5 ETFs You’ve Probably Never Heard of

Everyone knows about the S&P 500 SPY ETF or the Nasdaq 100 QQQ ETF.

But how many of you have heard of the Franklin Intelligent Machines ETF (IQM)…

…or the Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN)?

Most people don’t realize how many ETFs exist.

They cover more than just niches like cybersecurity or agriculture.

Some employ complex management strategies.

We decided to see which ones were the top searches by financial pros according to our TrackStar data.

So, today, we’re going to focus on their top search, the iM DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF (DBMF).

Key Facts About DBMF

• Net assets: $1.04 billion
• 12-month trailing yield: 3.03%
• Inception: May 8, 2019
• Expense ratio: 0.85%
• Number of holdings: 3

Ever wanted to invest in futures trading strategies?

DBMF offers you the opportunity.

The ETF seeks to replicate the pre-fee performance of leading managed futures hedge funds and outperform through fee/expense disintermediation.

The fund will employ long and short positions in derivatives, primarily futures contracts and forward contracts, across the broad asset classes of equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities.

Essentially, they do a combination of speculation, arbitrage (like playing futures curves), and others.

To keep things balanced, they’ll hold both long and short positions to avoid any serious losses.

Source: iMPG

The best way to think of this is an actively managed futures trading/investing portfolio team that you can join.

Performance

While active funds typically underperform the market, DBMF’s overall returns aren’t too shabby.

Source: iMPG

The expense fee of 0.85% is high. But, it’s seen fairly stable returns over its lifetime.

Competition

Our unusual ETF searches brought up a smattering of tickers that we weren’t familiar with. Most are unrelated.

• Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN): BLCN focuses on blockchain technology, investing in companies that are actively developing, researching, supporting, or utilizing this technology. It’s designed for investors looking to tap into blockchain, the tech behind cryptocurrencies, which is also finding uses in everything from banking to logistics.
• Franklin Intelligent Machines ETF (IQM): This ETF targets companies involved in artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. 
• First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV): FV is about focusing on momentum. It invests in five other ETFs that have shown high relative strength, making it a fund of funds. This strategy aims to capitalize on the ongoing strength of these sectors, making it suitable for those who prefer a more dynamic investment approach.
• ARK Web x.0 ETF (ARKW): ARKW is all about next-gen internet technologies. It invests in companies that are expected to benefit from the shifting bases of technology infrastructure to the cloud, enabling technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and others. 

Each of these ETFs comes with some interesting characters. Oddly, the BLCN and ARKW have seen negative overall returns.

On the other end, the ETF of ETFs (FV), is rather expensive at an 0.9% expense ratio with modest returns.

Our Opinion 7/10 

While the overall performance of DBMF isn’t bad, it comes with low liquidity and a relatively high expense ratio.

But, it is far and away the most unique ETF we’ve ever come across. So, if you’re looking for an investment uncorrelated to the rest of the market, this could be your ticket.

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