Saturday, July 16, 2011

Hedge-Fund Strategies for the Masses | ETFs Funds


ETF operators are bringing hedge-fund strategies to the masses with the launch of a dozen alternative-investment exchange-traded funds in recent years. So far, these funds, including WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund (ticker: WDTI), Credit Suisse Merger Arbitrage Liquid Index ETN (CSMA) and Cambria Global Tactical ETF (GTAA), have attracted about $790 million in assets, according to Morningstar. (ETNs, or exchange-traded notes, trade like ETFs.)

That's a drop in the bucket compared with the $2 trillion hedge-fund industry, but if the stock market remains choppy, investors may increasingly look to these low-correlation—and low-fee—instruments to protect and preserve their assets. "When people can go on Morningstar and look up what their fund holds and see how it's performing, they're a lot more willing to try something different," observes Ken Coniglio, senior vice president at CoreStates Capital Advisors, which manages $340 million for wealthy clients and institutions.

Barron's studied the group to find the best-designed, best-constructed portfolios in each segment. Many of these funds, it bears noting, are new and quite small—but their strategies have been well tested.

As of mid-June, the Credit Suisse Long/Short Liquid ETN (CSLS) was about 93% long and 30% short. Its portfolio follows an index of hedge funds following similar strategies. On a monthly basis, it adjusts holdings to create similar return patterns. Read More

0 comments:

Post a Comment