Calamos Autocallable Growth ETF (CAGE): The Next Evolution of Structured Products

Whenever a new ETF category launches, there are usually one or two providers that either get there first or shape how the space evolves. In the case of autocallable ETFs, Calamos Investments has managed to do both.

Its flagship, the Calamos Autocallable Income ETF

, has grown to over $850 million in assets under management (AUM) since launching in June 2025. That was followed by the Calamos NASDAQ Autocallable Income ETF

CAIQ

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in November 2025, which has also picked up traction, now sitting at roughly $151 million in AUM.

Both strategies focus on delivering above average income by tracking benchmarks composed of autocallable notes, a type of structured product that historically sat within bank issued notes and advisor driven portfolios.

Prior to the ETF wrapper, access to autocallables was largely limited to private banking channels, often with higher minimums, less transparency, and limited liquidity.

Packaging them into an ETF changes the experience. Investors can now buy and sell exposure on an exchange with visible pricing, while the use of swaps helps deliver that exposure with a more standardized and typically lower expense structure.

That said, not all investors use autocallables purely for income. In practice, many bank advisors have used them to express moderately bullish views while introducing some level of downside buffering or path-dependent payoff structure. They can sit somewhere between equities and traditional fixed income, depending on how they’re structured.

To meet that demand, Calamos launched the Calamos Autocallable Growth ETF

on April 16, 2026. It is the first ETF of its kind, designed as a higher beta buy and hold solution for investors looking to participate in equity upside without relying on daily resetting leveraged ETFs, which can introduce volatility drag over time.

Unlike CAIE and CAIQ, this strategy is not designed to distribute coupons, and Calamos does not anticipate capital gains distributions, which may make it more suitable for taxable accounts focused on growth. Here’s closer look at how this ETF works.

If the index is not positive, the coupon is not lost. It is stored and carried forward. This is where the “memory” feature comes in. Missed coupons are not gone; they stack. That creates a compounding effect in positive markets while preserving the ability to recover missed growth during periods of weakness. The following diagram from Calamos illustrates this mechanism.

What makes CAGE notable is that it is the first ETF to package this “memory” mechanic into a diversified, liquid vehicle. Instead of a single note with one payoff path, investors are getting exposure to a basket of these structures, each at different stages, which smooths out timing risk across the portfolio.

The result is a payoff profile that aims to compound returns during favorable markets, store potential gains during drawdowns, and release that stored value when conditions improve.