Wall Street is packaging the idea of "not wanting to hold Elon Musk" into a tradable fund.
A new issuer named Subversive ETFs recently filed with regulators, planning to launch two ETFs with the tickers QQNE and SPNE. These funds will track the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indices, respectively, but will exclude all companies founded, controlled, or led by Elon Musk. In other words, investors can buy "an almost complete market portfolio," just without Musk.
The direct catalyst for this filing is the recent inclusion of SpaceX into the Nasdaq 100 index. SpaceX had previously been added to the FTSE Russell and MSCI indices, with several index providers modifying their inclusion rules to create a faster entry path for massive IPOs. SpaceX's addition triggered billions in passive buying, sending the stock into millions of index-tracking portfolios—a milestone for some investors, and a forced "purchase" for others.
Why Would Anyone Want to 'Exclude' Musk?
The logic of passive investing was simple: buy the index, make no judgment. But when the index itself includes companies associated with a controversial figure, "passive" becomes a tacit stance.
According to the prospectus, the fund's advisor believes that some investors view Musk-affiliated companies as having "potential corporate governance concerns, political risks, and heightened stock price volatility."
These concerns are not unfounded. Following SpaceX's index inclusion, critics pointed out that passive investors were forced to buy into one of the market's most highly valued companies before normal price discovery mechanisms had fully taken effect.
Wall Street's ETF 'Slicing' Game
QQNE and SPNE are not isolated cases but a microcosm of a larger trend in the ETF industry.
The market already has leveraged funds that amplify Tesla Motors (TSLA) gains and losses, newly launched leveraged funds on SpaceX, and there was once an ETF named ELON that went long Tesla Motors while shorting Ford.
Data from Bloomberg Intelligence's Eric Balchunas shows that a record 214 new ETFs were launched in June 2026 alone. The entire ETF market attracted approximately $191 billion in inflows that month, the second-highest monthly inflow on record, with over 2,700 funds seeing net subscriptions. Trading volume also neared a historical peak at around $7 trillion.
This industry, which started with low-cost index investing, is increasingly resembling an "opinion-packaging machine"—encapsulating specific views on a company, an executive, or a theme into a tradable ticker.
Marketing Gimmick or Genuine Demand?
Industry insiders are divided on such products.
Nate Geraci, President of NovaDius Wealth Management, stated: "Musk is an extremely polarizing figure, so it makes sense that ETF issuers are trying to find a business opportunity there. But if we've now entered a world where issuers will exclude someone from a major index because of investor sentiment towards that one person—we might be slicing things too thin."
Dave Nadig, President and Director of Research at ETF.com, was more direct. Commenting on the filing, he said: "This type of product might attract some less-than-thoughtful money, but these narrowcast, micro ideas don't really 'belong' to anyone. Interesting marketing, not real investment logic."
Jeffrey Ptak of Morningstar also expressed caution: "I understand why issuers feel the need to think of new ways to stand out. But investors should still be wary—these products may not serve a sound investment purpose, or they may charge a high price for a marginal benefit at best."
As for whether there is truly lasting demand for a "Musk-excluded" portfolio, that remains an open question.
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