquid as financial markets in the United States, and therefore, the prices of non-U.S. securities and instruments can be more volatile. In addition, the Fund will be subject to risks associated with adverse political and economic developments in foreign countries, which may include the imposition of economic sanctions. Generally, there is less readily available and reliable information about non-U.S. issuers due to less rigorous disclosure or accounting standards and regulatory practices.
Market Capitalization Risk
| ○ | Large-Capitalization Investing. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion. Large-capitalization companies may also be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes. |
Momentum Risk. A momentum style of investing may emphasize investing in securities that have had better recent performance compared to other securities. Securities exhibiting marked recent outperformance may be more volatile than securities across the broader market, and momentum may be an indicator that a security’s price is peaking. Momentum can turn quickly and cause significant variation from other types of investments. To the extent it has exposure to momentum strategies, the Fund may experience significant losses if momentum stops, reverses or otherwise behaves differently than predicted.
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Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund. As a result, a decline in the value of an investment in a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers could cause the Fund’s overall value to decline to a greater degree than if the Fund held a more diversified portfolio.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.
Operational Risk. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Adviser seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and does not attempt to outperform its Index or take defensive positions in declining markets. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to its Index. The returns from the types of securities in which the Fund invests may underperform returns from other securities markets or different asset classes. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes. Different types of securities (for example, fixed-income securities) tend to go through cycles of doing better – or worse – than the general securities markets. In the past, these periods have lasted for as long as several years.
Sector and Industry Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors or industries of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors and industries. The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in the following sectors and industries and, therefore, the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting each of these sectors and industries.
| ○ | Information Technology Sector Risk. The information technology sector includes companies engaged in internet software and services, technology hardware and storage peripherals, electronic equipment instruments and components, and semiconductors and semiconductor equipment, among other things. Information technology companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Information technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of information technology companies may face rapid product obsolescence due to technological developments and frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Failure to introduce new products, develop and maintain a loyal customer base, or achieve general market acceptance for their products could have a material adverse effect on a company’s business. Companies in the information technology sector are heavily dependent on intellectual property and the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. |
Third Party Data Risk. The composition of the Index, and consequently the Fund’s portfolio, is heavily dependent on information and data calculated and published by an independent third party calculation agent (“Third Party Data”). When Third Party Data proves to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon may lead to the inclusion or exclusion of securities from the Index that would have been excluded or included had the Third Party Data been correct and complete. If the composition of the Index reflects such errors, the Fund’s portfolio can also be expected to reflect the errors.
Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and the Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Index. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested in Index components at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.
Underlying Index Risk. Neither the Fund’s investment adviser nor the Index Provider or Index Owner is able to guarantee the continuous availability or timeliness of the production of the Index. The calculation and dissemination of the Index values may be delayed if the information technology or other facilities of the Index Provider, Index Owner, data providers and/or relevant stock exchange malfunction for any reason. A significant delay may cause trading in shares of the Fund to be suspended. Errors in Index data, computation and/or the construction in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider, Index Owner, or other applicable party for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders.
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Information about the Fund’s daily portfolio holdings will be available on the Fund’s website at www.defianceetfs.com. A complete description of the Fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings is available in the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”).
Investment Adviser
Tidal Investments LLC, a Tidal Financial Group company (the “Adviser”), located at 234 West Florida Street, Suite 700, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204, is an SEC-registered investment adviser and a Delaware limited liability company. Tidal was founded in March 2012 and is dedicated to understanding, researching and managing assets within the expanding ETF universe. As of [], Tidal had assets under management of approximately $[] billion and served as the investment adviser or sub-adviser for [] registered funds.
Tidal serves as investment adviser to the Fund and has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement with the Trust, on behalf of the Fund (the “Advisory Agreement”). The Adviser executes portfolio transactions on behalf of the Fund and also arranges for sub-advisory, if applicable, transfer agency, custody, fund administration, and all other related services necessary for the Fund to operate.
For the services it provides to the Fund, the Fund pays the Adviser a unitary management fee, which is calculated daily and paid monthly, at an annual rate of []% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Under the Advisory Agreement, in exchange for a single unitary management fee from the Fund, the Adviser has agreed to pay all expenses incurred by the Fund, except advisory fees, interest charges on any borrowings made for investment purposes, dividends and other expenses on securities sold short, taxes, brokerage commissions and other expenses incurred in placing orders for the purchase and sale of securities and other investment instruments, acquired fund fees and expenses, accrued deferred tax liability, distribution fees and expenses paid by the Fund under any distribution plan adopted pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act, litigation expenses, and other non-routine or extraordinary expenses (collectively, the “Excluded Expenses”).
Advisory Agreement
[A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the Fund’s Advisory Agreement will be available in the Fund’s Annual Certified Shareholder Report on Form N-CSR for the period ending August 31, 2026.]
Portfolio Managers
The following individuals have served as a portfolio managers of the Fund since its inception.
Qiao Duan, CFA®, Portfolio Manager for the Adviser
Qiao Duan serves as Portfolio Manager at the Adviser, having joined the firm in October 2020. From February 2017 to October 2020, she was an execution Portfolio Manager at Exponential ETFs, where she managed research and analysis relating to all Exponential ETF strategies. Ms. Duan previously served as a portfolio manager for the Exponential ETFs from their inception in May 2019 until October 2020. Ms. Duan received a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management from the University of Michigan in 2016 and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics from Xiamen University in 2014. She holds the CFA designation.
Andy Hicks, Portfolio Manager for the Adviser
Mr. Hicks serves as SVP of Trading for the Adviser, having joined the Adviser in 2025. Mr. Hicks previously served as Director of ETF Portfolio Management, Trading, and Research at SS&C ALPS Advisors for over ten years. Prior to SS&C ALPS Advisors, Mr. Hicks held roles as a Senior Equity Trader and Research Analyst with Virtus Investment Partners, specializing in equity and ETF trading, and a head equity trader for SCM Advisors. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Hicks holds an accounting/ finance degree from Miami University (Ohio) and an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado – Denver.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by the CFA Institute.
The Fund’s SAI provides additional information about each portfolio manager’s compensation structure, other accounts that each portfolio manager manages, and each portfolio manager’s ownership of Shares.
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The Adviser has entered into a fund sponsorship agreement with Defiance ETFs, LLC (“Defiance”) pursuant to which Defiance is a sponsor to the Fund. Under this arrangement, Defiance has agreed to provide financial support (as described below) to the Fund. Every month, unitary management fees for the Fund are calculated and paid to the Adviser, and the Adviser retains a portion of the unitary management fees from the Fund.
In return for its financial support for the Fund, the Adviser has agreed to pay Defiance a portion of any remaining profits generated by the unitary management fee. If the amount of the unitary management fees exceeds the Fund’s operating expenses and the Adviser-retained amount, that excess amount is considered “remaining profit.” In that case, the Adviser will pay a portion of the remaining profits to Defiance.
If the amount of the unitary management fee is less than the Fund’s operating expenses and the Adviser-retained amount, Defiance is obligated to reimburse the Adviser for a portion of the shortfall.
The Fund issues and redeems Shares only in Creation Units at the NAV per share next determined after receipt of an order from an AP. Only APs may acquire Shares directly from the Fund, and only APs may tender their Shares for redemption directly to the Fund, at NAV. APs must be a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC and must execute a Participant Agreement that has been agreed to by the Distributor (defined below), and that has been accepted by the Fund’s transfer agent, with respect to purchases and redemptions of Creation Units. Once created, Shares trade in the secondary market in quantities less than a Creation Unit.
In order to purchase Creation Units of the Fund, an AP must generally deposit a designated portfolio of equity securities (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash. Purchases and redemptions of Creation Units primarily with cash, rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities, may cause the Fund to incur certain costs. These costs could include brokerage costs or taxable gains or losses that it might not have incurred if it had made redemption in-kind. These costs could be imposed on the Fund, and thus decrease the Fund’s NAV, to the extent that the costs are not offset by a transaction fee payable by an AP.
Most investors buy and sell Shares in secondary market transactions through brokers. Individual Shares are listed for trading on the secondary market on the Exchange and can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded securities.
When buying or selling Shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offer price in the secondary market on each leg of a round trip (purchase and sale) transaction. In addition, because secondary market transactions occur at market prices, you may pay more than NAV when you buy Shares, and receive less than NAV when you sell those Shares.
Book Entry
Shares are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding Shares.
Investors owning Shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all Shares. DTC’s participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of Shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have Shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of Shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of Shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book-entry or “street name” through your brokerage account.
Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Shares
The Fund imposes no restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Shares. In determining not to approve a written, established policy, the Board evaluated the risks of market timing activities by Fund shareholders. Purchases and redemptions by APs, who are the only parties that may purchase or redeem Shares directly with the Fund, are an essential part of the ETF process and help keep Share trading prices in line with the NAV. As such, the Fund accommodates frequent purchases and redemptions by APs. However, the Board has also determined that frequent purchases and redemptions for cash may increase tracking error and portfolio transaction costs and may lead to the realization of capital gains. To minimize these potential consequences of frequent purchases and redemptions, the Fund employs fair value pricing and may impose transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by the Fund in effecting trades. In addition, the Fund and the Adviser reserve the right to reject any purchase order at any time.
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Determination of Net Asset Value
The Fund’s NAV is calculated as of the scheduled close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), generally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, each day the NYSE is open for business. The NAV for the Fund is calculated by dividing the Fund’s net assets by its Shares outstanding.
In calculating its NAV, the Fund generally values its assets on the basis of market quotations, last sale prices, or estimates of value furnished by a pricing service or brokers who make markets in such instruments. If such information is not available for a security or other asset held by the Fund or is determined to be unreliable, the security or other asset will be valued at fair value estimates under guidelines established by the Adviser (as described below).
Fair Value Pricing
The Board has designated the Adviser as the “valuation designee” for the Fund under Rule 2a-5 of the 1940 Act, subject to its oversight. The Adviser has adopted procedures and methodologies, which have been approved by the Board, to fair value Fund investments whose market prices are not “readily available” or are deemed to be unreliable. For example, such circumstances may arise when: (i) an investment has been delisted or has had its trading halted or suspended; (ii) an investment’s primary pricing source is unable or unwilling to provide a price; (iii) an investment’s primary trading market is closed during regular market hours; or (iv) an investment’s value is materially affected by events occurring after the close of the investment’s primary trading market. Generally, when fair valuing an investment, the Adviser will take into account all reasonably available information that may be relevant to a particular valuation including, but not limited to, fundamental analytical data regarding the issuer, information relating to the issuer’s business, recent trades or offers of the investment, general and/or specific market conditions, and the specific facts giving rise to the need to fair value the investment. Fair value determinations are made in good faith and in accordance with the fair value methodologies included in the Adviser-adopted valuation procedures. Due to the subjective and variable nature of fair value pricing, there can be no assurance that the Adviser will be able to obtain the fair value assigned to the investment upon the sale of such investment.
Investments by Other Registered Investment Companies in the Fund
Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by registered investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including Shares. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in an SEC exemptive rule under the 1940 Act, including that such investment companies enter into an agreement with the Fund.
Delivery of Shareholder Documents – Householding
Householding is an option available to certain investors of the Fund. Householding is a method of delivery, based on the preference of the individual investor, in which a single copy of certain shareholder documents can be delivered to investors who share the same address, even if their accounts are registered under different names. Householding for the Fund is available through certain broker-dealers. If you are interested in enrolling in householding and receiving a single copy of prospectuses and other shareholder documents, please contact your broker-dealer. If you are currently enrolled in householding and wish to change your householding status, please contact your broker-dealer.
DIVIDENDS, DISTRIBUTIONS, AND TAXES
Dividends and Distributions
The Fund intends to pay out dividends and interest income, if any, annually, and distribute any net realized capital gains to its shareholders at least annually. The Fund will declare and pay income and capital gain distributions, if any, in cash. Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole Shares only if the broker through whom you purchased Shares makes such option available. Your broker is responsible for distributing the income and capital gain distributions to you.
Taxes
The following discussion is a summary of some important U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to investments in the Fund. Your investment in the Fund may have other tax implications. Please consult your tax advisor about the tax consequences of an investment in Shares, including the possible application of foreign, state, and local tax laws.
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The Fund intends to qualify each year for treatment as a RIC under the IRC. If it meets certain minimum distribution requirements, a RIC is not subject to tax at the fund level on income and gains from investments that are timely distributed to shareholders. However, the Fund’s failure to qualify as a RIC or to meet minimum distribution requirements would result (if certain relief provisions were not available) in fund-level taxation and, consequently, a reduction in income available for distribution to shareholders.
Unless your investment in Shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA plan, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions, when you sell your Shares listed on the Exchange, and when you purchase or redeem Creation Units (institutional investors only).
The following general discussion of certain U.S. federal income tax consequences is based on provisions of the Code and the regulations issued thereunder as in effect on the date of this Prospectus. New legislation, as well as administrative changes or court decisions, may significantly change the conclusions expressed herein, and may have a retroactive effect with respect to the transactions contemplated herein.
Taxes on Distributions
For federal income tax purposes, distributions of net investment income are generally taxable to shareholders as ordinary income or qualified dividend income. Taxes on distributions of net capital gains (if any) are determined by how long the Fund owned the investments that generated them, rather than how long a shareholder has owned their Shares. Sales of assets held by the Fund for more than one year generally result in long-term capital gains and losses, and sales of assets held by the Fund for one year or less generally result in short-term capital gains and losses. Distributions of the Fund’s net capital gain (the excess of net long-term capital gains over net short-term capital losses) that are reported by the Fund as capital gain dividends (“Capital Gain Dividends”) will be taxable as long-term capital gains to shareholders. Distributions of short-term capital gain will generally be taxable to shareholders as ordinary income. Dividends and distributions are generally taxable to you whether you receive them in cash or reinvest them in additional Shares.
Distributions reported by the Fund as “qualified dividend income” are generally taxed to non-corporate shareholders at rates applicable to long-term capital gains, provided certain holding period and other requirements are met. “Qualified dividend income” generally is income derived from dividends paid by U.S. corporations or certain foreign corporations that are either incorporated in a U.S. possession or eligible for tax benefits under certain U.S. income tax treaties. In addition, dividends that the Fund receives in respect of stock of certain foreign corporations may be qualified dividend income if that stock is readily tradable on an established U.S. securities market. Corporate shareholders may be entitled to a dividends-received deduction for the portion of dividends they receive from the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations, subject to certain limitations.
Shortly after the close of each calendar year, you will be informed of the character of any distributions received from the Fund.
In addition to the federal income tax, certain individuals, trusts, and estates may be subject to a Net Investment Income (“NII”) tax of 3.8%. The NII tax is imposed on the lesser of: (i) a taxpayer’s investment income, net of deductions properly allocable to such income; or (ii) the amount by which such taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds certain thresholds ($250,000 for married individuals filing jointly, $200,000 for unmarried individuals and $125,000 for married individuals filing separately). The Fund’s distributions are includable in a shareholder’s investment income for purposes of this NII tax. In addition, any capital gain realized by a shareholder upon a sale or redemption of Fund shares is includable in such shareholder’s investment income for purposes of this NII tax.
In general, your distributions are subject to federal income tax for the year in which they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Distributions are generally taxable to you even if they are paid from income or gains earned by the Fund before your investment (and thus were included in the Shares’ NAV when you purchased your Shares).
You may wish to avoid investing in the Fund shortly before a dividend or other distribution, because such a distribution will generally be taxable to you even though it may economically represent a return of a portion of your investment.
If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the United States or if you are a foreign entity, distributions (other than Capital Gain Dividends) paid to you by the Fund will generally be subject to a U.S. withholding tax at the rate of 30%, unless a lower treaty rate applies. The Fund may, under certain circumstances, report all or a portion of a dividend as an “interest-related dividend” or a “short-term capital gain dividend,” which would generally be exempt from this 30% U.S. withholding tax, provided certain other requirements are met.
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Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”), the Fund may be required to withhold a generally nonrefundable 30% tax on distributions of net investment income paid to (A) certain “foreign financial institutions” unless such foreign financial institution agrees to verify, monitor, and report to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) the identity of certain of its account-holders, among other items (or unless such entity is otherwise deemed compliant under the terms of an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and the foreign financial institution’s country of residence), and (B) certain “non-financial foreign entities” unless such entity certifies to the Fund that it does not have any substantial U.S. owners or provides the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner, among other items. This FATCA withholding tax could also affect the Fund’s return on its investments in foreign securities or affect a shareholder’s return if the shareholder holds its Fund shares through a foreign intermediary. You are urged to consult your tax adviser regarding the application of this FATCA withholding tax to your investment in the Fund and the potential certification, compliance, due diligence, reporting, and withholding obligations to which you may become subject in order to avoid this withholding tax.
The Fund (or a financial intermediary, such as a broker, through which a shareholder owns Shares) generally is required to withhold and remit to the U.S. Treasury a percentage of the taxable distributions and sale or redemption proceeds paid to any shareholder who fails to properly furnish a correct taxpayer identification number, who has underreported dividend or interest income, or who fails to certify that they are not subject to such withholding.
Taxes When Shares are Sold on the Exchange
Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Shares generally is treated as a long-term capital gain or loss if Shares have been held for more than one year and as a short-term capital gain or loss if Shares have been held for one year or less. However, any capital loss on a sale of Shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent of Capital Gain Dividends paid with respect to such Shares. Any loss realized on a sale will be disallowed to the extent Shares are acquired, including through reinvestment of dividends, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the sale of substantially identical Shares.
Taxes on Purchases and Redemptions of Creation Units
An AP having the U.S. dollar as its functional currency for U.S. federal income tax purposes who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally recognizes a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the exchanging AP’s aggregate basis in the securities delivered plus the amount of any cash paid for the Creation Units. An AP who exchanges Creation Units for securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanging AP’s basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate U.S. dollar market value of the securities received, plus any cash received for such Creation Units. The IRS may assert, however, that a loss that is realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units may not be currently deducted under the rules governing “wash sales” (for an AP who does not mark-to-market their holdings) or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.
Any capital gain or loss realized upon redemption of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if Shares comprising the Creation Units have been held for more than one year and as a short-term capital gain or loss if such Shares have been held for one year or less.
The Fund may include a payment of cash in addition to, or in place of, the delivery of a basket of securities upon the redemption of Creation Units. The Fund may sell portfolio securities to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. This may cause the Fund to recognize investment income and/or capital gains or losses that it might not have recognized if it had completely satisfied the redemption in-kind. As a result, the Fund may be less tax efficient if it includes such a cash payment in the proceeds paid upon the redemption of Creation Units.
Important Tax Considerations When Purchasing Fund Shares
If you are investing through a taxable account, you should carefully consider the timing of your investment relative to the Fund’s distribution schedule. Purchasing Fund shares shortly before a distribution may increase your tax liability, a situation commonly referred to as “buying a dividend.”
When the Fund makes a distribution, its share price typically drops by an amount roughly equal to the distribution. As a hypothetical example, if you invest $5,000 to purchase 250 shares at $20 per share on December 15, and the Fund pays a $1 per share distribution on December 16, the share price would adjust to $19 (ignoring market fluctuations). Although your total investment value remains $5,000 (250 shares × $19 in share value plus 250 shares × $1 distribution), you would owe taxes on the $250 distribution, even if you reinvest the distribution rather than receiving it in cash.
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Distributions are taxable to shareholders even if they are paid from income or gains realized by the Fund before you invested, and even if they were reflected in the purchase price of the shares. Consequently, you may incur taxes on income or gains that accrued before your investment, without corresponding benefit.
Unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement plan, you may wish to avoid purchasing Fund shares shortly before a distribution. You can minimize the potential tax impact by reviewing the Fund’s distribution schedule prior to investing. When available, information about the Fund’s distribution schedule can be found on the Fund’s website at www.defianceetfs.com.
The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the possible consequences under current federal tax law of an investment in the Fund. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice. You also may be subject to foreign, state, and local tax on Fund distributions and sales of Shares. Consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in Shares under all applicable tax laws. For more information, please see the section entitled “Federal Income Taxes” in the SAI.
Foreside Fund Services, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foreside Financial Group (dba ACA Group) (the “Distributor”), the Fund’s distributor, is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC. The Distributor distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis and does not maintain a secondary market in Shares. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor’s principal address is 190 Middle Street, Suite 301. Portland, Portland, Maine 04101.
The Board has adopted a Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Plan (the “Plan”) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. In accordance with the Plan, the Fund is authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each year to pay distribution fees for the sale and distribution of its Shares.
No Rule 12b-1 fees are currently paid by the Fund, and there are no plans to impose these fees. However, in the event Rule 12b-1 fees are charged in the future, because the fees are paid out of Fund assets on an ongoing basis, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than certain other types of sales charges.
When available, information regarding how often Shares traded on the Exchange at a price above (i.e., at a premium) or below (i.e., at a discount) the NAV of the Fund can be found on the Fund’s website at www.defianceetfs.com.
Shares are not sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by the Exchange. The Exchange is not responsible for, nor has it participated in the determination of, the timing, prices, or quantities of Shares to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which Shares are redeemable. The Exchange has no obligation or liability to owners of Shares in connection with the administration, marketing, or trading of Shares.
Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall the Exchange have any liability for any lost profits or indirect, punitive, special, or consequential damages even if notified of the possibility thereof.
The Adviser and the Fund make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of Shares or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly.
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The Third Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust (“Declaration of Trust”) provides a detailed process for the bringing of derivative or direct actions by shareholders in order to permit legitimate inquiries and claims while avoiding the time, expense, distraction, and other harm that can be caused to the Fund or its shareholders as a result of spurious shareholder demands and derivative actions. Prior to bringing a derivative action, a demand by three unrelated shareholders must first be made on the Fund’s Trustees. The Declaration of Trust details various information, certifications, undertakings and acknowledgments that must be included in the demand. Following receipt of the demand, the trustees have a period of 90 days, which may be extended by an additional 60 days, to consider the demand. If a majority of the Trustees who are considered independent for the purposes of considering the demand determine that maintaining the suit would not be in the best interests of the Fund, the Trustees are required to reject the demand and the complaining shareholders may not proceed with the derivative action unless the shareholders are able to sustain the burden of proof to a court that the decision of the Trustees not to pursue the requested action was not a good faith exercise of their business judgment on behalf of the Fund. The Declaration of Trust further provides that shareholders owning Shares representing no less than a majority of the Fund’s outstanding shares must join in bringing the derivative action. If a demand is rejected, the complaining shareholders will be responsible for the costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by the Fund in connection with the consideration of the demand, if a court determines that the demand was made without reasonable cause or for an improper purpose. If a derivative action is brought in violation of the Declaration of Trust, the shareholders bringing the action may be responsible for the Fund’s costs, including attorneys’ fees, if a court determines that the action was brought without reasonable cause or for an improper purpose. The Declaration of Trust provides that no shareholder may bring a direct action claiming injury as a shareholder of the Trust, or any Fund, where the matters alleged (if true) would give rise to a claim by the Trust or by the Trust on behalf of the Fund, unless the shareholder has suffered an injury distinct from that suffered by the shareholders of the Trust, or the Fund, generally. Under the Declaration of Trust, a shareholder bringing a direct claim must be a shareholder of the Fund with respect to which the direct action is brought at the time of the injury complained of or have acquired the shares afterwards by operation of law from a person who was a shareholder at that time. The Declaration of Trust further provides that the Fund shall be responsible for payment of attorneys’ fees and legal expenses incurred by a complaining shareholder only if required by law, and any attorneys’ fees that the Fund is obligated to pay shall be calculated using reasonable hourly rates. These provisions do not apply to claims brought under the federal securities laws.
The Declaration of Trust also requires that actions by shareholders against the Fund be brought exclusively in a federal or state court located within the State of Delaware. This provision will not apply to claims brought under the federal securities laws. Limiting shareholders’ ability to bring actions only in courts located in Delaware may cause shareholders economic hardship to litigate the action in those courts, including paying for travel expenses of witnesses and counsel, requiring retaining local counsel, and may limit shareholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that shareholders find favorable for disputes, which may discourage such actions.
This section would ordinarily include Financial Highlights. The Financial Highlights table is intended to help you understand the Fund’s performance for its period of operations. Because the Fund has not yet commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, no Financial Highlights are shown.
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Defiance ETFs
| Adviser | Tidal
Investments LLC 234 West Florida Street, Suite 700 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204 |
Administrator | Tidal
ETF Services LLC 234 West Florida Street, Suite 700 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204 |
| Distributor |
Foreside
Fund Services, LLC Portland, Maine 04101 |
Sub-Administrator, Fund Accountant, and Transfer Agent |
U.S.
Bancorp Fund Services, LLC, doing business as U.S. Bank Global Fund Services 615 East Michigan Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 |
| Legal Counsel | Sullivan
& Worcester LLP 1251 Avenue of the Americas 19th Floor New York, NY 10020 |
Custodian | U.S.
Bank National Association 1555 North Rivercenter Drive Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212 |
| Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm |
[] |
Investors may find more information about the Fund in the following documents:
Statement of Additional Information: The Fund’s SAI provides additional details about the Fund’s investments and certain other additional information. A current SAI dated [], 2026, as supplemented from time to time, is on file with the SEC and is herein incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. It is legally considered a part of this Prospectus.
Annual/Semi-Annual Reports: Additional information about the Fund’s investments will be available in the Fund’s annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders and in Form N-CSR. In the Fund’s annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance after the first fiscal year the Fund is in operation. In Form N-CSR, you will find the Fund’s annual and semi-annual financial statements.
You can obtain free copies of these documents, when available, request other information or make general inquiries about the Fund by contacting the Fund at the Defiance ETFs, c/o U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, P.O. Box 219252, Kansas City, Missouri 64121-9252 or calling 833-333-9383.
Shareholder reports and other information about the Fund are also available:
| ● | Free of charge from the SEC’s EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov; or |
| ● | Free of charge from the Fund’s Internet website at www.defianceetfs.com; or |
| ● | For a fee, by e-mail request to [email protected]. |
The SAI and other information are also available from a financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) through which the Fund’s shares may be purchased or sold.
(SEC Investment Company Act File No. 811-23793)