The Business of Being the Only Game in Town
Why the Monopoly ETF (MPLY) focuses on companies that control the board
When you hear the word "monopoly," the first thing that comes to mind is probably the board game — "Do Not Pass Go", Boardwalk, the little top hat racing around the corner squares.
But when the word shows up in a business conversation, it means something very different, and a lot more consequential.
In the U.S., there have always been rules against companies becoming monopolies, or even duopolies. Antitrust law exists precisely because unchecked market power is supposed to be the exception, not the rule. And yet, to varying degrees, that kind of dominance still exists.
Sometimes it's newer and less discussed: a business that's simply the first, or the only, or one of a handful of companies doing what it does, in a space too capital-intensive or too regulated for anyone else to follow.
That raises a fair question: what does it actually mean for a business to have monopolistic or monopoly-like tendencies?
For one, it tends to mean resilience. A company with real pricing power and limited competition doesn't have to fight as hard to defend its revenue in a downturn; customers don't have many alternatives to switch to. That durability can also become a launching pad. A business throwing off dependable cash flow from a dominant core segment can afford to fund newer, unproven lines of business — the kind of long-horizon bets that would be much harder to justify for a company competing on price in a crowded market. In other words, market power in one place can subsidize experimentation somewhere else.
Putting Monopolies to Work for You and Your Clients
That's part of why, a few years back, the Wall Street Journal made the case that today's largest technology companies, the ones most people would point to first as modern monopolies or near-monopolies, had effectively become the market's new low-volatility stocks. The steady utilities and consumer-staples names that once played that role were being displaced by mega-cap tech companies whose scale and market position made their earnings look almost as dependable.
How MPLY Holdings Dominate Their Industries
That thesis is the starting point for the Monopoly ETF (MPLY). Launched in May 2025 and sub-advised by Rareview Capital, MPLY is an actively managed fund built specifically around companies exhibiting what it calls "monopolistic attributes." Its screening process combines qualitative judgment — brand dominance, regulatory exclusivity, industry concentration, antitrust history, pricing power — with quantitative filters on revenue growth, profit margins, return on investment, and earnings per share. Eligible companies need at least a $2 billion market cap and a U.S. listing, and the resulting portfolio typically holds somewhere between 75 and 125 names, weighted predominantly by market cap.
Narrowing the Investment Universe to Find the Dominant Players
Concentration by Design, Not Accident
In practice, that means a portfolio concentrated in a relatively small number of high-conviction positions: MPLY's top ten holdings currently make up roughly 63% of total assets, out of a fund that holds around 100 securities (as of June 30, 2026). That's a deliberate bet that the market's dominant players deserve outsized weight, not a broad, indiscriminate sweep of "big companies." The fund charges a 0.79% expense ratio and trades on Cboe BZX.
A Portfolio, Not a Prediction
Still, the underlying question is a good one for any investor to sit with: are the businesses that dominate their markets today building the kind of durability that shows up in decades of results, not just the next earnings report? MPLY is one straightforward way to make that question investable; a portfolio, not a prediction.
Click here to access a full list of holdingsImportant Information and Risk Considerations: Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal.
Click here to access a full list of holdings. Holdings are subject to change without notice.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Monopoly ETF. This and other important information about the Fund is contained in the full or summary prospectus, which can be obtained by calling (855) HSS-ETFS (855-477-3837) or at www.strategysharesetfs.com. Read it carefully before investing.
The Strategy Shares are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, which is not affiliated with Rational Advisors, Inc., Rareview Capital LLC, or any of their affiliates.
1 gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all./worldwide
2 semi.org — IDC Semiconductor Market Outlook
3 counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/global-semiconductor-foundry-market-share