I am done with BetaShares

[InsvestoBoy]

I had ~30% of my total equity position with BetaShares in QUS, which formed the US portion of my equity allocation.

BetaShares has changed their QUS product benchmark from FTSE RAFI US 1000 to Equal Weight S&P 500.

So they went from an extremely well thought out benchmark which is supposed to track the underlying fundamentals of the stocks it holds to one which just buys the losers and sells the winners.

The only benefit to shareholders? 10bps reduction in fees.

Aside from this, how much retail money did they incinerate this year in OOO? And why does their NASDAQ-100 tracker ETF cost 0.48%!!!! p.a in fees when QQQ on NASDAQ has a total expense ratio of 0.2%?

I have sold all my QUS and moved that money to Interactive Brokers where it'll go into a US ETF tracking the same benchmark, PRF.

I am done with BetaShares, their funds will receive no due diligence or investment from me in the future.

 

[over9k]

Bumping this thread after a search. I'm surprised there's not more discussion of ASX listed etf's on this forum.

There's some pretty nasty currency conversion and actual brokerage fees to buy QQQ etc directly.

Some of betashares' products are great IMO.

 

[Faramir]

If only I had the time. I would like to compare BetaShares QLTY to VanEck QUAL. Another Beatashares EFT I have being vaguely watching is cyber security HACK:

HACK - BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF

HACK aims to track the performance of an index (before fees and expenses) that provides exposure to the leading companies in the global cybersecurity sector. As of 5 July: NAV: $7.38 Net Assets: $A $219,621,511 Shares: 29,776,469 MER: 0.67% ! Top 10 and Weighing % CROWDSTRIKE HOLDINGS INC 6.5...

www.aussiestockforums.com

My knowledge with ETFs is so limited, I can’t contribute anything. All I am thinking about HACK is I missed the boat. There must be more to looking at ETFs than just comparing MER (even though that a major part of it).

 

[frugal.rock]

All I am thinking about HACK is I missed the boat.

I haven't looked at HACK, but from a macro perspective, the sector is one big boat that's only just getting started IMO.

Legislation is playing catch up. The only defence is prevention not cure.
The growth of this area is symbiotic to the level of crime.
Online crime is the new fashion, especially corporate aimed and state sanctioned.
Then there's the miriad of phishers...
The next few years should see a big push to tighten security and legislation. The online world is fast evolving with covid an accelerant.

 

[aus_trader]

I have some beta shares products like BetaShares Gold Bullion ETF-Currency Hedged (QAU) as disclosed in my Medium/Longer Term Stock Portfolio.

Yes the fees can be a bit high but they do offer wider range of products that are not offered by others, so I wouldn't write them off completely. Just have to be selective with the ETFs they offer.

 

[oilleak]

Wide range of categories but a lot are very low market cap/liquidity ......

 

[over9k]

Yeah that was my only concern.

But GGUS, AUDS, RBTZ, ASIA, GEAR, ACDC...


They're all fantastic products IMO and as far as I know, GEAR is the only leveraged XAO/XJO product out there (though I admittedly haven't done a great deal of searching) so I'm kind of surprised they're not more popular.

Most seem like fantastic products?

 

[Dona Ferentes]

except when they are not

Exchange Traded Fund ‘spreads’ widen during lockdowns

Units in exchange traded funds should be traded with caution during periods of high market turbulence.

www.smh.com.au

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are often lauded as a fail-safe way of buying market returns relatively cheaply. However, investors who sold some ETFs during last year’s sharemarket meltdown faced a blowout in “bid-ask spreads”, where big differences opened up in what buyers were willing to pay and what sellers were prepared to accept. Normally with ETFs, the spreads are low.

Most ETFs mirror the returns of a particular market; whether it be a benchmark share index or subindex, commodities, or even currency exchange rates. Their units are traded in the same way as shares, so they are usually easy to buy and sell and their management fees are low.
However, a study by Morningstar shows that those who sold some fixed-interest ETFs during the peak of the downturn in February and March faced spread costs of about 3 per cent, on average. The annual yield on those fixed-interest ETFs would have struggled to match that amount.

Bid-ask spreads tend to widen for all securities during periods of market stress when many investors want to sell at the same time.At the peak of the pandemic-induced sharemarket panic, some ETFs could not be sold into the open market at all – even if that only lasted for a few minutes.Some ETFs were more affected than others. For instance, those funds with not that much money invested in them and those that invest in global markets were at risk of bouts of illiquidity. Fixed-interest ETFs also suffered heavily.Matt Wilkinson, senior analyst at Morningstar, says investors often take it for granted that liquidity will always be there when the market is open– and it is, in normal market environments.

“But experience tells us that in stressed environments, market liquidity can suddenly dry up, causing trading costs [the buy-sell spread] to soar,” he says. “As always, long-term investors with well-diversified portfolios have an advantage.

“They are freer to choose when they trade and therefore can avoid stressed market conditions of low liquidity and high volatility, waiting for more benign conditions and for normal liquidity to return,” Wilkinson says. “We really are positive about ETFs but once an investor decides to enter the market and start trading them you are subject to all of the market whims... and we want investors to be aware of that,” Wilkinson says.

Chris Brycki, founder of online investment adviser Stockspot, says the liquidity problems of some ETFs were likely the result of the liquidity of the underlying assets, rather than any problems with the ETF vehicles themselves.

ETFs have become highly popular with investors. There is about $100 billion invested in the more than 200 ETFs listed on the Australian sharemarket – up from just $60 billion at the end of 2019.

 

[over9k]

What do you mean except when they are not?

Most of them are EXACTLY what I want to invest in and the way I want to invest in it. The liquidity might be low, but the actual product itself is fantastic IMO.

As I said, I'm surprised they're not more popular.

 

[aus_trader]

Agree with both sides of the argument from my experience.

Yes good selection of products to choose from, but at times of crisis such as during the initial Covid crash of early 2020 the Bid-Ask was so wide !

 

[finicky]

Tacking on this query here. Got this unsolicited in my email.
Free brokerage through their Betashares Direct App. Seemsaytractive and I'm interested in a few of their etfs: like AAA, QUA and A200. E.g Can buy fractionally at no cost.
Any thoughts?