ETF News & Research

Disclaimer  This presentation has been prepared for clients and prospects of Toroso Investments, LLC (“Toroso”).  The presentation contains proprietary information and viewpoints that are of independent, economic value to Toroso. Any modification of this information could cause Toroso competitive harm and/or regulatory  violations. By accepting and viewing this presentation, you agree to not modify any of …

Continue reading “ETF Prism Report: Moving Towards Low Volatility: Which ETFs Make the Cut?”

Discussing a new study by University of South Carolina showing fast casual restaurants may not be the healthier food option that many think, with Will Slabaugh, Stephens restaurant analyst, and Mike Cronan, Bite ETF President.

There is no single recipe to building an ETF portfolio. But understanding how a portfolio is built is key to picking the right one. And choices certainly abound, with hundreds of ETF strategist portfolios commanding nearly $100 billion in combined assets today. For that reason, we are setting out to better understand how ETF strategists …

Continue reading “Portfolio X-Ray: Toroso’s Neutral Allocation Strategy”

So Brexit happened, or is happening, or will happen effectively very soon. This is what the US equity markets are waking up to, and despite the massive flow of information, no one really knows what the effects will be of what is happening. Markets respond negatively to surprises and lack of clarity with huge spikes …

Continue reading “Are You Ready for This “BR-OLATILITY”?”

Now and Then… With over one third of 2016 behind us, the markets have offered little to be excited about in terms of returns. We have seen some massive drawdowns in the US and Developed markets and some equally strong recoveries. In previous commentaries, we have proposed that the US equity market is fundamentally overvalued …

Continue reading “The Antidote for Volatile Times: Disciplined & Rigorous Security Selection”

When advisors want to reduce clients’ portfolio risk, selling short involves setting up a margin account. “Traditional leverage can be very expensive,” said Michael Venuto, co-founder and chief investment officer at Toroso Investments in New York. “Inverse ETFs democratize some hedging strategies, so they’re not only for the ‘big boys.’” An inverse ETF moves in …

Continue reading “Mike Venuto describes how ETFs democratize leverage”

Despite the fact that the S&P 500 ended slightly positive for the first quarter, the experience for investors concentrated in US equities, so far this year has been quite tumultuous. As of January 20th the S&P 500 was down 9% and then recovered. By February 11th the S&P 500 had again declined by more than …

Continue reading “First Quarter 2016 – Lots of Pain, Little Gain”

  The Rex Shares gold-hedged ETFs—new to market this month—attempt to solve a common asset allocation problem many advisors face: What to do about gold? Most advisors today feel like they must own gold. Most do so because gold offers diversification and portfolio hedging benefits. It can even prove useful for short-term tactical purposes, such …

Continue reading “Mike Venuto comments on new Gold Hedged ETFs”

Research compiled by Michael Venuto, CIO For the past three years, large capitalization US equities have been consistently one of the best performing asset classes.  They have outpaced small caps, international equities, bonds and especially commodities. The consistent outperformance of US large cap stocks is somewhat unprecedented (see chart below). In addition, these stellar returns were …

Continue reading “Diversification in Context: Time to be Rational Again!!”

Investors can use leveraged and inverse exchange traded funds to hedge a long position against sudden turns or capture short-term trends in more volatile market conditions. On the recent webcast, Tactical Strategies to Combat Market Volatility, Sylvia Jablonski, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Capital Markets & Institutional Strategy Team at Direxion, points out that …

Continue reading “Mike Venuto on the use of Inverse ETFs for precise sector exposure”

As investors gear up for a volatile market in the year ahead, more aggressive exchange traded fund investors have utilized leveraged and inverse products to quickly adapt and capitalize on shifting market conditions. On the upcoming webcast, Tactical Strategies to Combat Market Volatility, Sylvia Jablonski, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Capital Markets & Institutional Strategy …

Continue reading “Tactical Strategies using Leverage ETFs described by Mike Venuto”

Markets Are Scaring Themselves “You have probably noticed that U.S. stock prices have fared poorly of late—and the S&P 500 closed on Wednesday at 1859, down almost 13% from its July 2015 high. You have probably also noticed that the biggest daily drops seem to occur either on bad news from China or when oil …

Continue reading “Volatility in Context: Let’s Have a Conversation”

The journey from developing a compelling investment thesis to launching an ETF can be an arduous one indeed. While the rewards for a truly unique ETF can be substantial, the upfront work and attention to detail that are required to make an ETF concept a reality often appear daunting to new issuers that are just …

Continue reading “Guillermo Trias describes the ETF sales and marketing ladder”

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have burst on to the scene in the late 2000s and early 2010s, raking in hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and prompting a major shift towards indexing strategies in the process. ETFs have empowered financial advisors (FAs), registered investment advisors (RIAs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), money managers, and retail investors …

Continue reading “101 ETF Lessons Every Financial Advisor Should Learn”

It’s been a wild ride so far this year for U.S. stocks. Since the beginning of 2016, the S&P 500 has already declined some 10% in a loss that has been anything but smooth or linear. The uptick in volatility and the poor stock market performance have many investors now more concerned with downside protection …

Continue reading “Mike Venuto discusses ETFs for downside protection”