흥미로운 ETF가 있어 소개드립니다.

캐나다에 상장되어있어 일반 개인투자자들은 정보수집이 쉽지 않지만

보기 힘든 운용방법과 성과로 또 다른 포트폴리오를 제공할 것 같습니다.

증시의 계절성에 기초한 유동적인 ETF입니다. 티커는 HAC이며

9월, 10월 등의 좋지 못한 시기에는 주식을 보유하고 있지 않다가 랠리시즌에는 주식비중을

늘리는 형식의 ETF입니다.

본 자료는 한 애널리스트가 작성한 당 ETF에 대한 분석보고서인데 가운데 부분을 보시면

지수대비 변동성과 움직임을 보실 수 있는 차트가 있습니다.

변동성도 덜하면서 정확히 수준을 잘 추종하고 있다고 볼 수 있습니다. 또한

지금 현재의 이 좋지 못한 장에서 좋은 수익률을 보이고 있어 더욱 눈길을 끕니다.

캐나다 달러로 거래를 해야하기 때문에 어려움이 있지만

포트폴리오 분산차원, 또는 규모가 작지 않은 투자에 적합한 상품이라고 생각됩니다.

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Horizons seasonal ETF follows the trends

By Reid Baker  | Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Informative and authoritative articles on the world of investment funds from Fundata’s Investment Analytics and Research team.

  THE ANALYST'S DESK If you’re looking for an alternative investment to diversify your portfolio, then this might be the product for you. Launched in November 2009, the Horizons AlphaPro Seasonal Rotation ETF (TSX: HAC) is one of a kind. This actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) aims to produce superior returns by taking advantage of historical seasonal market trends. For example, research has shown that equity markets have traditionally performed well around the Christmas season and at the beginning of the New Year, as well as the summer months. Historically September and October have been the worst-performing months. These are some of the trends that HAC aims to capitalize on.

Investing based on seasonal trends can be considered different than market timing. Market timing is mostly speculative and based on short-term price movements or technical analysis. Seasonal investing is usually pre-determined by historical trends. See Doug Nelson’s recent articles for more on this strategy.

Horizons AlphaPro describes seasonal investing as “investing with historically demonstrated buy and sell dates during times of the year when markets and sectors have traditionally outperformed because of one or more recurring annual events.”

The unique investment strategy has landed HAC in the Alternative Strategies category. This is a fairly broad category, allowing funds that employ short-selling, leveraging, and speculative strategies. As such, funds in this category usually have mandates that allow greater flexibility for the manager’s strategies and tactics.

HAC has performed relatively well during its two years on the market. As of October 31, the fund’s 1-year return of 13.8% ranks it seventh in the category, while the year-to-date performance is also ranked seventh at 8.8%. This compares favorably to the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which posted returns of -3.3% and -8.9% in 1-year and year-to-date returns respectively. The fund’s management team uses a self-imposed benchmark of 5% annually, meaning they’re looking to produce at least 5% annually regardless of what the market does.

Horizons Investment Management Inc. is listed as the Investment Manager for the fund, while Don Vialoux and Brooke Thackray are the research analysts responsible for developing the investment strategy. The ETF is set up with a core portfolio from which strategic allocations will be made to sectors with “favorable opportunities.” This is accomplished by investing in other sector- or asset-specific ETFs. They readily admit in the prospectus that because “seasonal periods are never the same, the Investment Manager’s technical analysts, Brooke Thackray and Don Vialoux, will provide technical analysis to support the seasonal rotation strategy and identify and capitalize on seasonal patterns.”

At the end of September HAC held 100% cash. By the end of October, management had reduced the cash holdings to just above 50%, with 24% of the portfolio being allocated to equities.

This ETF will add an element of portfolio diversification that cannot be found in any other investment product. The correlation to the S&P/TSX Composite Index is low, at 0.52, and the 1 year beta is 0.23. Beta is best described as the degree to which the price of a fund will respond to price changes in the overall market. Therefore, a beta between 0 and 1 implies the fund is less volatile than the market.

HAC comes with a management fee of 0.75%, and there is a performance fee at 20% over a “high water mark” plus benchmark. For an actively managed product, this is relatively cheap, considering that the transaction fees for taking on this kind of strategy on your own can mount up.

The fund has been in business for only two years, not really enough to make a judgment on consistency of performance through several seasonal trend cycles. Even so, the fund has been able to cushion against some of the recent market volatility over the past two years, so we’ll be watching with interest to see whether it lives up to its promise.

Reid Baker is a Senior Analyst in the Department of Investment Analytics and Research at Fundata Canada Inc., a leading source for investment fund information. He is Chairman of the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee (CIFSC).

Notes and Disclaimers

© 2011 by Fund Library. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part by any means without prior written permission is prohibited.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the simplified prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed and are not covered by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation or by any other government deposit insurer. There can be no assurances that the fund will be able to maintain its net asset value per security at a constant amount or that the full amount of your investment in the fund will be returned to you. Fund values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The foregoing is for general information purposes only and is the opinion of the writer. No guarantee of performance is made or implied. This information is not intended to provide specific personalized advice including, without limitation, investment, financial, legal, accounting or tax advice.