Jim Rogers Meets AI With New ETF

The recently launched Rogers AI Global Macro ETF (BIKR) comes with the imprimatur of veteran commodities and equities investor Jim Rogers, who is chairman of Ocean Capital Advisors LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based investment management firm that devised the fund’s underlying index aiming to provide an “optimally weighted” global portfolio consisting mainly of single-country ETFs.

The index is weighted based on a proprietary artificial intelligence-driven algorithm that analyzes macroeconomic data monthly to identify changing market conditions in individual countries and across the global economy. The model seeks to calculate and incorporate both long-term trends and short-term cycles to make investment allocations in mainly single-country ETFs. When the model says it’s time to ease up on equities, the fund will allocate to an ETF that tracks one- to three-year U.S. Treasurys. The overwhelming majority of the fund’s 40 holdings are single-country iShares ETFs, along with a few single-country funds from Global X.

BIKR’s management fee is 0.75%, and the average weighted cost of owning the ETFs in the portfolio is 43 basis points. Together, these fees make up the fund's total operating expense of 1.18%.

 

Global X Expands Thematic ETF Lineup With AI/Analytics/Big Data Fund

Global X has expanded its suite of thematic-technology ETFs with the Global X Future Analytics Tech ETF (AIQ), an index-tracking fund composed of companies that produce vast amounts of data and develop proprietary AI systems to derive actionable insights from that data. AIQ also features companies that offer AI as a Service (AIaaS) for big data analytics, and develop hardware that’s key to powering AI systems such as quantum computing.

The fund’s investment thesis is that artificial intelligence and big data are converging as complementary technology themes that allow companies to extract useful information from large and complex data sets. The proliferation of big data means greater need for artificial intelligence technology, which incentivizes companies to develop those capabilities. AIQ’s expense ratio is 0.68%.

 

Reality Shares Launches China-Focused Blockchain ETF

Investors can now put money into overseas blockchain businesses following the rollout of the Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy China ETF (BCNA), which tracks an index filled with Hong Kong and mainland China-based companies that are developing and rolling out blockchain technology.

The fund’s proprietary index, which was co-developed by Reality Shares and Nasdaq Inc., employs a rules-based, quantitative methodology that looks at a company’s role in the blockchain technology ecosystem and its participation in industry groups. The index also evaluates how much a company’s blockchain technology is developed, how it’s innovative, how it has an economic impact and how it is publicly referenced. In addition, it considers the amount a company spends on blockchain-related research and development.

All of these factors produce a score to identify companies that could be movers and shakers within the blockchain space, and which might benefit the most from blockchain technology. The index can include 30 to 100 companies, which are weighted on their blockchain scores. The fund’s gross expense ratio is 0.78%.

BCNA is Reality Shares’ second blockchain-focused ETF, following the mid-January launch of the Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN).

 

Rex Shares, Brian Kelly Join Forces For Blockchain ETF

Elsewhere on the blockchain front, the REX BKCM ETF (BKC) invests in companies involved with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The fund is a collaboration between exchange-traded product provider Rex Shares and Brian Kelly, a portfolio manager and CNBC Fast Money correspondent.

BKC invests across the blockchain ecosystem in what fund literature describes as “Wall Street disruptors” (i.e., securities trading platforms and companies disintermediating venture capital), crypto miners and traders, enterprise blockchain leaders and “decentralized internet builders.” The fund’s expense ratio is 0.88%.

Kelly is the founder and CEO of BKCM Funds LLC, an investment firm focused on digital currencies and blockchain technology that was established in 2013. Kelly is the lead portfolio manager of the actively managed BKC fund, and his experience in this space is promoted as a selling point that differentiates BKC from existing blockchain-focused ETFs on the market.