This Week in ETFs: New VictoryShares Income ETF Has a Hedge

The past week saw the debut of 13 new ETFs on U.S. markets as well as a host of material changes to existing funds. Among the firms launching ETFs were Harbor Capital, YieldMax, ALPS, and T. Rowe Price, as well as newcomers Ocean Park and Draco Evolution.

VictoryShares rolled out an actively managed fund that targets U.S. stocks that pay dividends while implementing an index futures strategy. The VictoryShares Hedged Equity Income ETF (HEJD C+) looks to generate income mainly by selecting a portfolio of stocks offering higher dividends than the broad market. It hedges its performance by selling short futures on key benchmark indexes in order to manage the portfolio’s risk.

At launch, the fund held roughly 200 securities with its largest stocks including Kinder Morgan, Philip Morris International and Duke Energy.

HEJD lists on the Nasdaq Stock market with an expense ratio of 0.55%.

T-Rex, a partnership between Tuttle Capital management and REX Shares, unveiled a pair of leveraged/inverse ETFs tied to bitcoin’s performance. The T-Rex 2X Long Bitcoin Daily Target ETF (BTCL A) offers twice the daily performance of bitcoin, while the T-Rex 2X Inverse Bitcoin Daily Target ETF (BTCZ B+) aims to provide the inverse of that.

Both funds list on the Cboe BZX Exchange and have expense ratios of 0.95%.

Cambria debuted another addition to its Shareholder Yield family of ETFs, which includes four other funds. The Cambria Large Cap Shareholder Yield ETF (LYLD B-) is actively managed, relying on a quantitative model that takes into account all of the components of shareholder yield, including cash dividends, net share repurchases,  and net debt reduction. The model also incorporates valuation and momentum metrics, among other criteria, with the portfolio rebalanced on a quarterly basis.

The fund’s top holdings include Toll Brothers, Principal Financial Group, and US Bancorp. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% and lists on the Nasdaq Stock Market. ‘

Ocean Park’s debut this week involved a total of four funds. Two launched on the NYSE and two launched on the Nasdaq Stock Market. All four funds rely on an active trend-following strategy and invest mainly in other ETFs.

The first Nasdaq-listed fund, the Ocean Park International ETF (DUKX C+), looks to deliver total return while protecting against downside performance. It can invest in ETFs covering both emerging and developed markets. DUKX has an expense ratio of 0.99%.

Meanwhile, the second Nasdaq-listed fund, the Ocean Park High Income ETF (DUKH C+), invests primarily in high income ETFs but can shift into long-term Treasury ETFs or cash equivalents as signals indicate. It has an expense ratio of 1.07%.

Closures featured prominently during the week, with announcements from DWS, Janus Henderson, and DriveWealth.

The X-Trackers MSCI All World ex US High Dividend Yield Equity ETF (HDAW B+), which launched in 2015, will cease to trade after the close of trading on July 22. The DriveWealth NYSE 100 Index ETF (CETF C) will also shut down around the same date.

Looking further out, the Janus Henderson International Sustainable Equity ETF (SXUS C+) will no longer trade after the market close on October 10.

Several firms made or announced material changes to existing ETFs during the week.

WisdomTree changed the tickers on three existing ETFs as well as the indexes of two of those funds. They are as follows:

• The WisdomTree U.S. Short-Term Corporate Bond Fund (SFIG C+) changed its ticker to OSIG and its index from the WisdomTree U.S. Short-term Corporate Bond Index to the WisdomTree U.S. Short-term Quality Corporate Bond Index.
• The WisdomTree U.S. Corporate Bond Fund (WFIG C+) changed its ticker to QIG and its index from the WisdomTree U.S. Corporate Bond Index to the WisdomTree U.S. Quality Corporate Bond Index.
• The WisdomTree U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (WFHY B) changed its ticker to QHY.

Looking ahead, on August 12, the Columbia Seligman Semiconductor and Technology ETF (SEMI B) will change its name to the Columbia Semiconductor and Technology ETF, and the Strategy Shares Gold-Hedged Bond ETF (GOLY A-) will drop its index to become actively managed.

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