Tag Archives: chris hempstead

ETFs & Obamacare: The Broccoli ETF

March 27, 2012 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

“If Congress can force me to buy health insurance, can it also force me to eat broccoli?”…

That question, according to WallachBeth Capital’s Chris Hempstead, is one that he can’t answer, but Hempstead does have a sharp-as-a-scalpel perspective re: the ETFs to put under a microscope as the US Supreme Court is scheduled to perform surgery on President Obama’s healthcare initiative:

IHF: IShares DJ US Healthcare Providers (77% Healthcare Services and 17% Pharma)

Year to date the IHF fund is +11.6% and since Obamacare passed +24% versus SPX of 12.6% and 20% respectively.

PTH: PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector (25% Pharma, 25% Healthcare Products, 24% Healthcare Services and 14% Biotech)

YTD the PTH fund is +12.6% (SPX 12.6%) and since Obamacare +28% (SPX 20%).

FXH: First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX (30% Pharma, 30% Healthcare Services, 24% Healthcare Products and 12% Biotech)

YTD the FXH fund is +13% (SPX 12.6%) and since Obamacare +29% (SPX 20%).

YTD XLV is +7.9% (SPX 12.6%) and since Obamacare +16% (SPX 20%). XLV has an expense ratio of .18%.

ETF News, People Profiles

Hearing is Believing: ETF Best Ex Expert Says…

March 6, 2012 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

As US equity indexes search for a trading session bottom from which to bounce today, traders are slamming their phones in frustration when discovering the screen markets are as clear as a very cloudy day. Nothing new on that front..as ETF market experts will repeatedly repeat “don’t expect to find deep liquidity on the screens, expect to find it courtesy of connectivity..”

To hear it from the horse’s mouth, this BloombergLP-inspired podcast with Chris Hempstead, head of ETF execution for WallachBeth Capital is a good listen. Click this link: ETF Liquidity Interview

ETF News, People Profiles, Tech Talk

ETF Transparency: Thinly-Traded Does Not Mean Illiquid-Says Leading ETF Issuer

February 29, 2012 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

Unbeknownst to too many who traffic in ETFs, the phrases “thinly-traded” and “illiquid” are far from synonymous.

Yes, of the now 1300+ exchange-traded funds, 2/3 of the total ETF trading volume is attributed to the top 25 “go-go names.” But, whether you’re an RIA, a corporate treasurer, a hedge fund manager, or a pension fund administrator, if your investment and/or trading decisions are predicated on what the “screen” displays, you’re not only foregoing investment opportunities that your peers are benefiting from, but you’re likely in the wrong business.

That’s the take-away from a solid white paper produced by a group that would know: Emerging Global Advisors LLC, one of the leading issuers of emerging market ETF products.

It takes more than moxy for a firm that feeds products into the exchange-traded marketplace to observe that trading screens (which aggregate bids and offers scrapped from the assortment of regulated exchanges) are often less than transparent.

To drive this point home, the white paper’s leading shout out: “The Screen Market is Not the Market.”

Continue reading →

ETF News

Despite Rally, US Market Lags List of 35 Best Global ETF Markets

February 28, 2012 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

We just scored the most recent trading desk comments courtesy of WallachBeth Capital’s Chris Hempstead.

” Last week I took a look at YTD performance of the US Equity based ETF’s with exposure to the S&P sectors.

Today I would like to broaden that view and simply rank and look at the YTD top performing Equity based ETF’s globally.

What sparked my interest in creating this list was my curiosity to see how far down the list I needed to go before I found the top US Equity ETF. I wasn’t expecting it to be so far down the list, however I am not surprised that it was biotech for being the US market sector group which has been on the biggest tear in the US Continue reading →

ETF News, People Profiles

Expert ETF Trader: Liquidity Is There; Just Look Beyond the Screens

February 24, 2012 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

Other than the ETF market “go-go names”, one of the more commonly-voiced, and according to many, often-misguided observations regarding most ETFs is “won’t trade it, there’s no liquidity in that name,” or “the screens are only showing 1000 shares offered and I have to pay up 50 cents to buy a lousy 25,000 shares?!”

As a consequence, any half-smart portfolio manager often quickly (if not wrongly) concludes that the “lack of liquidity cost” is a deterrent to their positioning what is otherwise a very compelling “basket” of underlying securities.

The editors here don’t buy into the lack of liquidity notion, and after getting our hands on desk notes published today by Chris Hempstead, Head ETF Trader for WallachBeth Capital (one of the more prominent players in the ETF space), we couldn’t resist the opportunity to re-publish.

But wait, there’s more!

Global Macro Strategy, People Profiles

WallachBeth ETF Trader Takes A Dive: To Raise $100k for ALS

February 13, 2012 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

hempsteadwebsite — Chris Hempstead; Head of ETF Trading / WallachBeth Capital

Hands above your head and clap ’em together for Chris Hempstead, head of ETF trading at WallachBeth Capital..Hempstead recently took a dive (in frigid water), to help raise $100k for ALS…See the full coverage courtesy of TRADERS Magazine