The Qbasis Futures Fund ETF aims to replicate the systematic investment approach of the Qbasis Managed Futures hedge fund. The computer-driven fund trades more than 90 futures markets across various market sectors including stocks, bonds, currencies, energy, metals and soft commodities by using different trading styles (trend following, high frequency, and counter trend).
Qbasis employs two complementary Qbasis trading systems called MF Trend and MF Plus. MF Trend is a break-out trend following strategy that claims to have the ability to recognise short- and long-term trends at a very early stage. Intraday movements are captured by a strategy component called MF Trend High Frequency. MF Plus is a swing/reversal strategy that aims to capture profits in sideways market movements and/or trend reversals.
Cons:
Qbasis make available its underlying strategies but it won’t give investors access to security-level information, so full transparency is lacking here.
The ETF requires a minimum investment of EUR 2,000. Although this minimum is low compared to that typically required for a direct hedge fund investment (the Qbasis hedge fund’s minimum is USD 100,000), it is high by ETF standards.
Investors should also be aware that they are exposed to single manager risk.
The Qbasis Futures Fund ETF is the most expensive of all European hedge fund ETFs. In addition to the annual 0.75% TER, returns are subject to a 2.5% management fee and 25 % performance fee per annum.
Pros:
The Qbasis Managed Futures strategy has delivered mind-boggling returns since 2006, with an average gain of 45.6% per year, making it the best performing strategy currently used for hedge fund ETFs in Europe. The strategy has also exhibited very low -and in some cases negative- correlation with other asset classes, including stocks (-0.42 correlation with the S&P 500) and bonds (0.15 correlation with the REX) over the past four years, making it a solid diversifier in a balanced asset allocation.
The fund is available in EUR only.
