497K 1 boxx497ksummaryprospectus.htm 497K Document

ALPHA ARCHITECT 1-3 MONTH BOX ETF
Ticker Symbol: BOXX

Listed on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS
January 31, 2025
https://funds.alphaarchitect.com/boxetf
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), which contain more information about the Fund and its risks. The current Prospectus and SAI, each dated January 31, 2025, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Fund’s Prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the Fund online at https://funds.alphaarchitect.com/boxetf. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 215-330-4476.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
The Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, equals or exceeds the price and yield performance of an investment that tracks the 1-3 month sector of the United States Treasury Bill market.
FEES AND EXPENSES
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”).
You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of Shares, which are not reflected in the table or example.
ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (EXPENSES THAT YOU PAY EACH YEAR AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENT)
Management Fee1
0.24 %
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) FeesNone
Other Expenses
0.00 %
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses0.24 %
Fees Waived and/or Reimbursed2
(0.05)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Waiving and/or Reimbursing Expenses3
0.19 %
1The Fund’s Management Fee and Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses are 0.2449%. The Fund’s Management Fee has been restated to reflect the reduced fee, effective November 12, 2024.
2The Adviser has contractually agreed to waive receipt of its management fees and/or assume expenses of the Fund so that the total annual operating expenses of the Fund (excluding payments under the Fund’s Rule 12b-1 distribution and service plan (if any), acquired fund fees and expenses, brokerage expenses, taxes (including tax-related services), interest (including borrowing costs), litigation expense (including class action-related services) and other non-routine or extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 0.1949% of the Fund’s average daily net assets. This agreement will remain in place until at least January 31, 2026. The agreement may be terminated only by the Board of Trustees.
3The Fund’s Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver are 0.1949%.
EXAMPLE
The following 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 for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example reflects the Fund’s contractual expense limitation agreement only for the term of the contractual expense limitation agreement. The example also assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same. You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of Shares, which are not reflected in the example. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
One Year:Three Years:Five Years:Ten Years:
$20$74$133$307
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PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
The Fund may pay transaction costs, including 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 annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the fiscal period November 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024 Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 0% of the average value of its portfolio. This rate excludes the value of portfolio securities whose maturities or expiration dates at the time of acquisition were one year or less.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF (the “Fund”) is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) whose investment objective is to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, equal or exceed the price and yield performance of an investment that tracks the 1-3 month sector of the United States Treasury Bill market. To do so, the principal investment strategy of the Fund will be to utilize a series of long and short exchange-listed options combinations called a box spread (“Box Spread”). In order to accomplish its investment goals, the Fund may utilize either standard exchange-listed options or FLexible EXchange® Options (“FLEX Options”) or a combination of both.
In general, an option contract is an agreement between a buyer and seller that gives the purchaser of the option the right to buy or sell a particular asset at a specified future date at an agreed upon price, commonly known as the “strike price.” In the case of a “call option”, the purchaser has the right to buy the particular asset and the seller of a “call option” has the obligation to deliver the particular asset at the strike price. In the case of a “put option”, the purchaser has the right to sell the particular asset and the seller of a “put option” has the obligation to purchase the particular asset at the strike price.
By way of background, a Box Spread is the combination of a synthetic long position coupled with an offsetting synthetic short position through a combination of options contracts on an equity security or an equity index at the same expiration date. The synthetic long consists of buying a call option and selling a put option on the same security or index where the call option and put option share the same strike and expiration date (a “Synthetic Long”). When purchasing a Box Spread, the Synthetic Long will have a strike price that is less than the strike price for the Synthetic Short. The difference between the strike prices of the Synthetic Long and the Synthetic Short will determine the expiration value (or value at maturity) of the Box Spread. The synthetic short consists of buying a put option and selling a call option on the same security or index with the same expiration date as the synthetic long but using a different strike price (a “Synthetic Short”). When purchasing a Box Spread, the Synthetic Long will have a strike price that is less than the strike price for the Synthetic Short. The difference between the strike prices of the Synthetic Long and the Synthetic Short will determine the expiration value (or value at maturity) of the Box Spread.
An important feature of the Box Spread construction process is the elimination of risk tied to changes in the value of the Box Spread’s reference asset (typically an equity security or equity index) so long as the Box Spread is held to its expiration date. As displayed in the diagram below, a Box Spread’s return at its expiration date stays constant no matter how low or how high the value of the Box Spread’s reference asset moves. Once the Box Spread is initiated, its return from the initiation date of such Box Spread through its expiration date is fixed, but the value of the Box Spread may increase or decrease during that period due to changes in interest rates (or expectations of such changes) and the supply and demand in short-term credit markets, among other factors. The diagram below only depicts the value of the Box Spread at its expiration date and not at points in time prior to the expiration date.

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image_0a.jpg
The Fund anticipates buying, holding, and/or selling multiple Box Spreads, and consequently, the Fund’s anticipated return from Box Spreads will reflect all of its investment activity, as well as changes in market prices and expected interest rates, among other factors, and will vary over time. Because the Fund will generally hold multiple Box Spreads at any time, the Fund has no fixed return amount for any particular period of time, unlike a bond. Additionally, the value of the Fund is affected by factors including those affecting the value of Box Spreads and may increase or decrease over any period of time.
Buying (or selling) a Box Spread is similar to buying (or selling) a zero-coupon bond. A zero-coupon bond does not pay periodic coupons, but the bond trades at a discount to its face value. The maturity value of a zero-coupon bond is comparable to the difference in the strike prices of the Box Spread. The maturity date of a zero-coupon bond is comparable to the expiration date of the options comprising the Box Spread. When constructing a Box Spread, the strike price of the Synthetic Long will be at a lower strike price than the strike price of the Synthetic Short. When buying or selling a Box Spread, the buyer or seller generally expects the price of the Box Spread to be less than the difference in the strike prices of the Box Spread. A buyer or seller of a Box Spread will earn a profit or loss equal to the difference between the beginning price (price paid to buy or received if sold) and the ending price (expiration value or closing trade price). If the Fund holds the Box Spread until expiration, then its profit or loss will be determined by the difference between the price it paid to buy the Box Spread (or received in the case of selling the Box Spread) and the value of the Box Spread upon expiration.
As an example, a typical Box Spread could include the simultaneous purchase of a call option and sale of a put option (i.e., a Synthetic Long) with a strike of $1,000 on the S&P 500 Index (“SPX”) together with the sale of a call option and purchase of a put option (i.e., a Synthetic Short) with a strike of $2,000 on the SPX where all four of these options share the same expiration date. The expiration or maturity value would be the difference in the strikes or $1,000 in this case. The expected profit earned would equal the difference between the price paid for this Box Spread and its expiration value of $1,000 minus any transaction costs associated with the options trades. The effective yield on each Box Spread is determined by annualizing the profit over the price paid. The Fund will only purchase Box Spreads where the purchase price (after considering all costs to the Fund for entering such trade) is less than the expiration value.
Arin Risk Advisors, LLC (“Arin”) may invest the Fund’s assets in a series of Box Spreads with various expiration dates. The quantity and expiration dates of the Box Spreads held by the Fund will be based on several factors, including the Fund’s asset size, the effective yield for various Box Spread expiration dates available in the marketplace, and Arin’s view of future interest rates. Based upon historical examples of Box Spreads actually traded in the marketplace, Arin expects that there will be market participants willing to sell Box Spreads to the Fund in sufficient quantities to satisfy the objective of the Fund.
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The Fund generally invests its assets in a series of Box Spreads such that the weighted average maturity of the Box Spreads based upon expiration dates is less than 90 days. The Fund may sell Box Spreads with a longer or shorter period to expiration in an effort to gain exposure to the forward rate implied by the execution of longer and shorter dated Box Spreads. The Fund expects to trade some or all of the Box Spreads prior to their respective expiration dates, if Arin believes it is advantageous for the Fund to do so. Upon expiration or sale of any Box Spread, Arin may seek to purchase additional Box Spreads at an effective yield and expiration date that offers favorable risk and reward characteristics under current market conditions. The Fund may also invest in cash, cash equivalents, money market funds or treasury bills. The Fund’s strategy is expected to result in high portfolio turnover. The return that the Fund expects to earn from Box Spreads will fluctuate but remain consistent with the market rate for similar short-term interest rate sensitive securities as indicated by the Federal Funds Futures market.
When purchasing or selling a Box Spread, the Fund will use European-style options. European style options may not be terminated or assigned in advance of the option’s expiration date and may only be exercised on their expiration date. This ensures that none of the synthetic positions created using the Box Spread will be forcibly closed prior to the Box Spread’s maturity. The Fund expects to use options on broad-based diversified assets such as the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust for substantially all of the Fund’s holdings. The Fund may purchase or sell Box Spreads using exchange-listed option contracts on an ETF other than the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust or on an index or individual equity security when Arin has determined that doing so would provide the Fund with better risk and return or tax characteristics. The Fund may also utilize an exchange-listed options strategy using long shares of an individual equity security or ETF (in place of the Synthetic Long) together with a Synthetic Short created by purchasing a put option and selling a call option on that equity security or ETF with the same strike and expiration date. This individual equity security or ETF strategy will generally be purchased when such purchase is in the best interest of the Fund because it offers more favorable price or tax characteristics. The Fund’s collateral will typically be utilized to fully pay for the Box Spreads or other similar strategies as described above.
The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities to achieve its investment objective. In order to achieve its objective, the Fund will typically purchase a new Box Spread at the time (or shortly thereafter) any existing Box Spread expires or is sold or when Arin believes purchasing a new Box Spread would offer a favorable investment opportunity. The Fund may also sell or “roll” any Box Spread at any time. When rolling a Box Spread, the Fund enters into a trade where it simultaneously closes on each component of an existing Box Spread while opening a new Box Spread position. The Fund may also sell Box Spreads that utilize the same or different reference assets, strike prices, and expiration dates as Box Spreads owned by the Fund. When selling or rolling a Box Spread, the Fund may incur additional transaction costs than if it waited until such Box Spread expired.
Exchange-traded options on certain indexes, such as the SPX, are currently taxed under section 1256 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”). Pursuant to section 1256 of the Code, profit and loss on transactions in non-equity options, including SPX options, are subject to taxation at a rate equal to 60% long-term and 40% short-term capital gain or loss regardless of the Fund’s holding period. The Fund expects that distributions related to the Fund’s SPX positions, if any, will be characterized by the Fund as capital gains with these preferential terms. The Fund expects that distributions, if any, related to the Fund’s positions that do not qualify for the preferential treatment under section 1256 are expected to be characterized by the Fund as either short-term capital gain or ordinary income. See “Tax Risk” below for additional important information.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS
An investment in the Fund involves risk, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. An investor may lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any government agency. More complete risk descriptions are set forth below under the heading “Additional Information About the Fund’s Principal Investment Risks.
Options Risk.
Selling or Writing Options. Writing option contracts can result in losses that exceed the seller’s initial investment and may lead to additional turnover and higher tax liability. The risk involved in writing a call option is that there could be an increase in the market value of the underlying or reference asset. An underlying or reference asset may be an index, equity security, or ETF. If this occurs, the call option could
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be exercised and the underlying asset would then be sold at a lower price than its current market value. In the case of cash settled call options such as SPX options, the call seller would be required to purchase the call option at a price that is higher than the original sales price for such call option. Similarly, while writing call options can reduce the risk of owning the underlying asset, such a strategy limits the opportunity to profit from an increase in the market value of the underlying asset in exchange for up-front cash at the time of selling the call option. The risk involved in writing a put option is that there could be a decrease in the market value of the underlying asset. If this occurs, the put option could be exercised and the underlying asset would then be sold at a higher price than its current market value. In the case of cash settled put options, the put seller would be required to purchase the put option at a price that is higher than the original sales price for such put option.     
Buying or Purchasing Options Risk. If a call or put option is not sold when it has remaining value and if the market price of the underlying asset, in the case of a call option, remains less than or equal to the exercise price, or, in the case of a put option, remains equal to or greater than the exercise price, the buyer will lose its entire investment in the call or put option. Since many factors influence the value of an option, including the price of the underlying asset, the exercise price, the time to expiration, the interest rate, and the dividend rate of the underlying asset, the buyer’s success in implementing an option buying strategy may depend on an ability to predict movements in the prices of individual assets, fluctuations in markets, and movements in interest rates. There is no assurance that a liquid market will exist when the buyer seeks to close out any option position. When an option is purchased to hedge against price movements in an underlying asset, the price of the option may move more or less than the price of the underlying asset.
Box Spread Risk. A Box Spread is the combination of a Synthetic Long position coupled with an offsetting Synthetic Short position through a combination of options contracts on an underlying or reference asset such as index, equity security or ETF with the same expiration date. A Box Spread typically consists of four option positions two of which represent the Synthetic Long and two representing the Synthetic Short. If one or more of these individual option positions are modified or closed separately prior to the option contract’s expiration, then the Box Spread may no longer effectively eliminate risk tied to underlying asset’s movement. Furthermore, the Box Spread’s value is derived in the market and is in part, based on the time until the options comprising the Box Spread expire and the prevailing market interest rates. If the Fund sells a Box Spread prior to its expiration, then the Fund may incur a loss. The Fund’s ability to profit from Box Spreads is dependent on the availability and willingness of other market participants to sell Box Spreads to the Fund at competitive prices.
FLEX Options Risk. FLEX Options are exchange-traded options contracts with uniquely customizable terms like exercise price, style, and expiration date. Due to their customization and potentially unique terms, FLEX Options may be less liquid than other securities, such as standard exchange listed options. In less liquid markets for the FLEX Options, the Fund may have difficulty closing out certain FLEX Options positions at desired times and prices. The value of FLEX Options will be affected by, among others, changes in the underlying share or equity index price, changes in actual and implied interest rates, changes in the actual and implied volatility of the underlying shares or equity index and the remaining time to until the FLEX Options expire. The value of the FLEX Options will be determined based upon market quotations or using other recognized pricing methods. During periods of reduced market liquidity or in the absence of readily available market quotations for the holdings of the Fund, the ability of the Fund to value the FLEX Options becomes more difficult and the judgment of the Fund’s Sub-Adviser (employing the fair value procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Trust) may play a greater role in the valuation of the Fund’s holdings due to reduced availability of reliable objective pricing data.
Counterparty Risk. Counterparty risk is the risk that a counterparty to a financial instrument held by the Fund or by a special purpose or structured vehicle invested in by the Fund may become insolvent or otherwise fail to perform its obligations, and the Fund may obtain no or limited recovery of its investment, and any recovery may be significantly delayed. Exchange listed options, including FLEX Options, are issued and guaranteed for settlement by the Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”). The Fund’s investments are at risk that the OCC will be unable or unwilling to perform its obligations under the option contract terms. In the unlikely event that the OCC becomes insolvent or is otherwise unable to meet its settlement obligations, the Fund could suffer significant losses.
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Low Short-Term Interest Rates Risk. During market conditions in which short-term interest rates are at low levels, the Fund’s yield can be very low, and the Fund may have a negative yield (i.e., it may lose money on an operating basis). During these conditions, it is possible that the Fund will generate an insufficient amount of income to pay its expenses. In addition, it is possible that during these conditions the Fund may experience difficulties purchasing and/or selling securities, and may, as a result, maintain a portion of its assets in cash, on which it may earn little, if any, income.
Investment Risk. When you sell your Shares, they could be worth less than what you paid for them. Therefore, you may lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund could lose money due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during market downturns. Securities may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally or particular asset classes or industries represented in the markets. The value of a security may decline due to general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security, such as geopolitical events and environmental disasters. The value of a security may also decline due to factors that affect a particular industry or group of industries. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Therefore, you may lose money by investing in the Fund.
Management Risk. The Fund is actively managed and may not meet its investment objective based on Arin’s success or failure to implement investment strategies for the Fund. In addition, there is the risk that the investment process, techniques and analyses used by Arin will not produce the desired investment results and the Fund may lose value as a result.
Market Risk. The Fund’s investments are subject to changes in general economic conditions, general market fluctuations and the risks inherent in investment in interest rate sensitive markets. Interest rate markets can be volatile and prices of investments can change substantially due to various factors including, but not limited to, economic growth or recession, the investment’s average time to maturity, changes in interest rates, changes in the actual or perceived creditworthiness of issuers, and general market liquidity. The Fund is subject to the risk that geopolitical events will disrupt securities markets and adversely affect global economies and markets. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments.
Tax Risk. The Fund may enter into various transactions, including transactions involving options contracts, for which there is a lack of clear guidance under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), which may affect the taxation of the Fund. The use of certain derivatives may cause the Fund to realize higher amounts of ordinary income or short-term capital gain, to suspend or eliminate holding periods of positions, and/or to defer realized losses, potentially increasing the need to make taxable distributions, including those that will be taxed at the rates applicable to ordinary income. For example, exchange-traded options on certain indexes are currently taxed under Code Section 1256 pursuant to which profit and loss with respect to such options are subject to tax as 60% long-term and 40% short-term capital gain or loss regardless of the Fund’s holding period. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market, constructive sale, and straddle provisions of the Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable distributions that will need to be made by the Fund.
The Fund intends to qualify as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under the Code, which requires the Fund to distribute a certain portion of its income and gains each year, among other requirements. Similar to other ETFs, when the Fund disposes of appreciated property by distributing such appreciated property in-kind pursuant to redemption requests of its shareholders under Code Section 852(b)(6), the Fund does not recognize any built-in gain in such appreciated property. If the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or a court disagrees with the Fund’s position as to the applicability of this nonrecognition rule to the Fund’s dispositions, the Fund may not have distributed sufficient income or gains to qualify as a RIC. If, in any year, the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC, the Fund itself generally would be subject to regular corporate U.S. federal income tax, and distributions received by its shareholders would be subject to further U.S. federal income tax. Alternatively, the Fund may be required to pay a deficiency dividend (without having received additional cash) and applicable interest, and such dividend would be paid to the then current shareholders of the Fund. Failure to comply with the requirements for qualification as a RIC would have significant negative economic consequences to the Fund’s shareholders. In addition, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in the underlying asset and may adversely affect the timing, character, and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments.
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Additionally, Code Section 1258 requires that certain capital gain from an investment be recharacterized as ordinary income if substantially all of the expected return is attributable to the time value of holding the investment and such investment falls into certain defined categories (a “conversion transaction”). If any of the Fund’s transactions or holding of Shares are deemed to be conversion transactions, certain gains from such transactions or Shares would be treated as ordinary income, which could result respectively in the Fund having not distributed enough income to qualify as a RIC (with the same tax consequences described above) or gain on the disposition of Shares being treated as ordinary income. No assurance can be given that the IRS or a court will not treat any such transactions by the Fund or the holding of Shares as conversion transactions.
If the IRS or a court were to determine that any transactions by the Fund should have been treated differently for tax purposes, it may be the case that the Fund has not previously distributed sufficient income or gains to qualify as a RIC in one or more prior years as described above. In addition to paying regular corporate income taxes or a deficiency dividend, the Fund may be responsible for penalties associated with incorrect information reporting about its distributions, which could be significant. Additionally, if the IRS or a court were to determine that any transactions by the Fund should have been treated differently for tax purposes, distributions made by the Fund may need to be recharacterized from capital gain to ordinary income, or vice versa, which could result in certain shareholders having underreported income or gains to the IRS for the applicable years. Such underreported income or gains could result in a shareholder owing increased taxes, penalties and interest to the IRS. Please consult your own tax advisor regarding how the Fund’s tax risks may potentially affect your particular tax situation.
Valuation Risk. Some portfolio holdings (e.g., FLEX options), potentially a large portion of the Fund’s investment portfolio, may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur more often in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. See “FLEX Options Risk” above for more information regarding potential factors impacting the valuation of FLEX options.
Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time.
ETF Risks.
Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as Authorized Participants (“APs”). In particular, the Fund will have a limited pool of APs that are able to transact in standard exchange-listed options as well as FLEX Options, therefore the pool of competitive markets for the Fund will be small. This can result in increased costs to the Fund. 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.
Premium-Discount Risk. The Shares may trade above or below their net asset value (“NAV”). The market prices of Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, Shares on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange”) or other securities exchanges. The trading price of Shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility or limited trading activity in Shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread,” that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price of the Shares.
Cost of Trading Risk. 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
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are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of Shares.
Trading Risk. Although the Shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of Shares may begin to mirror the liquidity of its underlying portfolio holdings, which can be less liquid than Shares, potentially causing the market price of Shares to deviate from its NAV. The spread varies over time for Shares of the Fund based on the Fund’s trading volume and market liquidity and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size).
Cash Creation Unit Risk. Unlike most other ETFs, the Fund expects to effect a substantial portion of its creations for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that effects its creations and redemptions only in-kind. ETFs are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gains on the distributed portfolio securities at the fund level. The Fund that effects redemptions for cash may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. Any recognized gain on these sales by the Fund will generally cause the Fund to recognize a gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities only in-kind. The Fund intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the fund level. The use of cash creations may also cause the Fund’s shares to trade in the market at greater bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. As a practical matter, only institutions and large investors, such as market makers or other large broker dealers, create or redeem shares directly through the Fund. Most investors will buy and sell shares of the Fund on an exchange through a broker-dealer. Furthermore, cash creation transactions may result in certain brokerage, tax, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transactions. To the extent that the maximum additional charge for creation transactions is insufficient to cover these costs and expenses, the Fund’s performance could be negatively impacted.
Large Shareholder Risk. Certain large shareholders, including other funds advised by the Adviser, Alpha Architect, and/or Arin, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s Shares. Any such investment may be held for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder will not redeem its investment. Dispositions of a large number of Shares by such shareholders, which may occur rapidly or unexpectedly, may adversely affect the Fund’s liquidity and net assets to the extent such transactions are executed directly with the Fund in the form of redemptions through an authorized participant, rather than executed in the secondary market. To the extent effected in cash, these redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund’s NAV and increase the Fund’s brokerage costs. Such cash redemptions may also accelerate the realization of taxable income to shareholders. Similarly, large Fund share purchases through an authorized participant may adversely affect the performance of the Fund to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash or otherwise maintains a larger cash position than it ordinarily would. If these large shareholders transact in Shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the Fund’s trading volume and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Shares.
Cash and Cash Equivalents Risk. Holding cash or cash equivalents rather than securities or other instruments in which the Fund primarily invests, even strategically, may cause the Fund to risk losing opportunities to participate in market appreciation, and may cause the Fund to experience potentially lower returns than the Fund’s benchmark or other funds that remain fully invested. In rising markets, holding cash or cash equivalents will negatively affect the Fund’s performance relative to its benchmark.
Frequent Trading Risk. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities to achieve its investment objective. This frequent trading of portfolio securities may increase the amount of commissions that the Fund pays when it buys and sells such portfolio securities, which may detract from the Fund’s performance. Derivative instruments and instruments with a maturity of one year or less at the time of acquisition are excluded from the calculation of the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate, which leads to the 0% portfolio turnover rate reported herein.
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Limited Operating History. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with limited operating history. As a result, prospective investors have a limited track record on which to base their investment decision. An investment in the Fund may therefore involve greater uncertainty than an investment in a fund with a more established record of performance.
PERFORMANCE
The following information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the Fund’s performance for calendar years ended December 31. The table shows how the Fund’s average annual returns for one-year and since inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance, as well as a measure of the Fund’s investment objective and strategy. The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Performance information is also available on the Fund’s website at https://funds.alphaarchitect.com/boxetf or by calling the Fund at (215) 882-9983. 
Calendar Year Total Return as of December 31
chart-e8922098096b47479d5.jpg
During the period of time shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s highest return for a calendar quarter was 1.37% (quarter ended December 31, 2023) and the Fund’s lowest return for a calendar quarter was 1.11% (quarter ended June 30, 2023).
Average Annual Total Returns
(for periods ended December 31, 2024)

1 Year
Since Inception
(12/27/22)
Return Before Taxes
5.30%5.14%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
5.22%5.09%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Shares
3.17%3.93%
Solactive US Aggregate Bond Index
(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)
0.80%3.01%
Solactive 1-3 Month US T-Bill Index
(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)
5.33%5.22%
After-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates during the period covered by the table and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown and are not relevant if you hold your shares through a tax- deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account (“IRA”).
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The Solactive US Aggregate Bond Index aims to track the performance of USD-denominated bond market. The Solactive 1-3 month US T-Bill Index is a rules-based, market value-weighted index engineered for the short-term USD T-Bill market; it is comprised of USD-denominated T-Bills with a time to maturity of 1 to 3 months.
INVESTMENT ADVISER & INVESTMENT SUB-ADVISERS
Investment Adviser:
Empowered Funds, LLC dba EA Advisers (the “Adviser”)
Investment Sub-Advisers:
Arin Risk Advisors, LLC
Alpha Architect, LLC (“Alpha Architect”)
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
The Fund’s portfolio is managed on a day-to-day basis by Lawrence Lempert, Joseph DeSipio, and Ryan Bailey. Messrs. Lempert, DeSipio and Bailey have managed the Fund since its inception in 2022.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis only in large blocks of Shares called “Creation Units,” and only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem Creation Units. Creation Units are primarily issued in cash and redeemed ‘in-kind’ for securities and/or in cash. Individual Shares may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Once created, individual Shares generally trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day. Market prices of Shares may be greater or less than their NAV. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund’s shares are not redeemable securities.
TAX INFORMATION
The Fund’s distributions generally are taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gain, or some combination of both, unless your investment is made through an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”). However, subsequent withdrawals from such a tax-advantaged account may be subject to U.S. federal income tax. In the event that a shareholder purchases Shares shortly before a distribution by the Fund, the entire distribution may be taxable to the shareholder even though a portion of the distribution effectively represents a return of the purchase price. You should consult your own tax advisor about your specific tax situation.
PURCHASES THROUGH BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary, the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend Shares over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.


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