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ETF Deathwatch – March 2009

March 2, 2009 by Ron Rowland  
Filed under Commentary, ETF Deathwatch, ETFs

The number of exchange-traded products on Deathwatch jumped to 171, an increase of nearly 12% from a month ago and another new record.  The current list consists of 134 ETFs and 37 ETNs that are at least six months old and failed to have an Average Daily Value Traded (ADVT) of at least $100,000 during the month of February.

SPDR S&P International Consumer Discretionary (IPD) heads up the list for the second month in row.  If you thought trading volume for IPD couldn’t get any worse than the 300 shares in January, then February’s total of 200 shares should prove otherwise.  The shares traded at $15.21, for a total value of $3,042.  The seller probably didn’t want to dump the entire 200 shares on the market at the same time, so the transaction took place in two separate 100-share trades about three minutes apart on the morning of February 23.

As mentioned in earlier issues, it’s not just ETFs that are in trouble; sometimes it’s the entire ETF family.  Northern Trust exited the ETF business in February with the closure of all 17 of their NETS ETFs.  Other sponsors likely to exit the business soon include:

SPA MarketGrader: they have a total of six ETFs and all six are on deathwatch again this month.  Their most “successful” product trades less than 2,000 shares a day for an ADVT of less than $25,000.  Look for SPA to exit the ETF business soon.

MacroShares: they currently have only two products and both are on deathwatch.  MacroShares suffer from design flaws that don’t allow their trading price to properly track the underlying index, making it questionable if MacroShares should be classified as ETFs.  They plan on introducing two more pairs later this year, so it doesn’t appear they are ready to throw in the towel yet.  However, dismal interest in their current products may give them pause.

E-TRACS: they have ten products and nine are on deathwatch.  All ten of their offerings are ETNs, which have their own set of concerns.  The only one showing any signs of success is E-TRACS CMCI Long Platinum Total Return ETN (PTM), which traded nearly $1.9 million per day in February.  Perhaps E-TRACS can sell PTM to another sponsor before shutting down their other ETNs.

Two other sponsors have a large percentage of products in trouble but are likely to remain in the ETF business due to the relative success of their other products.  However, we anticipate a large number of closures from:

Elements: they have 17 products and ten are on deathwatch this month.  Additionally, all their products suffer from the ETN stigma.

Claymore: they currently have 20 products on deathwatch.  However, Claymore is no stranger to the challenges of the ETF market.  They were one of the first companies to close a large number of ETFs, and they will likely have to make that hard decision again soon.  However, don’t count Claymore out as a sponsor; they have launched some great products and will probably do so again.

The deathwatch list below is reserved for U.S. listed ETFs and ETNs at least six months old with an Average Daily Value Traded (ADVT) for the most recent calendar month of less than $100,000 per day.  If you are interested in the other end of the spectrum, the highly traded ETFs, be sure to check out ETF $Billion Club.

ETF Deathwatch - March 2009

Rank Ticker Name Age (mths) Avg Daily Volume Avg Daily Value Traded
1 IPD SPDR S&P International Consumer Discr 7 11 $160
2 UBN E-TRACS CMCI Energy Total Return ETN 11 32 $380
3 SNB SPA MarketGrader 200 17 68 $764
4 BVL Elements Ben Graham Large Cap Value ETN 7 189 $1,177
5 SVD SPA MarketGrader Mid Cap 100 17 137 $1,511
6 JJT iPath DJ AIG Tin ETN 8 63 $1,549
7 SIH SPA MarketGrader 100 17 232 $2,707
8 BVT Elements Ben Graham Total Mkt Value ETN 7 479 $2,803
9 SSK SPA MarketGrader Small Cap 100 17 268 $3,045
10 UAG E-TRACS CMCI Agriculture TR ETN 11 168 $3,060
11 IPN SPDR S&P International Industrial 7 211 $3,288
12 IPK SPDR S&P International Technology 7 247 $3,756
13 BHH HOLDRS B2B Internet ETF 110 14,258 $3,918
14 GCE Claymore CEF Index GS Connect ETN 15 411 $4,597
15 PWD PowerShares FTSE RAFI Europe Small Mid 17 568 $5,327
16 ROB Claymore/Robb Report Global Luxury 19 632 $5,780
17 GWO Elements CS Global Warming ETN 11 1,211 $5,937
18 SZR WisdomTree Dreyfus S. African Rand 8 300 $5,986
19 UBC E-TRACS CMCI Livestock Total Return ETN 11 342 $6,572
20 UCI E-TRACS CMCI Total Return ETN 11 468 $6,597
21 EEH Elements Spec LgCap US Sector Mo ETN 19 1,074 $7,260
22 UEM Claymore U.S.-1-The Capital Markets 13 189 $7,288
23 FUD E-TRACS CMCI Food Total Return ETN 11 405 $7,734
24 INR Market Vectors Indian Rupee/USD ETN 12 226 $7,783
25 UBD Claymore U.S. Capital Markets Bond ETF 13 168 $7,912
26 RHM Rydex 2x S&P Health Care 8 168 $7,964
27 BJK Market Vectors Gaming ETF 13 568 $8,143
28 OTR Claymore/Ocean Tomo Growth 23 521 $8,229
29 CRO Claymore/Zacks Country Rotation 20 758 $8,432
30 PQY PowerShares Active AlphaQ 11 589 $9,105
31 FUE Elements MLCX Biofuels ETN 13 1,511 $10,125
32 BDG PowerShares DB Base Metals Lng ETN 9 805 $10,423
33 PTD E-TRACS CMCI Short Platinum Exc Ret ETN 10 284 $10,565
34 XGC Claymore/Great Companies Lg-Cap Growth 23 937 $10,569
35 DPU PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN 10 853 $10,673
36 BNZ WisdomTree Dreyfus New Zealand Dollar 8 626 $11,044
37 JFT First Trust Enhanced 130/30 Large Cap ETN 9 579 $12,104
38 IFNA iShares FTSE NAREIT North America 16 658 $12,437
39 WMW Elements Mrngstr Wide Moat Focus ETN 17 2,026 $12,944
40 STH Claymore/Sabrient Stealth 30 1,200 $13,188
41 SFV SPA MarketGrader 40 17 1,232 $13,672
42 DBT WisdomTree International Technology 29 1,084 $13,782
43 FDD First Trust DJ STOXX Select Dividend 30 18 1,474 $14,271
44 FXD First Trust Cons Discretionary AlphaDex 22 1,721 $14,501
45 GBB iPath GBP/USD Exchange Rate ETN 22 384 $14,914
46 RGI Rydex S&P Equal Weight Industrials 28 505 $15,166
47 MZN Claymore/Mrngstr Inform. SuperSector 19 1,026 $15,307
48 PNQI PowerShares Nasdaq Internet 9 1,111 $15,528
49 EEN Claymore/Robeco Developed International Eq 24 1,447 $15,838
50 PDQ PowerShares Asia Pacific ex-Jpn Small-Mid 17 1,863 $16,379
51 IIH HOLDRS Internet Infrastructure 110 9,132 $17,757
52 FXL First Trust Technology AlphaDex 22 1,732 $17,936
53 RHO Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Health Care 8 321 $18,171
54 UBM E-TRACS CMCI Industrial Metals TR ETN 11 1,468 $18,410
55 IRY SPDR S&P International Health Care 7 826 $18,757
56 EKH HOLDRS Europe 2001 99 463 $18,990
57 JEM Barclays GEMS Currency Index ETN 13 489 $19,188
58 IPU SPDR S&P International Utilities 7 984 $19,512
59 PEH PowerShares Dynamic Europe Portfolio 21 2,326 $19,737
60 BSC Elements Ben Graham Small Cap Value ETN 7 3,268 $20,215
61 FPX First Trust IPOX-100 Index Fund 35 1,558 $20,335
62 PMA PowerShares Active Mega-Cap Portfolio 11 1,253 $20,587
63 MKH HOLDRS Merrill Lynch Market 2000+ 103 532 $20,614
64 DOD Elements Dogs of the Dow Total Return ETN 16 4,795 $20,801
65 IFEU iShares FTSE/EPRA NAREIT Europe 16 1,202 $20,990
66 ADZ PowerShares DB Agriculture Short ETN 11 600 $22,377
67 CSD Claymore/Clear Spin-Off ETF 27 2,005 $22,587
68 SZG SPA MarketGrader Large Cap 100 17 1,911 $23,923
69 DOY MacroShares $100 Oil Down 8 2,979 $24,493
70 PNXQ PowerShares Nasdaq Next Q 11 1,658 $25,920
71 IPW SPDR S&P International Energy 7 1,421 $26,045
72 DPC WisdomTree International Consumer Cyclical 29 2,074 $26,394
73 PEF PowerShares FTSE RAFI Europe 20 1,305 $28,164
74 AGF PowerShares DB Agriculture Long ETN 11 1,805 $28,433
75 IRV SPDR S&P International Materials 7 1,984 $28,688
76 PXQ PowerShares Dynamic Networking 45 2,779 $28,871
77 FAB First Trust Multi Cap Value AlphaDEX 22 2,058 $29,164
78 MZG Claymore/Mrngstr Manufact. SuperSector 19 1,995 $31,010
79 GRI Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors 10 1,658 $31,155
80 FXO First Trust Financials AlphaDex 22 4,195 $31,188
81 IPS SPDR S&P International Consumer Staples 7 1,632 $31,402
82 FXR First Trust Industrials AlphaDex 22 3,400 $31,778
83 RCD Rydex S&P Equal Weight Cons Discret 28 1,726 $32,572
84 TDN TDX Independence 2030 17 2,332 $33,564
85 CZA Claymore/Zacks Mid-Cap Core ETF 23 2,200 $34,009
86 JJM iPath DJ AIG Industrial Metals ETN 16 1,658 $35,022
87 OTP Claymore/Ocean Tomo Patent 27 2,274 $36,490
88 GRN iPath Global Carbon ETN 8 1,926 $36,559
89 ICN WisdomTree Dreyfus Indian Rupe 10 1,611 $36,753
90 NUCL iShares S&P Global Nuclear Energy 8 1,268 $37,197
91 PAO PowerShares Auto Balanced Growth NFA 9 4,326 $37,294
92 MDD SPDR S&P International Mid Cap 10 2,100 $38,166
93 RHS Rydex S&P Equal Weight Cons Staples 28 1,011 $38,657
94 LVL Claymore/BBD High Income 20 4,700 $38,688
95 PLK PowerShares Active Low Duration 11 1,558 $38,748
96 DEF Claymore/Sabrient Defender 27 2,453 $39,411
97 BDH HOLDRS Broadband ETF 108 4,921 $40,197
98 RZG Rydex S&P Smallcap 600 Pure Growth 36 1,695 $40,596
99 FYX First Trust Small Cap Core AlphaDEX 22 2,837 $41,071
100 DRF WisdomTree International Financial 29 4,926 $42,555
101 MES Market Vectors Gulf States 7 2,884 $43,563
102 FXG First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDex 22 3,263 $44,234
103 FGD First Trust DJ Global Select Dividend 15 3,868 $44,389
104 GRU Elements MLCX Grains Total Return ETN 13 7,526 $44,454
105 IFSM iShares FTSE Dev Small Cap ex-N. Amer 16 2,221 $44,715
106 FAD First Trust Multi Cap Growth AlphaDEX 22 2,605 $44,720
107 FVI First Trust Value Line Equity Allocation 27 3,968 $44,799
108 IRO Claymore/Zacks Dividend Rotation 16 3,884 $44,855
109 EMV SPDR DJ Wilshire Mid Cap Value 40 1,500 $45,654
110 IFAS iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Asia 16 2,616 $46,876
111 IST SPDR S&P International Telecom 7 2,589 $47,236
112 MZO Claymore/Mrngstr Services SuperSector 19 3,737 $47,520
113 FXN First Trust Energy AlphaDex 22 4,700 $47,871
114 PRY PowerShares FTSE RAFI Intl. Real Estate 14 5,347 $48,356
115 NFO Claymore/Sabrient Insider 30 3,137 $48,751
116 PHW PowerShares Dynamic Hrdwr & Cons Elec 39 6,689 $49,376
117 UBG E-TRACS CMCI Gold Total Return ETN 11 1,868 $49,433
118 RYT Rydex S&P Equal Weight Technology 28 1,879 $50,019
119 USV E-TRACS CMCI Silver Total Return ETN 11 2,558 $50,049
120 IPF SPDR S&P International Financial 7 4,316 $50,105
121 PQZ PowerShares Active Alpha Multi-Cap 11 4,100 $50,660
122 AFK Market Vectors Africa ETF 8 2,868 $52,375
123 WMH HOLDRS Wireless 101 1,463 $53,087
124 GULF WisdomTree Middle East Dividend 8 4,620 $53,535
125 FEX First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX 22 3,737 $55,539
126 PIE PowerShares DWA Emg Mkts Tech Ldrs 14 6,858 $55,747
127 RTM Rydex S&P Equal Weight Materials 28 2,005 $55,958
128 INY SPDR Barclays New York Muni Bond 17 2,674 $56,521
129 DFE WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend 33 2,500 $56,907
130 EXB Claymore/Clear Global Exchanges & Brokers 20 7,495 $59,049
131 PQBW PowerShares Nasdaq 100 Buy/Write 9 3,571 $59,243
132 PTO PowerShares Auto Growth NFA 9 7,574 $59,702
133 PBS PowerShares Dynamic Media 45 9,416 $62,907
134 UOY MacroShares $100 Oil Up 8 18,316 $63,528
135 PHJ PowerShares High Gr. Rate Div Achievers 42 8,226 $64,424
136 FXZ First Trust Materials AlphaDex 22 6,874 $65,720
137 JJS iPath DJ AIG Softs ETN 8 1,832 $66,501
138 BAL iPath DJ-AIG Cotton ETN 8 2,332 $66,552
139 BDD PowerShares DB Base Metals Dbl Lg ETN 9 13,068 $66,680
140 EWX SPDR S&P Emerging Mkts Small Cap 10 2,974 $67,322
141 PAF PowerShares FTSE RAFI Asia Pac Ex-Japan 20 2,763 $67,405
142 QQXT First Trust Nasdaq-100 Ex-Technology 25 5,974 $67,895
143 EEZ WisdomTree Earnings Top 100 Fund 25 2,768 $69,697
144 PMNA PowerShares MENA Frontier Countries 8 7,012 $70,532
145 QTEC FT Nasdaq 100 Technology 35 6,200 $70,861
146 RJZ Elements Rogers Metals ETN 17 12,063 $71,338
147 PQSC PowerShares FTSE Nasdaq Small Cap 11 4,863 $71,789
148 PXN PowerShares Dynamic Lux Nanotech 41 10,689 $73,238
149 ICI iPath Optimized Currency Carry ETN 11 1,684 $73,293
150 RTW Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Technology 8 1,426 $75,007
151 JJU iPath DJ AIG Aluminum ETN 8 3,842 $76,325
152 DEB WisdomTree Europe Total Dividend 33 2,553 $77,290
153 FDM First Trust DJ Select Microcap 42 6,311 $77,782
154 PKN PowerShares Global Nuclear Energy 11 5,811 $78,147
155 DNH WisdomTree Pacific Ex-Jap HY Equity 33 3,058 $81,208
156 QQEW First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted 35 6,767 $81,301
157 DEW WisdomTree Europe High-Yielding Equity 33 3,011 $81,727
158 ERO iPath EUR/USD Exchange Rate ETN 22 1,679 $83,708
159 DPN WisdomTree International Consumer Non-Cycl 29 4,958 $83,841
160 RTG Rydex 2x S&P Technology 9 3,421 $83,957
161 ADRU BLDRS Europe 100 ADR 77 5,837 $85,979
162 JJE iPath DJ AIG Energy ETN 16 3,932 $86,636
163 RYF Rydex S&P Equal Weight Financial 28 6,526 $88,364
164 PVM PowerShares Dynamic Deep Value 27 5,853 $88,625
165 PIZ PowerShares DWA Dev Mkts Tech Ldrs 14 7,584 $89,103
166 JJN iPath DJ AIG Nickel ETN 16 5,942 $90,365
167 EXT WisdomTree Total Earnings 25 3,263 $90,515
168 LD iPath DJ AIG Lead ETN 8 3,089 $92,472
169 JYF WisdomTree Dreyfus Japan Yen 9 3,342 $94,662
170 RWJ RevenueShares Small Cap 12 6,468 $97,782
171 PKW PowerShares Buyback Achievers 27 6,842 $98,163

Disclosure:  no positions.

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Comments

9 Responses to “ETF Deathwatch – March 2009”

  1. JohnM on March 4th, 2009 9:11 pm

    while assets and trading volume of macroshares are low, they’re not ETFs – they are paired securities, so either side is not supposed to track the index (they are designed to trade at premiums and discounts). This isn’t really a flaw. If there’s a flaw, its applying this structure to an exposure (oil) that can be delivered in several other ways already. their inflation and housing filings are very interesting, these are exposures that an ETF can’t deliver (yet, anyway), so these macroshares will be worth watching closely

  2. Ron Rowland on March 5th, 2009 8:40 am

    JohnM, I tend to agree with you that MacroShares are probably not ETFs. See my recent article on that subect.:

    http://investwithanedge.com/are-macroshares-really-etfs

    However, they are currently classified as such by most rating agencies. Since these are the only securities of this type (that I know of) in the U.S., it probably doesn’t make much sense to put them in a class by themselves. They are not ETFs, but they are not closed-end funds either.

    What’s the point of having something track an index (Macroshares) if they don’t really track the index (premium/discount). Why involve the index at all? It just adds a layer of complexity, confusion, and misleading information.

  3. Paul Franc on March 6th, 2009 7:07 am

    The JohnM person above must come from macroshares: macroshares is the scam of the century – they not only deserve to be on the ETF deathwatch, the sponsor company macro market needs to be prosecuted for fraud. Every one of the (very few) holders of their macro shares I talked to is talking about filing a class action lawsuit:

    I have the unfortunate experience of buying UOY right after their previous ones terminated, and ever since day one their fund is bleeding out of money. How is this happening? Check this out:

    Their fund charges 0.95% annually PLUS (big PLUS) a $600k hidden “fixed annual fee”. Since their funds hold treasury which is yielding only 0.1%, their fund combined is bleeding out 0.85% annually. AND let’s add in the $600k (PER FUND if I forgot to mention), since their funds are not doing **** they have only $20m sitting in the up and down funds combined, the $1.2m annually adds up to an additional 5% in fees!

    Now there you have it, you add up the NAV for both UOY and their down fund which in theory should always equal to $50 (teeter-totter), but in reality it’s been slowly declining since day 1. Now they only add up to $47.96 (pre-split level). These scammers are secretly taking money out of the fund every day and now 8 months since they started thing scam the funds have lost 10% of their value simply due to fees!! No hidden counterparty risk? LMAO.

    So I suspect the real reason why they split those shares is to hide the effect of the ridiculous fee on their NAV (after split the dollar fee number per share is 1/4 of the original).

  4. Paul Franc on March 6th, 2009 7:09 am

    Ron if you want to do the investing public a favor please go to the macro shares web site and do a chart of their up and down oil fund’s combined NAV. You’ll see the funds have been losing money since day one. Yet the macro markets is still out there marketing this piece of **** as no counterparty risk.

  5. TC on April 13th, 2009 8:39 pm

    Just wondering, where do you get the info about the “Avg Daily Value Traded” from? Just wanting to check out some ETF’s I own.

  6. Ron Rowland on April 14th, 2009 8:28 am

    TC,

    I calculate ADVT myself and it’s something you can problably easily do also. To arrive at the figure I first calculate the Value Traded (VT) each day (the daily closing price times the volume). Note, this calculation is an approximation but is close enough for this. A more accurate method requires looking at the price and volume of each trade during the day.

    Once I have VT calculated for each day, I then sum them up for the calendar month (this gives us monthly VT), then I divide by the number of market days in the month to arrive at ADVT for the month.

    You could also get a good approximation by just using a 21-day average of the daily VT since 21 days is the average number of trading days in a month.

  7. samy cassis on May 7th, 2009 11:42 am

    please e-mail back with the most favourite ETFS that you think might be outperforming for the year 2009.
    thank you

  8. A look at ETF Trading Volumes and Total Assets | Canadian Capitalist on July 5th, 2009 10:41 pm

    [...] Rowland, a money manager, maintains an ETF Deathwatch on the Invest with an Edge website. To qualify, an US-listed ETF must be at least 6 months old and [...]

  9. ichannel on July 6th, 2009 12:09 am

    A look at ETF Trading Volumes and Total Assets…

    …

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