TOPS Managed Risk Growth ETF Portfolio
Northern Lights Variable Trust
Fund of funds
Expense ratio
Net assets1
$161.21M
Holdings1
21
Category
US Equity
Return

Investment objective & strategy

As of April 22, 2025 · prospectus

Objective. The Portfolio seeks capital appreciation with less volatility than the equity markets as a whole.

Strategy. The Portfolio employs a fund-of-funds structure that invests, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its assets in exchange-traded funds (?ETFs?). The Portfolio also employs exchange-traded futures contracts to hedge market risk and reduce return volatility. The ETFs included in the Portfolio invest primarily in securities representing one of the following asset classes: Government Fixed Income Securities Corporate Fixed Income Securities Common and Preferred Stocks Real Estate-Related Securities (?REITs?) Natural Resource-Related Securities The Portfolio restricts investment in fixed income ETFs to those with an average maturity of 20 years or less and invests primarily in ETFs with average portfolio credit quality of investment grade. Maturity is the time between when a fixed income security is issued and when it … The Portfolio employs a fund-of-funds structure that invests, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its assets in exchange-traded funds (?ETFs?). The Portfolio also employs exchange-traded futures contracts to hedge market risk and reduce return volatility. The ETFs included in the Portfolio invest primarily in securities representing one of the following asset classes: Government Fixed Income Securities Corporate Fixed Income Securities Common and Preferred Stocks Real Estate-Related Securities (?REITs?) Natural Resource-Related Securities The Portfolio restricts investment in fixed income ETFs to those with an average maturity of 20 years or less and invests primarily in ETFs with average portfolio credit quality of investment grade. Maturity is the time between when a fixed income security is issued and when it matures. No more than 15% of the portfolio will be allocated to fixed income ETFs with an average portfolio credit quality below investment grade (commonly referred to as ?junk bond? credit quality). The Portfolio defines investment grade credit quality as Baa3 or higher by Moody?s Investors Service or BBB- or higher by Standard and Poor?s Rating Group. The Portfolio invests in ETFs that may invest in securities without restriction as to underlying issuer country (including foreign and emerging countries), capitalization or currency. The Portfolio considers emerging market countries to be those represented in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The Portfolio invests in REIT ETFs and natural resource ETFs without restriction as to underlying issuer capitalization. The adviser seeks to achieve the Portfolio?s investment objectives by allocating assets and selecting individual ETFs using the adviser?s TOPS (The Optimized Portfolio System) methodology. The TOPS methodology utilizes multiple asset classes to enhance performance and/or reduce risk (as measured by return volatility). To achieve the Portfolio?s income aspect of the Portfolio?s investment objectives, the adviser allocates approximately 5%-35% of Portfolio assets to fixed income ETFs. To achieve the capital appreciation aspect of the Portfolio?s investment objectives, the adviser allocates approximately 65%-95% of Portfolio assets to a combination of equity ETFs, equity derivatives, REIT ETFs and natural resource ETFs. Furthermore, the adviser selects some equity ETFs that are composed of growth stocks. The adviser expects growth stocks, those with higher-than-average earnings growth and, typically, higher than average price-to-earnings ratios (P/E), to have returns that are higher than the equity market as a whole. The adviser selects individual ETFs that it believes are reasonably representative of an asset class and have relatively low expenses and/or relatively high returns when compared to a peer group of ETFs. The adviser may sell individual ETFs to rebalance asset allocation or to purchase a substitute ETF with a higher expected return or lower risk profile. The adviser seeks to manage return volatility by employing a sub-adviser to execute a portfolio ?managed risk? strategy. The sub-adviser?s managed risk strategy consists of using hedge instruments (exchange-traded futures contracts) to reduce the downside risk of the majority of the Portfolio?s securities. The sub-adviser may use: equity futures contracts, treasury futures contracts, currency futures contracts, and other hedge instruments judged by the sub-adviser to be necessary to achieve the goals of the managed risk strategy. The sub-adviser may also buy or sell futures contracts based on one or more market indices in an attempt to maintain the Portfolio?s volatility at the targeted level in an environment in which the sub-adviser expects market volatility to decrease or increase, respectively. The sub-adviser selects individual futures contracts that it believes will have prices that are highly correlated (negatively) to the Portfolio?s ETF positions. The sub-adviser adjusts short futures positions to manage overall net Portfolio risk exposure, in an attempt to stabilize the volatility of the Portfolio around a target level set by the Adviser and to reduce the potential for portfolio losses during periods of significant and sustained market decline. The sub-adviser regularly monitors and forecasts volatility in the markets utilizing a proprietary model, and adjusts the Portfolio?s futures positions in response to specific changes in the market and in the Portfolio. In addition, the sub-adviser will monitor liquidity levels of relevant futures contracts and transparency provided by exchanges as the counterparties in hedging transactions. Following market declines, a downside rebalancing strategy will be used to decrease the amount of futures contracts used to hedge the Portfolio. The sub-adviser also adjusts futures positions to realign individual hedges when the adviser rebalances the Portfolio?s asset allocation profile. Depending on market conditions, scenarios may occur where the Portfolio has no positions in any futures contracts. The Portfolio and the adviser have received a SEC order that allows the adviser to hire a new sub-adviser or sub-advisers without shareholder approval. There is no guarantee that the Portfolio will meet its investment objectives. Who Should Invest in the Portfolio? The adviser believes the Portfolio is appropriate for investors with short-term to intermediate-term investment horizons who seek capital preservation as well as the opportunity for modest income and modest capital appreciation.

Allocation by sector

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
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Portfolio moves

Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026
Opened
0
Exited
0
Increased
2
Decreased
21
Unchanged
1

How 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.

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Advisers

As of December 31, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC Sub-adviser
Valmark Advisers, Inc. Adviser

Footnotes

  1. Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.

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