How Cache Built the Modern Exchange Fund with 99% Correlation
If you've worked in big tech, participated in a company's IPO journey, or invested early in a high-growth venture, your portfolio likely has one or two dominant stocks. We've witnessed this firsthand among thousands we've spoken with: a VP with 60% in Microsoft, an early engineer with 80% in Palantir, an executive with 99% in Nvidia. The pattern repeats across the industry.
It’s a familiar dilemma: Sell to diversify, and you trigger a massive tax bill. Hold, and you’re exposed to the volatility and risk from a single stock.
Exchange funds have historically offered a way out to the ultra-wealthy, but the product suffered from structural inefficiencies. Capacity was unpredictable, tracking error was a concern, and access was limited. Despite these drawbacks, demand stayed strong and the fees remained high.
That’s the problem we set out to solve. In just over a year, Cache has broken through those structural barriers, earning the trust of investors and surpassing $625M in assets. This market response speaks volumes.
Reinventing the Exchange Fund, with Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 Benchmarks
A few months ago, we announced our breakthrough Index Sync technology, a mechanism for aligning exchange fund portfolios to benchmarks with greater precision. We implemented it in two of our flagship funds, UNIX (Nasdaq-100) and Bedrock (S&P 500), available to qualified purchasers. And, the early results are now in.
Results that speak for themselves
Our two funds implementing Index Sync now track their benchmarks with remarkable precision.
UNIX, benchmarked to the Nasdaq-100 index, has achieved a 0.99 correlation to the index.
Bedrock, benchmarked to the S&P 500, holds the majority of its portfolio in an ETF (AAUS), which closely models the S&P 500 benchmark.
Remember, exchange funds approximate the benchmark quantitatively by carefully balancing the incoming stocks to create a portfolio similar to an index. Given the logistical feat of assembling the right people with the right stocks, we believe that we have delivered exceptional results against our stated goals.
Below, we share investment performance (net of fees) and two key risk metrics: correlation and beta.
Cache Exchange Fund - UNIX (Nasdaq-100 Aligned)
Launched on August 30th, 2024, UNIX is designed for concentrated stockholders to diversify into a growth-oriented portfolio with a tech sector dominance.
Key results as of July 31st, 2025:
Performance: Since inception, UNIX has returned 29.9% net of fees. During the same period, the Nasdaq-100 returned 19.3%, indicating that our investors achieved meaningful outperformance. As discussed in our 2024 Review, the outperformance was attributable to favorable stock selection.
Given the mandate for UNIX to move in sync with the Nasdaq-100, we implemented Index Sync. Since implementing this feature, we’ve seen rapid progress toward benchmark alignment.
Correlation: As of July 2025, the realized correlation to the Nasdaq-100 has improved to 0.99.
Beta is also tracking in accordance with our objectives. Our current portfolio positioning indicates a forward-looking beta of 1.06 to the Nasdaq-100 Index, suggesting a very tight alignment with this benchmark.
Both correlation and beta are presented gross of fees.
Sector Alignment: Close alignment across key sectors: Information Technology measures at 49.3% vs 53.5% for the benchmark, Communication Services at 17.91% vs 15.03% for the benchmark, and Consumer Discretionary at 9.8% vs 13.2% for the benchmark.
Cache Exchange Fund - Bedrock (S&P 500 Aligned)
Launched on July 16th 2025, Bedrock is designed for investors seeking to diversify their concentrated stock holdings for broad market exposure.
Although Bedrock launched recently, early results have been encouraging. Index Sync helps to provide targeted investment exposure closely aligned with the benchmark, which has been considerably more challenging within traditional exchange funds.
While it is too early to offer performance results, here are a few stats about the portfolio:
Portfolio exposure to over 700 underlying stocks across all sectors.
Close alignment across all 11 GICS sectors in the S&P 500.
How We Engineered Index Precision
Traditional exchange funds aim to replicate broad-market exposure, but demand for tax-efficient diversification varies dramatically from stock to stock. While many stocks have multiplied in value over the last bull run, others have barely moved at all.
To replicate a broad-market index accurately, traditional funds must find appreciated stock in underperforming sectors—an incredibly difficult task. As the supply of these stocks is relatively thin, they’re often forced to turn away the very stocks investors actually want to diversify tax-efficiently.
This traditional approach has resulted in difficult choices between creating somewhat imbalanced sector exposure, which can result in portfolio drift over time, and narrowing eligibility that often excludes the stocks investors hold the most.
Cache rebuilt the exchange fund architecture from the ground up.
At the heart of the new model is Index Sync, our method of dynamically aligning each fund to its benchmark, whether the S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100, using an ETF as an integral part of the portfolio. Because ETFs can track their benchmarks with precision, we are able to fill sector gaps and manage portfolio drift tax-efficiently.
We also rethought what happens at intake. Each contributed stock is assessed on its headline value, but also on how it fits the benchmark: sector alignment, style exposure, and risk contribution. That lets us accept more of the stocks people actually hold, while keeping the portfolio on track.
The result is a structure designed for greater predictability and alignment.
Setting a New Standard
For most of their 70-year history, exchange funds served a narrow set of ultra-high-net-worth investors. Operational opacity was the norm, and upon exit, investors received a varied selection of stocks based on the manager’s discretion.
Cache has now set a new standard.
- Our portfolios are designed to closely track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100.
- After seven years, investors receive a representative basket that contains ETF shares and stocks.
- High-growth names can be contributed without sacrificing index alignment.
- Minimums start at one-tenth of the traditional thresholds.
- Our funds close biweekly.
- All with vastly lower fees.
This is not just a better exchange fund. It’s a new model for how concentrated stockholders can diversify tax-efficiently.
Holding a concentrated stock position, and looking to diversify tax-efficiently?
👉 See if you qualify for the upcoming fund close.
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Cache Exchange Fund I, LLC (incepted March 8, 2024) returned 25.1% (vs. 17.4% for the Nasdaq-100 Index), outperforming by 7.7% returns net of fees since inception.
Cache Exchange Fund - GNU, LLC (incepted June 30, 2024) returned 18.1% (vs. 7.2% for the Nasdaq-100 Index), outperforming by 10.9%. returns net of fees since inception.
Cache Exchange Fund - Unix, LLC (incepted August 30, 2024) returned 16.3% (vs. 7.6% for the Nasdaq-100), outperforming by 8.7%. returns net of fees since inception.
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The Sharpe ratio evaluates risk-adjusted performance by dividing a portfolio's excess returns over the risk-free rate by its volatility. However, its effectiveness is influenced by the selected time period, as different intervals can yield varying volatility estimates, potentially leading to inconsistent assessments of risk-adjusted return
Sharpe ratio was determined by calculating the monthly returns for the exchange funds and for the NASDAQ 100 Index and applying the formula: (annualized monthly returns - risk-free rate) / (monthly volatility annualized). A 3-month U.S. Treasury was used for the risk-free rate.
Cache Exchange Fund I, LLC: 1.44 (vs. 1.03 for the Nasdaq-100 Index)
Cache Exchange Fund - GNU, LLC: 1.44 (vs. 0.54 for the Nasdaq-100 Index)
Cache Exchange Fund - Unix, LLC: 1.40 (vs. 0.65 for the Nasdaq-100 Index)
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Since inception, annualized tracking error is represented against the Nasdaq-100 benchmark. Tracking error has been to the upside, which will help with portfolio management in future years.
Cache Exchange Fund I, LLC: 3.8%
Cache Exchange Fund - GNU, LLC: 3.9%
Cache Exchange Fund - Unix, LLC: 3.8%
Since inception - December 31st, 2024, annualized tracking error Average Realized is represented against the Nasdaq-100 benchmark.