This ETF is part of a suite of “market neutral” products offered by QuantShares, a unique lineup of funds that has the potential to appreciate (or lose value) in any type of market. Because BTAL maintains equal long and short dollar positions, its performance is independent of the overall market; rather, it depends on how certain sub-sets (or factors) of the U.S. equity market perform relative to one another. As such, these securities can be used in a number of different ways. Since they should exhibit very low correlations to both stock and bond markets, some may see BTAL as a tool for smoothing out portfolio volatility—essentially a diversifying agent within traditional stock-and-bond portfolios. Others who believe the methodology has the potential to exploit market inefficiencies may see it as a means of generating alpha over both long and short time periods.
Specifically, BTAL is designed to capture the spread return between high beta and low beta stocks; the portfolio maintains long positions in low beta stocks and short positions in high beta stocks. As such, BTAL can be generally expected to perform well when the market declines and to struggle when markets are climbing. This strategy is certainly nothing new; investors have been implementing strategies designed to capture the spreads between asset classes or sub-classes for decades. But the availability of this strategy within the ETF wrapper is a new innovation; it gives investors an opportunity to access a technique that may be time consuming and quite expensive if implemented individually through a single ticker symbol that brings all the efficiencies of ETFs.
There are a couple interesting aspects of BTAL (and all QuantShares ETFs for that matter). The underlying portfolios are sector neutral, which ensures that the fund isn’t simply long in sectors that traditionally exhibit low betas (such as utilities) and short sectors that have high betas (such as technology); rather, BTAL consists of both long and short positions in each sector of the market. Moreover, individual positions are equal weighted, which ensures that no one stock will dominate either the long or short positions in the portfolio.
For investors who are seeking a low maintenance way to access this long/short strategy, BTAL could be an attractive option. This ETF could also be a useful tool for investors looking to bet on a market decline but unwilling to take on the significant risk that comes with a short-only strategy. BTAL should function as a tool to perform well in down markets, but with limited downside if stocks actually climb. The most significant drawback we see is the relatively high expense ratio. Because the underlying portfolio is market neutral, it would be reasonable to expect that long-term performance, before fees, should be close to zero. After taking out 80 basis points or so in expenses, that makes it likely that BTAL will lose money over the long haul, especially if markets trend upwards over the long run.
Segment | Alternatives: Hedge Fund Strategies |
Category | Hedge Fund Strategies |
Focus | Long/Short |
Niche | Market Neutral |
Strategy | Active |
Weighting Scheme | Proprietary |
This section compares how balanced and deep this ETF is relative to its peers.
BTAL | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
---|---|---|---|
Number of Holdings | 203 | 187 | 116 |
% of Assets in Top 10 | 107.46% | 70.92% | 79.72% |
% of Assets in Top 15 | 109.69% | 77.30% | 86.12% |
% of Assets in Top 50 | 124.87% | 94.26% | 96.40% |
BTAL | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
---|---|---|---|
Large (>12.9B) | N/A | 18.98% | 3.42% |
Mid (>2.7B) | N/A | 2.56% | 0.70% |
Small (>600M) | N/A | 1.16% | 0.28% |
Micro (<600M) | N/A | 0.32% | 0.04% |
This section compares the P/E ratio of this ETF to its peers.
This section compares the dividend yield of this ETF to its peers.
BTAL | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
---|---|---|---|
Dividend | $ 0.21 | $ 0.52 | $ 0.36 |
Dividend Date | 2022-12-28 | N/A | N/A |
Annual Dividend Rate | $ 0.21 | $ 0.93 | $ 0.62 |
Annual Dividend Yield | 1.09% | 2.91% | 2.43% |
View charts featuring BTAL price and volume data.
View charts featuring ETF fund flow data.
5 Day Net Flows: -14.79 M 1 Month Net Flows: 816.38 K 3 Month Net Flows: -24.52 M 6 Month Net Flows: 18.32 M 1 Year Net Flows: 232.36 M 3 Year Net Flows: 271.27 M 5 Year Net Flows: 412.31 M 10 Year Net Flows: 411.01 MView charts that break down the influence that fund flows and price had on overall assets.
5 Day Net AUM Change: -25.71 MThe adjacent table gives investors an individual Realtime Rating for BTAL on several different metrics, including liquidity, expenses, performance, volatility, dividend, concentration of holdings in addition to an overall rating. The "A+ Metric Rated ETF" field, available to ETF Database Pro members, shows the ETF in the Long-Short with the highest Metric Realtime Rating for each individual field. To view all of this data, sign up for a free 14-day trial for ETF Database Pro. To view information on how the ETF Database Realtime Ratings work, click here.
This section compares the cost efficiency of this ETF to its peers.
Max ST Capital Gains Rate | 39.60% |
Max LT Capital Gains Rate | 20.00% |
Tax On Distributions | Ordinary income |
Distributes K1 | No |
BTAL does not have an ESG score. There are no ESG themes that map to this ETF.
This section shows how this ETF has performed relative to its peers. Returns over 1 year are annualized.
BTAL |
ETF Database
Category Average |
Factset Segment
Average |
|
---|---|---|---|
1 Month Return | -7.62% | 1.49% | -0.33% |
3 Month Return | 1.04% | 0.66% | -0.76% |
YTD Return | -8.02% | 2.45% | -1.90% |
1 Year Return | -2.75% | -1.05% | -3.00% |
3 Year Return | -4.27% | 1.39% | 1.86% |
5 Year Return | 0.75% | 1.25% | 0.63% |
The following charts reflect the geographic spread of BTAL's underlying holdings.
The following charts reflect the allocation of BTAL's underlying holdings.
This section shows how the volatility of this ETF compares to the peer group ETF Database Category.
5 Day Volatility | 47.68% |
20 Day Volatility | 9.93% |
50 Day Volatility | 10.48% |
200 Day Volatility | 15.36% |
Beta | -0.51 |
Standard Deviation | 0.70% |
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