Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve its investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the Index and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
The Fund uses a replication strategy. A replication strategy is an indexing strategy that involves investing in the securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, the Fund may utilize a representative sampling strategy with respect to the Index when a replication strategy might be detrimental to shareholders, such as when there are practical difficulties or substantial costs involved in compiling a portfolio of equity securities to follow the Index, in instances in which a security in the Index becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable or less liquid, or as a result of legal restrictions or limitations (such as tax diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not the Index.
The Index tracks the performance of the equity securities (or corresponding American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) or Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”) of companies across the globe (including in emerging markets) and across a wide variety of industries that are actively involved in the development, research, or utilization of drones (the “Drone Economy” and such companies, “Drone Economy Companies”). The Drone Economy requires a variety of specialized skills, technologies, and resources, and consequently, Drone Economy Companies may include companies from industry groups as diverse as aerospace/defense, auto parts and equipment, commercial services, computers, electronics, machinery, manufacturing, semiconductors, and telecommunications.
The initial universe of Drone Economy Companies is determined based on proprietary research and analysis conducted by the Research and Advisory Committee of Reality Shares, Inc., the Fund’s Index Provider (the “Drone Index Provider”). The Drone Index Provider uses a variety of independent, third-party resources for such analysis, including industry databases, regulatory agency public records, academic institution reports, and financial services applications and data sets to determine whether a company is actively involved in the Drone Economy (“Drone Economy Drivers”) and to acquire the information used to weight the Index constituents.
The Drone Index Provider then uses an independent, third-party database to identify companies in the Drone Economy Drivers’ supply chains that derive more than 10% of their revenue from providing support services and supplies to Drone Economy Drivers (“Drone Economy Suppliers”).
The Index is comprised of both Drone Economy Drivers and Drone Economy Suppliers, each of which must have its equity securities listed on a securities exchange and have a minimum market capitalization of $100 million.
As of each rebalance date, the Index constituents are weighted based on a multi-factor composite “Drone Score” compiled and computed by the Drone Index Provider. The Drone Score is calculated based on (i) the estimated dollar amount of a company’s revenue from the Drone Economy, (ii) the estimated percentage of a company’s revenue derived from the Drone Economy, (iii) whether a company is a Drone Economy Driver or Drone Economy Supplier, and (iv) the expected growth of a company’s contributions to the overall revenue, research and development, and supplies/services of the Drone Economy. The greater the company’s revenue from the Drone Economy (in dollars or as a percentage of total revenue) and the higher the expected growth rate of the company’s contribution to the Drone Economy, the greater the company’s weighting in the Index. Drone Economy Drivers will compose between 50% and 95% of the Index weight and Drone Economy Suppliers will compose between 5% and 50% of the Index weight as of each rebalance date.
The Index weightings are modified such that each constituent weighting is capped at 25% of the Index and the cumulative weight of the five most heavily-weighted constituents may not in the aggregate account for more than 60% of the weight of the Index. In addition, the weight of any individual company in the Index is limited such that the market value of the company’s equity securities in the Index (assuming the Index’s overall value is $1 billion) does not exceed 5% of the value of the company’s outstanding equity securities.
At the time of each rebalance, the Index will consist of a minimum of 20 component stocks. There is no maximum number of component stocks that may be included in the Index.
The Index has a quarterly review in March, June, September, and December of each year at which times the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced. Component changes are made after the market close on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December and become effective at the market opening on the next trading day.
The Index is developed and owned by the Drone Index Provider, and the Index is calculated and maintained by an independent third-party calculation agent. The Drone Index Provider is independent of the Index’s calculation agent, the Fund, and the Fund’s investment adviser.
As of January 14, 2020, the Index had 62 constituents, 28 of which were foreign companies, and the three largest stocks and their weightings in the Index were Aeroenvironment Inc 4.74%, Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory Ltd. 3.00%, and Boeing Co 2.81%.
The Fund invests at least 80% of its total assets, exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in securities, ADRs, or GDRs of Drone Economy Companies. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in securities that are not in the Fund’s Index to the extent that the Fund’s adviser believes such investments should help the Fund’s overall portfolio track the Index.
The Fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers, and other financial organizations. These loans, if and when made, may not exceed 33 1/3% of the total asset value of the Fund (including the loan collateral). By lending its securities, the Fund may increase its income by receiving payments from the borrower.
Correlation: Correlation is the extent to which the values of different types of investments move in tandem with one another in response to changing economic and market conditions. An index is a theoretical financial calculation, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Index may vary somewhat due to transaction costs, asset valuations, foreign currency valuations, market impact, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), legal restrictions or limitations, illiquid or unavailable securities, and timing variances.
The Fund’s investment adviser expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will exceed 95%. A correlation percentage of 100% would indicate perfect correlation. If the Fund uses a replication strategy, it can be expected to have greater correlation to the Index than if it uses a representative sampling strategy.
Industry Concentration Policy: The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of related industries to approximately the same extent that the Index is concentrated. As of January 14, 2020, the Index was concentrated in companies in the aerospace and defense industry group.
Principal Risks
As with all funds, a shareholder is subject to the risk that his or her investment could lose money. The principal risks affecting shareholders’ investments in the Fund are set forth below. An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any government agency.
Non-Diversification Risk: Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a small number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund. As a result, a decline in the value of an investment in a single issuer or a small number of issuers could cause the Fund’s overall value to decline to a greater degree than if the Fund held a more diversified portfolio. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Non-Drone Economy Business Risk: Some of the companies in the Index are engaged in other lines of business unrelated to Drone Economy, and these lines of business could adversely affect their operating results. The operating results of these companies may fluctuate as a result of these additional risks and events in the other lines of business. In addition, a company’s ability to engage in new activities may expose it to business risks with which it has less experience than it has with the business risks associated with its traditional businesses. Despite a company’s possible success in Drone Economy activities, there can be no assurance that the other lines of business in which these companies are engaged will not have an adverse effect on a company’s business or financial condition.
European Investment Risk: To the extent the Fund invests in European securities, it will be subject to risks related to investing in Europe. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one country in Europe can have an adverse impact on other European countries. The Fund makes investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, or have significant operations in, member countries of the European Union (the “EU”) that are subject to economic and monetary controls that can adversely affect the Fund’s investments. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends in recent years and these events have adversely affected the exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect other European countries. Decreasing imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro, the default or threat of default by an EU member country on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member country may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of EU member countries and their trading partners, including some or all of the European countries in which the Fund invests.
In a referendum held in June 2016 (known as “Brexit”), the United Kingdom (“UK”) voted to leave the EU. As a result of the political divisions within the UK and between the UK and the EU that the referendum vote has highlighted and the uncertain consequences of a Brexit, the UK and European economies and the broader global economy could be significantly impacted, which may result in increased volatility and illiquidity, and potentially lower economic growth on markets in the UK, Europe and globally that could potentially have an adverse effect on the value of the Fund’s investments.
Japan Investment Risk: To the extent the Fund invests in Japanese securities, it will be subject to risks related to investing in Japan. The Japanese economy may be subject to considerable degrees of economic, political, and social instability, which could have a negative impact on Japanese securities. Since the year 2000, Japan’s economic growth rate has remained relatively low, and it may remain low in the future. In addition, Japan is subject to the risk of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons and tsunamis. Additionally, decreasing U.S. imports, new trade regulations, changes in the U.S. dollar exchange rates, a recession in the United States or continued increases in foreclosure rates may have an adverse impact on the economy of Japan. Japan also has few natural resources, and any fluctuation or shortage in the commodity markets could have a negative impact on Japanese securities.
Geographic Concentration Risk: Funds that are less diversified across countries or geographic regions are generally riskier than more geographically diversified funds, and risks associated with such countries or geographic regions may negatively affect the Fund.
Foreign Investments Risk: Returns on investments in foreign companies could be more volatile than, or trail the returns on, investments in U.S. companies.
Currency Risk: Indirect and direct exposure to foreign currencies subjects the Fund to the risk that currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates and the imposition of currency controls or other political developments in the U.S. or abroad.
Depositary Receipts Risk. The Fund may invest in depositary receipts. Investment in ADRs and GDRs may be more or less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market, and GDRs, many of which are issued by companies in emerging markets, may be more volatile and less liquid than depositary receipts issued by companies in more developed markets.
Emerging Markets Securities Risk: The Fund may invest in companies organized in emerging market nations. Investments in securities and instruments traded in developing or emerging markets, or that provide exposure to such securities or markets, can involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions not associated with investments in U.S. securities and instruments or investments in more developed international markets. Such conditions may impact the ability of the Fund to buy, sell or otherwise transfer securities, adversely affect the trading market and price for Fund shares and cause the Fund to decline in value.
Foreign Market and Trading Risk. The trading markets for many foreign securities are not as active as U.S. markets and may have less governmental regulation and oversight. Foreign markets also may have clearance and settlement procedures that make it difficult for the Fund to buy and sell securities. These factors could result in a loss to the Fund by causing the Fund to be unable to dispose of an investment or to miss an attractive investment opportunity, or by causing Fund assets to be uninvested for some period of time.
Foreign Securities Risk: The Fund invests a significant portion of its assets directly in securities of issuers based outside of the U.S., or in depositary receipts that represent such securities. Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in securities of U.S. issuers, such as risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations or to political or economic instability, as well as varying regulatory requirements applicable to investments in non-U.S. issuers. There may be less information publicly available about a non-U.S. issuer than a U.S. issuer. Non-U.S. issuers may also be subject to different regulatory, accounting, auditing, financial reporting and investor protection standards than U.S. issuers.
Political and Economic Risk. The Fund is subject to foreign political and economic risk not associated with U.S. investments, meaning that political events, social and economic events and natural disasters occurring in a country where the Fund invests could cause the Fund’s investments in that country to experience gains or losses. The Fund also could be unable to enforce its ownership rights or pursue legal remedies in countries where it invests.
Smaller Companies Risk: The Fund’s Index may be composed primarily of, or have significant exposure to, securities of smaller companies. Smaller companies may be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic events than larger, more established companies, and may underperform other segments of the market or the equity market as a whole. The securities of smaller companies also tend to be bought and sold less frequently and at significantly lower trading volumes than the securities of larger companies. As a result, it may be more difficult for the Fund to buy or sell a significant amount of the securities of a smaller company without an adverse impact on the price of the company’s securities, or the Fund may have to sell such securities in smaller quantities over a longer period of time, which may increase the Fund’s tracking error.
The remaining principal risks are presented in alphabetical order. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Drone Economy Companies Risk: Drone Economy Companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources, customers, or personnel, may have products that face rapid obsolescence, and are heavily dependent on the protection of patent and intellectual property rights. Drone Economy Companies may be dependent on the U.S. government and its agencies for a significant portion of their sales, and their success and growth may be dependent on their ability to win future government contracts. Consequently, such companies may be negatively affected by budgetary constraints, spending reductions, congressional appropriations, and administrative allocations of funds that affect the U.S. government and its agencies. Drone Economy Companies are also subject to increasing regulatory constraints that may limit the sale or use of a company’s products, including the need to obtain regulatory approvals from government agencies (e.g., Federal Aviation Administration). Drone Economy products are likely to be extremely complex, which could increase the likelihood of unknown defects or errors. Such factors may adversely affect the profitability and value of Drone Economy companies.
Equity Market Risk: The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Fund invests such as political, market and economic developments, as well as events that impact specific issuers.
ETF Risks:
Absence of an Active Market Risk: Although the Fund's shares are approved for listing on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market will develop and be maintained for Fund shares. There can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case the Fund may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels or the Fund may ultimately liquidate.
Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk: The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as Authorized Participants (“APs”), none of which are obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, there may be a significantly diminished trading market for Fund shares and shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. The risks associated with limited APs may be heightened in scenarios where APs have limited or diminished access to the capital required to post collateral.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares Risk. Investors buying or selling Fund shares in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by the applicable broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.
Fluctuation of NAV Risk. The NAV of Fund shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s securities holdings. The market prices of shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s NAV and supply and demand of shares on the Exchange. It cannot be predicted whether Fund shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. During periods of unusual volatility or market disruptions, market prices of Fund shares may deviate significantly from the market value of the Fund’s securities holdings or the NAV of Fund shares. As a result, investors in the Fund may pay significantly more or receive significantly less for Fund shares than the value of the Fund’s underlying securities or the NAV of Fund shares.
Limitations of Indicative Optimized Portfolio Value (“IOPV”) Risk: The Exchange (or market data vendors or other information providers) will disseminate, every fifteen seconds during the regular trading day, an intraday value of each Fund’s shares, also known as the IOPV. The IOPV calculations are estimates of the value of the Fund’s NAV per share and are based on the Fund’s portfolio holdings and cash, less accrued expenses, divided by the number of shares of the Fund outstanding as of the time of the prior day’s NAV calculation. Premiums and discounts between the IOPV and the market price of the Fund’s shares may occur. The IOPV does not necessarily reflect the precise composition of the current portfolio of securities held by the Fund at a particular point in time or the best possible valuation of the current portfolio. Therefore, it should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV per share of the Fund, which is calculated only once a day. The quotations of certain Fund holdings may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the United States. Additionally, the calculation of the NAV may reflect the fair values of certain Fund holdings, which may result in different prices than those used in the calculations of the IOPV. This may result in market prices for Fund shares deviating from the value of the Fund’s underlying securities.
Neither the Fund nor the Adviser, nor any of their affiliates are involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of the IOPV and make no warranty as to its accuracy.
Market Trading Risk: An investment in the Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.
Trading Issues Risk. Although Fund shares are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will be maintained. Trading in Fund shares may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of any Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged or that the shares will trade with any volume, or at all. Further, secondary markets may be subject to erratic trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods in times of market stress because market makers and Authorized Participants may step away from making a market in Fund shares and in executing creation and redemption orders, which could cause a material deviation in the Fund’s market price from its NAV.
Passive Investment Risk: The Fund is not actively managed and therefore would not sell an equity security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk: The Fund invests in some economies that are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may cause an adverse impact on the economy in which the Fund invests.
Securities Lending Risk: The Fund may engage in securities lending. The Fund may lose money if the borrower of the loaned securities delays returning in a timely manner or fails to return the loaned securities. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund could lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities. In addition, the Fund bears the risk of loss in connection with its investment of the cash collateral it receives from a borrower. To the extent that the value or return of the Fund’s investment of the cash collateral declines below the amount owed to the borrower, the Fund may incur losses that exceed the amount it earned on lending the security.
Tax Risk: To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets and (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. When the Index is concentrated in a relatively small number of securities, it may not be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Error Risk: The Fund’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the Index. To the extent the Fund utilizes a sampling approach, it may experience tracking error to a greater extent than if the Fund sought to replicate the Index. In addition, in order to minimize the market impact of an Index rebalance, the Fund may begin trading to effect the rebalance in advance of the effective date of the rebalance and continue trading after the effective date of the rebalance, which may contribute to tracking error.
Valuation Risk: The sales price that the Fund could receive for a security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security and may differ from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. In addition, the value of the securities in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares.
Performance Information
The following information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the annual return for the Fund. The table shows how the Fund’s average annual returns for one year and since inception compare with those of the Index and a broad measure of market performance. The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on the Fund’s website at www.etfmg.com or by calling 1‑844‑383‑6477.
Calendar Year Total Return as of December 31,
During the period of time shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s highest return for a calendar quarter was 15.95% (quarter ended September 30, 2017) and the Fund’s lowest return for a calendar quarter was -24.30% (quarter ended December 31, 2018).
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Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2019)
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1 Year
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Since Inception
3/8/2016
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ETFMG Drone Economy Strategy ETF
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Return Before Taxes
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27.15%
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11.85%
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Return After Taxes on Distributions
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26.77%
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11.60%
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Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
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16.30%
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9.29%
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Reality Shares Drone™ Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
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26.07%
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11.29%
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S&P 500 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
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31.49%
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16.02%
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After-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown and are not relevant if you hold your shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. In some cases, the return after taxes may exceed the return before taxes due to an assumed tax benefit from any losses on a sale of Fund shares at the end of the measurement period.
Investment Adviser
ETF Managers Group LLC (the “Adviser”) serves as the investment adviser to the Fund.
Portfolio Managers
Samuel R. Masucci, III, Chief Executive Officer of the Adviser, has been the Fund’s portfolio manager since January 2018. Frank Vallario, Chief Investment Officer of the Adviser, and Donal Bishnoi, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, have been the Fund's portfolio manager since September 2019. Devin Ryder, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, has been the Fund’s portfolio manager since May 2018.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
Individual shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. You can purchase and sell individual shares of the Fund throughout the trading day like any publicly traded security. Shares of each Fund are listed on the Exchange. The price of the Fund’s shares is based on market price, and because exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) shares trade at market prices rather than net asset value (“NAV”), shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at NAV, only in blocks of 50,000 shares (“Creation Units”), principally in-kind for securities included in their respective Indexes, and only Authorized Participants (as defined in the SAI) (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem Creation Units. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund's shares are not redeemable securities.
Tax Information
The distributions made by the Fund are taxable, and will be taxed as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is in an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. However, subsequent withdrawals from such a tax-advantaged account may be subject to federal income tax. You should consult your tax advisor about your specific tax situation.
Financial Intermediary Compensation
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Adviser or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of the Fund’s shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.