6. First Trust Morningstar Diversified Futures Fund
As investors have grown more comfortable with accessing alternative strategies through the ETF wrapper, issuers have responded by filling the product development pipeline with innovative ideas. One product in particular that we’re excited for is First Trust’s proposed broad-based futures fund. This actively managed ETF will seek to generate positive total returns uncorrelated to broad equity markets. The fund is expected to be split 50/50 between commodities and currency/equity futures, presenting itself as a potentially attractive vehicle for those looking to tap into several asset classes using an active futures-based strategy.
7. U.S. Golden Currency Fund
The currency space could also see some innovative newcomers in 2013, including a basket portfolio from U.S. Commodity Funds. What’s interesting about this proposed currency basket ETF is that it will feature an equal-weighted portfolio of five currencies that will be rebalanced on a monthly basis. The underlying holdings will be selected annually from a list of the 25 most actively traded currencies, with the exception of the U.S. dollar since it will serve as the base currency for this strategy.
Stoyan Bojinov is a writer at ETFdb. ETFdb offers a comprehensive and original ETF database and analytical consulting services for advisors and investors, as well as a free newsletter. Learn more about their services by visiting ETFdb.com. Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.