Investment objective & strategy
As of Oct. 24, 2025 · prospectusObjective. HUSSMAN STRATEGIC MARKET CYCLE FUND (the Fund) seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation, with added emphasis on the protection of capital during unfavorable market conditions.
Strategy. The Fund will typically be fully invested in common stocks favored by Hussman Strategic Advisors, Inc., the Funds investment adviser, except for modest cash balances arising in connection with the Funds day-to-day operations and proceeds from options written by the Fund to hedge its equity investments. When market conditions are unfavorable in the view of the investment adviser, the Fund may use options and index futures, as well as other hedging strategies, to reduce the exposure of the Funds stock portfolio to the impact of general market fluctuations. When market conditions are favorable in the view of the investment adviser, the Fund may use options to increase its exposure to the impact of general market fluctuations. In general, the stock … The Fund will typically be fully invested in common stocks favored by Hussman Strategic Advisors, Inc., the Funds investment adviser, except for modest cash balances arising in connection with the Funds day-to-day operations and proceeds from options written by the Fund to hedge its equity investments. When market conditions are unfavorable in the view of the investment adviser, the Fund may use options and index futures, as well as other hedging strategies, to reduce the exposure of the Funds stock portfolio to the impact of general market fluctuations. When market conditions are favorable in the view of the investment adviser, the Fund may use options to increase its exposure to the impact of general market fluctuations. In general, the stock selection approach of the investment adviser focuses on securities demonstrating favorable valuations and/or market action. The primary consideration used by the investment adviser in assessing a stocks valuation is the relationship between its current market price and the present value of estimated expected future cash flows per share. Other valuation measures, such as the current dividend yield, and ratios of stock price to earnings and stock price to revenue, are also analyzed in relation to expected future growth of cash flows in an attempt to measure underlying value and the potential for long-term returns. Additional considerations include measures of financial stability such as variations in profit margins and balance sheet indicators. The analysis of market action includes measurements of price behavior and trading volume. The investment adviser believes that strength in these measures is often a reflection of improving business prospects and the potential for earnings surprises above consensus estimates, which can result in increases in stock prices. In the implementation of the Funds investment strategy, the Adviser attempts to use day-to-day market fluctuations opportunistically, often using short-term weakness to purchase securities highly ranked based on the Advisers investment discipline, and using short-term strength to sell lower-ranked holdings. While the resulting transactions are made in consideration of their expected impact on long-term after-tax returns, greater frequency of such opportunities, as viewed by the Adviser, may be associated with increased portfolio turnover. The investment adviser believes that market return/risk characteristics differ significantly across varying market conditions. The investment strategy attempts to vary the Funds sensitivity to market fluctuations in response to measurable, observable market conditions as they change over time. The two most important dimensions considered by the investment adviser are valuation and market action. In the analysis of overall market conditions, valuation considers the relationship of major stock indices to the stream of earnings, dividends and cash flows expected in the future in an attempt to measure the underlying value of stocks and the long-term returns implied by their current market prices. Market action considers the behavior of a wide range of securities and industry groups, in an attempt to assess the economic outlook of investors and their willingness to accept market risk. In addition, the investment adviser evaluates economic conditions, investor sentiment, interest rates, credit-sensitive indicators and other factors in an attempt to classify prevailing market conditions with historically similar instances. Historically, different combinations of valuation, market action and other factors have been accompanied by significantly different stock market performance in terms of return/risk. The investment adviser expects to intentionally leverage or increase the stock market exposure of the Fund in environments where the expected return from market risk is believed to be high, and may reduce or hedge the exposure of the Funds stock portfolio to the impact of general market fluctuations in environments where the expected return from market risk is believed to be unfavorable. The Funds strategy is focused on navigating investment environments over complete market cycles comprising periods of significantly advancing and declining stock prices and valuations. Specific strategies for leveraging or increasing stock market exposure may include buying call options on individual stocks or market indices and writing put options on stocks which the Fund seeks to own. The Funds equity market exposure through a combination of stock holdings and the notional value of options is not expected to exceed 150% of its net assets, with up to 100% of net assets representing unhedged equity positions. When the Fund is in its most aggressive stance, the share price of the Fund could be expected to fluctuate up to 1 times as much as it would if the Fund had not leveraged its portfolio. The Fund may, at times, establish gross exposure in excess of net assets through a combination of equity positions and offsetting hedges, such as short index options or long index puts. This differs from unhedged leverage, in that the additional gross exposure is paired with hedge positions intended to mitigate market risk. The principal strategies used for reducing or hedging market exposure include buying put options on individual stocks or stock indices, writing covered call options on stocks which the Fund owns or call options on stock indices, and establishing short futures positions or option combinations (such as simultaneously writing call options and purchasing put options) on one or more stock indices considered by the investment adviser to be correlated with the Funds portfolio. The Fund may use these strategies to hedge up to 100% of the value of the stocks that it owns. However, the Fund may experience a loss even when the entire value of its stock portfolio is hedged if the returns of the stocks held by the Fund do not exceed the returns of the securities and financial instruments used to hedge, or if the exercise prices of the Funds call and put options differ, so that the combined loss on these options during a market advance exceeds the gain on the underlying stock index. To the extent the Fund establishes leveraged and hedged investment positions as part of its investment program, its investment performance may deviate significantly from the performance of major stock indices for substantial portions of a market cycle. When market conditions are favorable in the view of the investment adviser, the use of options to increase the Funds market exposure may amplify the sensitivity of the Funds returns to general market fluctuations for meaningful periods of time, and the Fund may experience a net loss of time-value on purchased options. When market conditions are unfavorable in the view of the investment adviser, the Fund may experience limited, zero, or possibly negative correlation with general market fluctuations for meaningful periods of time, and may experience a net loss of time-value on purchased options. The choice of stock indices and instruments used for hedging is based on a consideration of the securities held in the Funds portfolio from time to time, and the availability and liquidity of futures, options and other instruments on such indices. The primary intent of the Funds hedging strategy is to reduce the impact of general market fluctuations when stock market conditions generally are viewed by the investment adviser as unfavorable. The Fund generally hedges using indices that are correlated, though perhaps imperfectly, with the stocks owned by the Fund. These may include indices of U.S. stocks such as the Standard & Poors 500 Index. The portion of the Funds net assets invested at any given time in securities of issuers engaged in industries within a particular business sector may be affected by valuation considerations and other investment characteristics of that sector. As a result, the Funds investments in various business sectors generally will change over time, and a significant allocation to any particular sector does not represent an investment policy or investment strategy to invest in that sector. There are no restrictions as to the market capitalizations of companies in which the Fund invests. However, the Fund invests primarily in stocks that are listed or trade on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ Stock Market. The Fund generally invests in stocks of companies with market capitalizations in excess of $500 million, although it may invest a portion of its assets in the stocks of companies having smaller market capitalizations, which involves different risks than larger capitalization investments. Because the S&P 500 Index is perhaps the most widely recognized index of U.S. common stocks, as well as a widely used benchmark for growth-oriented investors, it is believed to be an appropriate broad-based securities market index against which to compare the Funds long-term investment performance. However, the Fund may invest in securities that are not included in the S&P 500 Index, and may vary its exposure to market fluctuations depending on the investment advisers view of market conditions. As a result, the Funds investment returns may differ from the performance of major stock market indices for meaningful periods of time.
Top holdings
As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invesco Treasury Portfolio, Institutional Class | — | $157.49M | 39.80% |
| Zoetis, Inc. 03/20/2026 110 Put | ZTS 260320P0011000 | $6.24M | 1.58% |
| Zoetis, Inc. 03/20/2026 110 Put | ZTS 260320P0011000 | $5.90M | 1.49% |
| CORCEPT THERAPEUTICS INC | — | $4.84M | 1.22% |
| UNITED NATURAL FOODS INC | — | $4.51M | 1.14% |
| THE CAMPBELL'S COMPANY | — | $4.45M | 1.13% |
| APA CORP | — | $4.24M | 1.07% |
| ETSY INC | — | $4.00M | 1.01% |
| ANI PHARMACEUTICALS INC | — | $3.84M | 0.97% |
| CONCENTRIX CORP | — | $3.83M | 0.97% |
Portfolio moves
Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 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. |
|---|---|---|
| HUSSMAN STRATEGIC ALLOCATION FUND · HSAFX | 88% | 1.29% |
| Invesco Balanced-Risk Commodity Strategy Fund · BRCAX, BRCCX, BRCRX, BRCYX, BRCNX, IBRFX | 26% | 0.98% |
| EUBEL BRADY & SUTTMAN INCOME AND APPRECIATION FUND · EBSZX | 26% | 0.24% |
Advisers
| Firm | Role |
|---|---|
| Hussman Strategic Advisors, Inc. | Adviser |
Footnotes
- Expense ratio as of October 24, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
- Net assets and holdings count as of March 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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