TappAlpha

Larry Tapp, the founder and CEO, oversees index methodology, backtesting algorithms, and derivative trade-execution logic. The firm does not make discretionary investment decisions — its strategies follow a rules-based premium-selling mandate on defined equity benchmarks. No separate investment committee is publicly disclosed.

No. TappAlpha operates as an index-calculation agent, not a registered investment adviser. All client capital sits inside vehicles manufactured by third parties — ETFs, structured notes, and annuity sub-accounts — that license TappAlpha indices and pay usage fees. The firm reports no AUM of its own.

TappAlpha calculates proprietary volatility-overlay indices — including tickers TAPR (put-write on SPY) and TAPC (covered-call on QQQ). These indices are published under the SPDR trademark via a licensing agreement with State Street Global Advisors, which allows financial intermediaries to build packaged products that track the index returns. State Street does not endorse or guarantee the index performance.

The primary underlyings are broad U.S. equity benchmarks — the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. The strategies generate returns through systematic selling of out-of-the-money put or call options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), blended with a cash or Treasury-collateral overlay. No direct commodity, fixed-income, or private-market instruments are utilized.

TappAlpha is neither a family office nor a traditional asset manager. It is an index-provider and technology-licensing company that creates volatility-overlay IP for third-party financial product manufacturers. The firm earns revenue through index-licensing fees rather than management or performance fees on pooled capital.