ETF Odds & Ends: Muted Activity

The past week has been rather uneventful in the ETF space, although questions around the SEC’s possible approval of a bitcoin futures ETF next Monday are keeping Friday interesting. There were a handful of launches and a name change, plus several ETFs completed closures, bringing the number for the year to nearly 50 versus more than 200 by this time last year.

New First Trust ETF

The First Trust Multi-Manager Small Cap Opportunities ETF (MMSC) was one of just two ETFs to launch during the week. The fund is actively managed and has two subadvisors, Driehaus Capital Management and Stephens Investment Management Group, that will offer their recommendations on selecting securities for the portfolio from the Russell 200 Growth Index. While Driehaus’ approach considers fundamentals and ESG criteria, Stephens will look at aspects like earnings growth and investor biases identified through behavioral finance.

MMSC comes with an expense ratio of 0.95% and lists on the NYSE Arca.

5 Closures

There were also several closures that completed during the week. On Monday, the Long-Term Care ETF (OLD) saw its last day of trading. Similarly, today is the last day of trading for four funds:

• Global X MSCI China Large-Cap 50 ETF (CHIL)
• Global X TargetIncome 5 ETF (TFIV)
• VanEck Vectors Emerging Markets Aggregate Bond ETF (EMAG)
• VanEck Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (FRAK)

ASYMshares Name Change        

On Oct. 12, the ASYMshares ASYMmetric 500 ETF (ASPY) added “S&P” to its name so is now the ASYMshares ASYMmetric S&P 500 ETF. The fund tracks a long/short index derived from the S&P 500 Index.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]