Investment objective & strategy
As of Nov. 25, 2025 · prospectusObjective. Virtus AlphaSimplex Managed Futures ETF (the Fund ) seeks to generate positive absolute returns over time.
Strategy. The Fund seeks to generate positive absolute returns ( i.e. , total returns that are earned from an investment over time) consistent with the risk/return characteristics of the managed futures industry. It is an actively managed ETF. AlphaSimplex Group, LLC ( AlphaSimplex ), the Funds sub-adviser, uses proprietary quantitative models designed to capture the overall positioning and risk/return characteristics of the managed futures industry. AlphaSimplex believes that investor behavior can lead to trends (or momentum) in market prices and that managers within the managed futures industry are able to benefit from such persistent price trends by actively trading in futures markets. The Funds principal investment strategy combines (i) replication techniques ( i.e. , mathematical techniques for identifying which trends appear … The Fund seeks to generate positive absolute returns ( i.e. , total returns that are earned from an investment over time) consistent with the risk/return characteristics of the managed futures industry. It is an actively managed ETF. AlphaSimplex Group, LLC ( AlphaSimplex ), the Funds sub-adviser, uses proprietary quantitative models designed to capture the overall positioning and risk/return characteristics of the managed futures industry. AlphaSimplex believes that investor behavior can lead to trends (or momentum) in market prices and that managers within the managed futures industry are able to benefit from such persistent price trends by actively trading in futures markets. The Funds principal investment strategy combines (i) replication techniques ( i.e. , mathematical techniques for identifying which trends appear to be attracting the most attention among managed futures managers) with (ii) quantitative trend models and risk management approaches ( i.e. , techniques generally similar to those that managed futures managers use to identify trends to invest in), in an effort to generate returns that are broadly representative of the managed futures industry. As with the portfolios of many managed futures managers, the resulting strategy seeks to capture time-varying opportunities, across a range of different asset classes, held both long and short. AlphaSimplex believes that this combination of techniques, together with active risk management, may allow the Fund to earn a positive expected return overtime that is also representative of the overall managed futures industry. Under normal market conditions, AlphaSimplex typically will make extensive use of a variety of derivative instruments, including futures and forward contracts, to capture the exposures suggested by its strategy. These market exposures, which are expected to change over time, primarily include exposures to the returns of U.S. and non-U.S. equity and fixed-income securities and securities indices, currencies, and commodities. More specifically, such equity exposures represent equity indices from various countries or groups of countries (including emerging market countries), fixed-income exposures represent benchmark government securities in various developed markets, currency exposures represent the values of various foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar, and commodity exposures represent benchmarks within the agriculture, livestock, base metals, precious metals, and energy commodity sectors. AlphaSimplex will have great flexibility to allocate the Funds derivatives exposure among various securities, indices, currencies, commodities and other instruments; the amount of the Funds assets that may be allocated to derivative strategies and among these various instruments is expected to vary over time. The Fund may take long and/or short positions in these instruments. A short exposure will benefit when the asset class underlying the derivatives position decreases in price. A long exposure will benefit when the asset class underlying the derivatives position increases in price. AlphaSimplex will scale the notional exposure of the Funds derivatives positions with the objective of targeting a relatively stable level of annualized volatility for the Funds overall portfolio (meaning, as volatility in a particular asset class rises, AlphaSimplex will generally reduce notional exposure to that asset class and increase notional exposure to a less volatile asset class). AlphaSimplex currently targets an annualized volatility level in line with the managed futures industry (as measured by standard deviation of the industrys returns). The standard deviation is a measure of how dispersed the data are in relation to the average data point. For a particular time period, the standard deviation of the Funds returns is, therefore, a measure of how dispersed daily fund returns are relative to the average daily fund return during this period. Although the Fund does not intend to invest in physical commodities directly, the Fund expects to seek to gain its exposure to commodities and commodity-related derivatives by investing in a wholly owned subsidiary organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands that will make commodity-related investments (the Subsidiary ). The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The strategies and risks described herein for the Fund are therefore also applicable to the Subsidiary. Under normal market conditions, it is expected that no more than 25% of the Funds total assets will be dedicated to initial and variation margin payments relating to the Funds derivative transactions, including those held by the Subsidiary. The gross notional value of the Funds derivative investments, however, will generally exceed 25% of the Funds total assets, and may significantly exceed the total value of the Funds assets. The Fund expects that under normal market conditions it will invest at least 75% of its total assets in money market instruments (specifically, obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities) and other short-term, high-quality investment-grade, U.S.-dollar denominated securities (such as bankers acceptances, certificates of deposit, commercial paper, loan participations, repurchase agreements and time deposits) (the Cash-Equivalent Portfolio ), although the Fund may invest less than this percentage. AlphaSimplex will determine the percentage of the Funds assets that will be invested in the Cash-Equivalent Portfolio at any time. The assets allocated to the Cash-Equivalent Portfolio will be used primarily to serve as margin or collateral for the Funds investments in derivatives and, secondarily, to provide the Fund with incremental income and liquidity. The percentage amounts set forth above pertaining to investments in the Cash-Equivalent Portfolio and initial and variation margin payments are not investment restrictions and the Fund may deviate from those stated amounts from time to time depending upon market conditions and other factors. The Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in futures contracts. The Fund may also engage in active and frequent trading of securities and other instruments, including derivatives.
Top holdings
As of Jan. 31, 2026 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| XIB 0 03/03/26 | B | $2.99M | 9.23% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | 912797SZ | $2.49M | 7.68% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | B | $2.49M | 7.67% |
| WI TREASURY SEC. 0.000000% 02/19/2026 | B | $2.30M | 7.08% |
| UST BILLS 0% 02/12/2026 | — | $2.00M | 6.16% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | B | $1.99M | 6.15% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | B | $1.50M | 4.63% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | B | $1.50M | 4.63% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | B | $1.50M | 4.62% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | B | $1.50M | 4.62% |
Portfolio moves
Oct 31, 2025 → Jan 31, 2026How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.
Similar funds
Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight| Fund | Overlap | Net exp. |
|---|---|---|
| Virtus AlphaSimplex Global Macro ETF | 38% | — |
| Princeton Adaptive Premium Fund | 37% | 1.58% |
| Global X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF · CLIP | 34% | 0.07% |
Advisers
| Firm | Role |
|---|---|
| Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, LLC | Adviser |
| AlphaSimplex Group, LLC | Sub-adviser |
Footnotes
- Expense ratio as of November 25, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
- Net assets and holdings count as of January 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
- Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).
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