Specialty Equities Stumble: Weekly Outflows & Performance Pullback

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Weekly Channel Summary

The EQ: Specialty channel, currently comprised of 69 ETFs across 49 issuers, manages a total of $13.4 billion in assets. For the past week, the channel saw net outflows of approximately $9 million. Despite this week’s pullback, the channel remains in positive territory for the year, with $2.80 billion in Year-to-Date inflows and $3.00 billion in net flows over the past one year.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

It was a challenging week for the channel, with all major categories posting negative returns. The Equity: Specialty – Long | Short category performed best on a relative basis, declining just 1.03% WTD, while maintaining a 5.64% return YTD. The primary lagging category was Equity: Specialty – Hedged, which fell 1.56% for the week but remains the year-to-date leader with a 9.12% gain.

Category Performance Snapshot

Category WTD 1 Month 3 Month 6 Month YTD 1 Year
Equity: Specialty – Long | Short -1.03% -1.03% 0.41% 4.46% 5.64% 3.06%
Equity: Specialty – Hedged -1.56% -2.00% 3.16% 9.14% 9.12% 7.20%

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

The single best-performing ETF this week was the BTAL (AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund), which posted a gain of 1.61%. On the downside, the two worst-performing funds were HFEQ (Unlimited HFEQ Equity Long/Short ETF) and SPUC (Simplify US Equity PLUS Upside Convexity ETF), which declined by 5.22% and 4.05%, respectively.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
BTAL AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund 1.61%
CCOR Core Alternative ETF 1.23%
CBLS Clough Hedged Equity ETF 0.44%
SHRT Gotham Short Strategies ETF 0.41%
CAOS Alpha Architect Tail Risk ETF 0.26%
Bottom Performers
HFEQ Unlimited HFEQ Equity Long/Short ETF -5.22%
SPUC Simplify US Equity PLUS Upside Convexity ETF -4.05%
MSTQ LHA Market State Tactical Q ETF -3.86%
HBTA Horizon Expedition Plus ETF -3.09%
QGRD Horizon Nasdaq-100 Defined Risk ETF -2.82%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The channel experienced a total net outflow of approximately $9 million this week. The Equity: Specialty – Long | Short category attracted the most capital, bringing in $35 million despite holding a smaller AUM base of $3.7 billion. In contrast, the Equity: Specialty – Hedged category saw the largest outflows, shedding $44 million for the week.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day 30 Day 90 Day YTD 1 Year
Equity: Specialty – Long | Short 20 $3.7B $35M $53M $163M $460M $146M
Equity: Specialty – Hedged 49 $9.6B -$44M $122M $650M $2,342M $2,851M

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

The BTAL (AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund) led individual funds in inflows, gathering $18 million for the week. Conversely, the largest outflows were seen in HELO (JPMorgan Hedged Equity Laddered Overlay ETF) and QBER (TrueShares Quarterly Bear Hedge ETF), which lost $66 million and $11 million, respectively.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
BTAL AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund $18M
SPUC Simplify US Equity PLUS Upside Convexity ETF $12M
KSPY KraneShares Hedgeye Hedged Equity Index ETF $11M
FTLS First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF $7M
ORR Militia Long/Short Equity ETF $6M
Outflows
HELO JPMorgan Hedged Equity Laddered Overlay ETF -$66M
QBER TrueShares Quarterly Bear Hedge ETF -$11M
PRAE PlanRock Alternative Growth ETF -$8M
CAOS Alpha Architect Tail Risk ETF -$2M
SPD Simplify US Equity PLUS Downside Convexity ETF -$1M

Issuer League Table Update

JPMorgan and First Trust continue to dominate the market share, holding 27.57% and 15.53% of assets, respectively. In terms of weekly activity, AGF led all issuers with the most significant inflows, while JPMorgan experienced the largest net outflows for the week.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM AUM Market Share
JPMorgan 3 $3.68B 27.57%
First Trust 1 $2.07B 15.53%
Simplify 5 $0.62B 4.68%
Fidelity 2 $0.61B 4.57%
Swan 1 $0.58B 4.37%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
AGF $18M
Simplify $15M
KraneShares $11M
Outflows
JPMorgan -$65M
TrueShares -$12M
PlanRock -$8M

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Disclosures

This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. All investments, including ETFs, involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Investors should consider their investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing.

This analysis was developed by the team at ETF Action. We leverage advanced AI tools to assist in the drafting and refinement of our content, based on our expert prompts, direction, and final review.