Tag Archives: $HEDJ

Its All Greek..A RareView View…

As the events in Greece escalate to a frenzy, global macro strategists are lining up to opine on what might happen as the EU and the world calculate the impact of a Grexit. MarketsMuse tapped into one of the industry’s most thoughtful strategists and one who is notorious for having both ‘sight beyond sight’ and inevitably, a view that is rare when compared to those who position themselves as “opinionators.”  Without further ado, below is the extracted version of the 29 June edition of “Sight Beyond Sight

Neil Azous, Rareview Macro
Neil Azous, Rareview Macro
  • Key Talking Points…What People Are Watching…Major Asset Prices
  • US Fixed Income – Choke Yourself If  You Believe in 2 Rate Hikes in 2015
  • China – Correction Accelerates Government Learning Curve & Possibly IPO Reform

 

We started working early yesterday morning, spending time on the phone with as many risk takers as possible around the world and listening in on numerous bank conference calls on the unfolding events. Additionally, we felt compelled to watch our screens all night. At the time of writing, we have not actioned one item in our model portfolio and are nowhere near able to aggregate the thoughts of the risk takers we respect or the market commentary we received from anyone who writes research for a living. The fact is there is no coherent sentence to write. The dust has yet to settle, and until it does, no one can claim to know what will happen.

Despite all of this market plumbing being very visible, and even after the Greece referendum news on Friday, the probability of a disorderly financial reaction due to its consequences has only risen to ~40% from 20% or less based on what we can gather. Leaving last week many held the view there was a 50-50 probability for a resolution with a bias for a positive outcome.

Now let’s go through the asset classes and products, and ask how they will perform. For ETF players, our lens is on GREK, FXI, HEDJ and necessarily, SPY. For those looking for an immediate take-away trade with regard to the overwhelming Greek-infused chitter chatter and jibber jabber, think $GLD. In this case, our view, which we have espoused for more than 15 minutes, might or might not be  ‘rare’, but its one we can hang our hat on…

Prudent risk management says that the overriding exercise now is to take risk down regardless of your bias on the outcome. Resolution strategies are a distant second place and with US employment Thursday followed by a three day weekend that includes this Greek referendum, that makes this scenario that much more likely.

In terms of Greece, many are watching/waiting for the ECB reaction function to the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), which is scheduled to be revisited on Wednesday. As a reminder, the events in 2012, in which there was a large spike in the ELA program assistance as a result of Greece, was the catalyst for the now famous “do whatever it takes” speech by ECB President Mario Draghi. Ironically, the three-year anniversary of that speech is coming up shortly and there is no question professionals want to see Draghi re-ignite the European recovery trade. Our point is that faith in him being a steward of the market remains unwavering and he is still the only person perceived as the class act in this goat rodeo.

If we had to pick one asset that we all were led to believe mattered in the context of a “Grexit” over the last five years, and that was supposed to react to that event, it would be Gold. It should be up $50 at a minimum and yet it can barely hold a bid. If you feel bad for the citizens of Greece, then please save a little sympathy for the Gold terrorists at the failure of the yellow metal to respond today. Next week, if things get worse, and gold still fails to respond, that could be the final nail in their coffin. At least there will be one good outcome to the whole sorry saga. Continue reading

And, The Winner Is…According to ETF.com…

MarketsMuse.com ETF coverage profiles ETF.com Awards Ceremony courtesy of opening extract from ETF.com news release. Category winners for “best” and respective ‘runners up’ extend across best issuers, best strategists, best capital markets desk, and best products across equity, fixed income, and currency and include the following products: HEDJ, DXJ, CHNB, ZROZ, BNDX, VTI, EMQQ, FV, IUSB, PDBC, TYTE, WYDE, BCHP, COMT, DIVY, SXOE, DGRO, DVP, FMLP, AIRR, QVAL, ASHS.

The WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ) was named the ETF of the Year at the second annual ETF.com Awards held tonight in New York—in no small part because it has been more popular than competing equity strategies designed to protect U.S. investors from the strength of the dollar.

ETF.com, the 15-year-old news, views and financial data company focused exclusively on exchange-traded funds, also honored important individuals like Lee Kranefuss, who built iShares, the world’s largest ETF company; and the fund sponsor First Trust.

The annual awards ceremony, which took place at Chelsea Piers, recognizes the people, products and companies that have been instrumental in moving the 22-year-old ETF industry forward and that have helped create better options and outcomes for investors.

Continue reading

Investors Reach For Euro ETFs as the US Dollar Recovers

MarketMuse update courtesy of MarketWatch’s 12 March article, “Dollar surge has investors scrambling for a piece of this European ETF”. From the National Swiss Bank’s huge announcement in January to Greece’s continued demise, the European market has seen better days. While the US market continues to recover, the US dollar has almost completely recovered to the being equivalent with the Euro which is making investor grab at Euro ETFs. 

Back in 2008, $1.60 bought one euro EURUSD, -1.10% Fast forward to today, and the U.S. dollar is surging toward parity with the hobbled currency. Just a few more ticks to go.

Of course, the huge currency shake-up is bad news for U.S. exporters but it’s great for investors in the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity fund HEDJ, +0.19% And they are throwing gobs of money at it. Read: 4 stock plays that are attracting investor dollars this year.

In the past year alone, $12 billion has flowed into the fund, a more than tenfold increase. The ETF is now the biggest covering Europe with almost $14 billion in assets, according to ETF Database. That’s enough to displace the Vanguard FTSE Europe giant VGK, -0.85% as the region’s top dog.

Olly Ludwig, managing editor for ETF.com, points out that the dollar’s rise has turned a neutral investment into a world beater.

“There’s an elegant mirror-like quality to the chart that isolates the currency factor rather cleanly,” Ludwig said. “Were it not for the currency hedge, HEDJ would be about flat.”

Investors have obviously been taking notice, and currency-hedged ETFs, in general, have seen spikes in asset growth. Ludwig pointed out that, on Monday alone, HEDJ and the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity fund DXJ, -0.39% combined to attract $1 billion. In a single day.

For the entire article from MarketWatch, click here.

German ETFs Offer Good Opportunities in Rebounding European Market

MarketMuse update is courtesy of ETF Trends’ Todd Shriber.

Earlier this week and over the past few months, MarketMuse has been covering the rocky European market, thanks to Greece, and its recent rebound, with ETF $GVAL. Now investors have even more to be excited about with the recent success of German ETFs. 

The U.S. is not the only developed market where stocks are eying record highs. Germany’s benchmark DAX accomplished that feat Friday, climbing above 11,000 for the first time.

Exchange traded fund investors are responding, pumping massive of amounts of capital into Germany ETFs. The Recon Capital DAX Germany ETF (NasdaqGM:DAX), the only U.S.-listed DAX-tracking ETF, is up nearly 8% in the past month.

With its heavy tilt toward large, multi-national companies, the DAX index is benefiting from a depreciating euro currency. A weaker euro would help support export growth and potentially generate greater revenue from overseas operations for the multi-nationals.

A weak euro and sturdy data out of the Eurozone’s largest economy is prompting investors to put new capital to work with Germany ETFs. Through Thursday, only three ETFs have seen greater inflows than the $494.1 million added to the iShares MSCI Germany ETF (NYSEArca: EWG), the largest Germany ETF.

One of those three is the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca:HEDJ), which allocates 26% of its weight to German stocks. No ETF has seen larger 2015 inflows than HEDJ’s $4.1 billion in new assets and the gap between HEDJ and the second-place inflows ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD), is sizable at over $1.6 billion.

Thanks to the faltering euro, investors are also flocking to currency hedged Germany ETFs. After taking in $450 million on Thursday, the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF (NYSEArca: HEWG) has added over $491 million this week. The ETF, which uses EWG with a EUR/USD hedge, had $287.4 million in assets heading into Thursday.

On a percentage basis, the Deutsche X-trackers MSCI Germany Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca: DBGR) and the WisdomTree Germany Hedged Equity Fund (NasdaqGM: DXGE) have also seen significant asset growth. DXGE has more than doubled in size this year while DBGR has tripled in size since the start of 2014.

Underscoring the advantage of the euro hedge with German equities, DBGR and DXGE have both produced double-digit returns over the past month while EWG is up “just” 7.5%. Importantly, economic data supports the case for more upside for Germany ETFs,

“German gross domestic product expanded 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, soaring past an estimate for 0.3 percent. Private consumption rose markedly in the fourth quarter, and investment developed positively, driven by a significant increase in construction output,” reports Inyoung Hwang for Bloomberg.

 

ETF.com Announces Finalists for ETF Industry Beauty Pageant Awards; 25 Categories; 100+ Nominees

“And the nominees are…” MarketsMuse update profiles ETF industry portal ETF.com annual awards for ‘Best Of’ across 25 different categories, with more than 100 nominees. Winnners will be announced at an awards dinner that will take place March 19 at Pier 61 in New York City.

Below please find the extract from the ETF.com announcement.

“….In recognizing the forces that support the growth of the ETF industry, each year at its annual ETF.com Awards Dinner ETF.com recognizes the people, companies and products that are moving the industry forward. The dinner takes place March 19 at Pier 61 in New York City.

The award selection process follows three steps:

  1. An open nominating process
  2. A “Nominating Committee” composed of senior members of ETF.com’s editorial and analytics components narrows the nominees to a maximum of five in each category
  3. A “Selection Committee” of independent ETF experts votes on the winners.

The nominees are:

Category 1: Lifetime Achievement Award

Awarded annually to one living individual for outstanding long-term contributions to ETF investor outcomes, whether from a position of media, regulation, product provider or investor. Previous winners are not eligible.

Nominee No. 1: John Bogle
From an untiring emphasis on the “humble arithmetic” of indexing, to the customer-owned structure of his brainchild, Vanguard, there’s zero doubt that Jack Bogle is perhaps the biggest reason fund fees are falling and getting lower. Even his cranky critique of the perils of over-trading ETFs is, in its way, laudable: He truly wants what’s best for investors.

Nominee No.2: Lee Kranefuss
You won’t find an executive with more ETF-specific “street cred” than Lee Kranefuss. His almost-evangelical belief that the future of investing belonged to ETFs has been crucial to the rise of the industry. Under his direction, iShares grew to be the biggest ETF issuer in the world, and the unrivaled breadth of the company’s product line serves as the perfect metaphor of the power of ETFs.

Nominee No. 3: Burton Malkiel
Burton Malkiel put indexing on the map with his 1973 book, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street.” An enthusiastic proponent of index–based investments and ETFs, this Princeton academic remains engaged in many realms of the investment business, not least at chief investment officer of Wealthfront, the biggest player in the new “robo-advisor” field.

Nominee No. 4: Gus Sauter
During his 25-year career at Vanguard, Gus Sauter saw the firm shift from upstart to the biggest mutual fund company in the world. Sauter’s emphasis on indexing, on thoughtful diversification in asset allocation and on encouraging investors to stick to their plans puts Sauter and his nearly decade-long stint as CIO at the very center of Vanguard’s spectacular rise.

Category 2: ETF of the Year – 2014
Awarded to the ETF that has done the most to improve investor opportunities and outcomes in 2014, by opening new areas of the market, lowering costs, delivering new exposures or otherwise creating better options for investors. There is no requirement on when this fund launched.

Nominee No. 1: Global X GF China Bond (CHNB)

As the first ETF to provide access to China’s onshore bond interbank market, CHNB opened up the third-largest fixed-income market in the world. The fund pulled in nearly $50 million in investor flows in 2014, and offered investors the opportunity to access a relatively high-yielding asset with low credit risk.

Nominee No. 2: PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury (ZROZ | C-57)
2014 was supposed to be a year of rising interest rates. Instead, rates plunged, and funds on the edge of the duration spectrum like ZROZ returned nearly 50 percent. As the longest-duration US-bond ETF, ZROZ was well positioned to ride 2014’s surprise rate drop. With a 0.15 percent annual expense ratio, ZROZ allows cheap, efficient access to the longest-term U.S. Treasuries.

Nominee No. 3: Vanguard Total International Bond (BNDX | B-57)
Vanguard broke new ground in the ETF world by offering the first global ex-U.S. broad-market bond fund. While other global-ex U.S. fixed-income funds cover parts of the bond universe—sovereigns or corporates—BNDX covers the entire non-USD investment-grade bond market. Vanguard’s choice to hedge BNDX’s currency exposure reduces the number of risk considerations for U.S.-based investors. At 20 basis points, the fund is very well priced, and quite efficiently run. The fund pulled in more than $2 billion in net inflows in 2014.

Nominee No. 4: Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI | A-100)
Among the 38 ETFs offering total U.S. stock market exposure, VTI stands out for best representation and exceptionally low costs. With nearly 3,700 constituents, VTI captures virtually the entire investable U.S. equity market. Better still, VTI actually costs less than its published expense ratio of 5 basis points, with an average actual tracking difference versus its index of just 2 bps. VTI covers the entire U.S. stock market, basically for free; it’s hard to argue with that.
Nominee No. 5: WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity (HEDJ | B-48)
The only nonvanilla ETF to make the top 10 flows list in 2014, HEDJ has captured the attention (and dollars) of tactical investors looking to make a currency-hedged bet on eurozone equities. With the euro on the rocks, its ability to protect against falling currency meant it outperformed non-hedged European equity ETFs by 10-12 percent for the year. HEDJ attracted $4.9 billion of inflows in 2014.

Category 3: Best New ETF – 2014
Awarded to the most important ETF launched in 2014. Note: Importance is measured by the overall contribution to positive investor outcomes. The award may recognize ETFs that open new areas of the market, lower costs, drive risk-adjusted performance or provide innovative exposures not previously available to most investors. Only ETFs with inception dates after Jan. 1, 2014, are eligible.

Nominee No. 1: EMQQ Emerging Markets Internet & Ecommerce (EMQQ | B-48)

As amazing as emerging market funds like VWO, EEM or IEMG are, they do have some conspicuous holes, which EMQQ aims to fill. Investors who want to own all of the emerging markets cannot overlook EMQQ, which will give them access to Internet and e-commerce companies that are typically excluded from traditional indexes because they are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Nominee No. 2: First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV | C-23)

FV is a perfect example of how flexible ETFs are. This fund qualifies as a catchy riff on the “smart beta” trend, putting into one convenient, dynamic and tradable fund-of-funds wrapper Tom Dorsey’s popular system of technical analysis. It was the fastest-growing new ETF launched in 2014, pulling in $1.2 billion in inflows.

Nominee No. 3: iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF (IUSB | D)

Broad-market bond funds that track the Barclays Aggregate overlook certain corners of the U.S. bond market: High-yield bonds are excluded from the Agg, for instance, as are many internationally issued bonds denominated in U.S. dollars. IUSB offers a broader take on the bond market, bringing extra yield to core bond exposure. It’s also cheap, charging just 0.15 percent a year in expenses.

Nominee No. 4: Market Vectors ChinaAMC China Bond ETF (CBON)

CBON offered U.S. investors access to Chinese debt issued in mainland China for the very first time. With the Chinese market rallying and bond opportunities looking thin elsewhere, this novel exposure is a welcome addition to the mix.

Nominee No. 5: PowerShares DB Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy (PDBC) This fund isn’t the first of its kind in the commodity space, but it is the cheapest, and that counts for a lot in a pocet of the ETF industry that remains relatively pricey. The fund allows investors to steer clear of cumbersome “K-1” tax forms reserved for futures while still enjoying futures-like exposure.

For the entire announcement from ETF.com, please click here.

Euro Exposure? Eurozone Bond ETFs In Advance of ECB’s QE

MarketsMuse.com update courtesy of extract from Jan 6 ETF.com article by Dennis Hudacheck, with a look at Eurobond ETFs $HEDJ,$DBEU, $HEZU, $EZU, $DBEZ, $VGK, $FEZ, $DFE

All eyes are on the European Central Bank’s Jan. 22, 2015 meeting, as it’s no secret that ECB President Mario Draghi has been hinting at a large-scale quantitative easing program for some time.

There’s no guarantee the ECB will actually implement any such program in January, but the consensus seems to be that there will be some type of big announcement on that front sometime in the first quarter of 2015.

At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to begin raising rates in mid-2015. This opposing force between the world’s two largest central banks has strategists calling for a currency-hedged strategy to capitalize on a rising-equity/falling-euro scenario in Europe.

An Equity ETF Designed For A Weakening Euro For currency-hedged options, the $5.6 billion WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ | B-47) is by far the leading ETF in the space.

Despite its “Europe” name, HEDJ focuses exclusively on eurozone securities. That means that for better or worse, it excludes the U.K., Switzerland and Sweden, which account for roughly 50 percent of Europe’s equity market capitalization, combined.

More importantly, it carries a significant exporter bias, attempting to capitalize on a weakening-euro scenario. The dividend-weighted ETF does this by screening out any company that gets more than 50 percent of its revenues from within Europe.

This makes HEDJ geared toward investors with a strong bearish view on the euro. Naturally, the fund favors consumer sectors over financials compared with vanilla, cap-weighted European indexes (MSCI Europe IMI Index).

This now-blockbuster fund tracks its index well and trades more than $80 million a day at 3 basis point spreads, keeping overall trading costs very low.

‘Neutral’ Currency-Hedged Products Contrary to popular thinking, investors interested in currency-hedged Europe ETFs don’t necessarily have to be bearish on the euro. They might have a neutral view, and simply prefer a purer equity exposure by taking any currency fluctuations out of the equation.The Deutsche X-trackers MSCI Europe Hedged Equity ETF (DBEU | B-66) is also a leading ETF in the space, and takes a broader approach, including all of developed Europe, beyond the eurozone.

It tracks a cap-weighted index and neutralizes exposure to the euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc and a few other European currencies against the dollar. DBEU has more than $710 million in assets and trades with robust liquidity that’s sufficient for small and large investors alike.

For a neutral currency take on the eurozone, rising in popularity is the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EMU ETF (HEZU), which literally holds the $7.5 billion iShares MSCI EMU ETF (EZU | A-63) with a forward contract overlay to neutralize euro exposure.

For the entire analysis from ETF.com, please click here

European ETFs Look Promising for 2015

MarketMuse update courtesy of extract from ETF Trends’ Tom Lydon.

European equities and related exchange traded funds could outperform in 2015, capitalizing on lower energy prices, an improved export outlook and potentially more European Central Bank easing.

For instance, the iShares MSCI EMU ETF (NYSEArca: EZU) and the SPDR EURO STOXX 50 (NYSEArca: FEZ) both focus on Eurozone countries.

Alternatively, investors seeking to capture Eurzone market exposure can also consider a hedged-equity ETF that will help diminish the negative effects of a depreciating euro currency. For example, the Deutsche X-Trackers MSCI Europe Hedged Equity ETF (NYSEArca: DBEU), iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EMU ETF (NYSEArca: HEZU)and WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca: HEDJ) hedge against the euro currency and would outperform a non-hedged Europe equity ETF if the euro currency continues to depreciate.

DBEU, though, takes a slightly broader approach to the European markets, including about a 40% combined tilt toward the United Kingdom and Switzerland. HEZU and HEDJ only cover Eurozone member states.

Wall Street analysts believe that European equities could be one of the best places to invest in 2015, reports Sara Sjolin for MarketWatch.

“Europe was a market ‘darling’ this time last year, then became a pariah,” economists at Morgan Stanley said in a research note. “[Now] we like European equities, (especially cyclicals) and European ABS.”

Mislav Matejka, chief European equity strategist at J.P. Morgan, even predicts that Eurozone stocks could outperform U.S. equities next year.

Specifically, the investment banks are pointing to three factors that will support the region: the ECB, a cheap euro currency and low oil prices.

ECB President Mario Draghi has hinted that the central bank could introduce further stimulus in early 2015 and even enact a bond purchasing program.

“The mantra is ‘Don’t fight the ECB’ — the central bank is set to inject €1,000 billion and to add sovereign bonds to its buying program,” analysts at Société Générale said in a research note.

While the euro currency has depreciated 10% against the U.S. dollar so far, analysts believe there is more room to fall after the ECB enacts further easing. Consequently, the weak euro will help bolster the Eurozone’s large exporting industry, making goods cheaper for foreign buyers. Morgan Stanley predicts the cheap currency could add at least 2% to earnings per share for European companies next year.

Lastly, lower energy prices will have an immediate effect on consumers, allowing Europeans to spread around their cash for discretionary purchases and spur growth. Additionally, the cheap oil will lower input costs for companies’ profit margins and lift earnings.

Furthermore, analysts believe that if the ECB begins a quantitative easing plan, the financial sector will be a key beneficiary. Most major Eurozone banks are already in good shape and should capitalize on improved credit supply and loan demand. For targeted Europe financial exposure, investors can take a look at the iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF (NYSEArca: EUFN). However, the ETF does not hedge against currency risks.

 

 

 

neil azous-global-macro

Wisdom: Is $HEDJ The New Vogue Trade?

Below extract courtesy of a.m. edition of “Sight Beyond Sight”, the global macro trading commentary published by Stamford, CT-based macro strategy think tank Rareview Macro LLC.

“…For most of the second half of the year we have seen a surging dollar, and a falling euro.  Nothing seems to be coming that will disrupt that.

Now a lot of US investors have asked why the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF (symbol: HEDJ) performance has been sub-optimal. Specifically, why isn’t this “strong dollar/weak euro” play not playing out much like last year’s Japan trade (strong dollar/ weak yen) as we saw with WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity (DXJ)?

As a reminder, DXJ is a portfolio of Japanese stocks with a currency hedge overlay (i.e. 100% of assets is hedged). So HEDJ is the European version of DXJ. The underperformance therefore is simply stock-related.

For example, HEDJ is a basket of European stocks (i.e. 100% of assets is FX hedged). The underlying basket is a Wisdometree dividend weighted basket. It does not quite have the same weightings as the iShares MSCI EMU ETF (symbol: EZU) which is market cap weighted & large cap equivalent or the iShares Europe ETF (IEV) or any other standard index, but it does have a very high correlation.

If you compare HEDJ vs. EZU (i.e. use Bloomberg COMP function, HEDJ in line one and EZU in line 2 and then change the currency next to EZU to EUR instead of USD) you will see performance come back in line with HEDJ as it displays the effect of the FX hedge.

rareview macro nov 24

So HEDJ is working exactly the way it should given how it is constructed and using HEDJ to get long European stocks and a weaker EUR is correct instrument for that view.

So the question becomes, how do you gain using HEDJ? more

Go With The Flow? ETF Execution Expert Says This…

Agency-Execution firm WallachBeth Capital’s Andy McOrmond, a recognized expert in ETF order execution for leading investment managers and RIAs appearing on CNBC with his [personal] thoughts as to whether  now is, or is not the time to “go with the flow.”

Talking points: SPY v. VYM…$HEDJ and more..  Click on the image below to launch the video clip courtesy of our friends over at CNBC.

mcormond
WallachBeth Capital’s Andy McOrmond on CNBC

In Playing Europe’s Crisis, Creativity Helps–$HEDJ It..

mktbeat Courtesy of WSJ MarketBeat Columnist Matthew Jarzemsky

March 20, 2013

Investors are getting awfully creative in the way they play the volatility surrounding Europe and its crisis.

Amid a renewed flare-up of worries, one investor placed a big bet on European stocks but with a twist; dodging the impact of swings in the euro.

The tiny Europe Hedged Equity exchange-traded fund (HEDJ) stands to multiply in size in the next few days, thanks to a single $102 million trade yesterday.

Tuesday morning, an order hit the tape for 2 million shares of the exchange-traded fund at $50.72. HEDJ tracks a basket of European stocks while using derivatives to offset changes in the price of the euro and prior to Tuesday’s trade had just $46 million in assets.

On Tuesday, an investor who wanted exposure to the strategy likely enlisted a market maker to take the other side of the trade, said Chris Hempstead, director of ETF execution services at WallachBeth Capital LLC, a New York brokerage.

In this case, the market maker would “create” new shares of HEDJ by buying the underlying shares of stock, because the 2-million-share size of the trade sharply exceeded the roughly 900,000 shares of the ETF outstanding at the time.

“Now you’ve got a blockbuster trade, which will almost certainly be followed by creation of 2 million shares,” Hempstead said. “You’ll see assets go from 900,000 shares to nearly 3 million shares in one blink.”

For the entire WSJ MarketBeat report, please click here