The DENT Tactical ETF (NYSE symbol: DENT)
The Dent Tactical ETF commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2009, under the nyse: DENT. The first product of AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, DENT was actively managed by HS Dent Investment Management, LLC, an independent economic research and forecasting company and publisher of The Dent Method.[16]
HS Dent Investment Management was managed by financial author, Harry S. Dent Jr. According to Morningstar, Inc., DENT had highest expense ratio among ETFs, 1.5% of assets, as of July 2011.[17] DENT closed in August 2012.[18]
The Mars Hill Global Relative Value ETF (NYSE symbol: GRV)
The Mars Hill Global Relative Value ETF commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 9, 2010, under the NYSE Ticker: GRV and was managed by Mars Hill Partners, LLC. GRV was the industry's first actively managed long/short ETF.[19]
While GRV managed to raise $38 million a month after it launched, investors fled until the fund had only $3.2 million left. On December 1, 2011, Accuvest Global Advisors took over management of the fund and changed the name and ticker to AdvisorShares Accuvest Global Long Short ETF (AGLS).[19] AGLS closed on August 7, 2015.[20]
The Cambria Global Tactical ETF (NYSE symbol: GTAA)
The Cambria Global Tactical ETF commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 25, 2010 under the NYSE Ticker: GTAA and was managed by Los Angeles–based Cambria Investment Management and had a net expense ratio of 135 basis points. Mebane Faber and Eric Richardson were co-portfolio managers of the fund. The fund invested in underlying ETFs spanning all asset classes using a trend-based model.[21] Cambria Investment Management and AdvisorShares separated on July 25, 2014. Cambria launched the successor to GTAA, the Cambria Global Momentum ETF (GMOM), at a management fee of 0.59%.[22] North Carolina–based Morgan Creek Capital Management became GTAA’s new sub-advisor. GTAA finally closed on May 12, 2017.[23]
The Global Echo ETF (NYSE Symbol: GIVE) and partnership with Philippe Cousteau Jr.
In May 2012, AdvisorShares launched the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF nyse: GIVE on the New York Stock Exchange focused on sustainable investing; the fund also said it would donate a portion of the fund expense fees to Global Echo Foundation, a nonprofit co-founded by Philippe Cousteau, Jr. focused on social issues impacting women and children to environmental conservation, as well as supporting social entrepreneurship.[24] The fund's expense ratio was 1.7%, including 0.4% that was donated to the Global Echo Foundation. One potential concern investors may have had about investing in GIVE is that they didn't get a tax write-off for the portion of the management fee that was donated to the charitable foundation.[25] GIVE closed on May 17, 2017.[26]
The Peritus High Yield ETF (NYSE symbol: HYLD)
AdvisorShares teamed up with Peritus Asset Management to launch the AdvisorShares Peritus High Yield ETF nyse: HYLD on December 1, 2010. HYLD was the first actively managed high yield bond ETF and was sub-advised by Peritus Asset Management. Tim Gramatovich was the Chief Investment Officer of Peritus and managed the fund with Ron Heller (tight end).[27] By May 2014 the ETF had over $1 billion in assets under management.[28] On December 8, 2017, it was announced that the AdvisorShares Board of Trustees had approved a transition of HYLD from the AdvisorShares Trust to the Amplify ETF Trust, which was expected to become effective in the second quarter of 2018.[29] On June 22, 2018, Exchange Traded Concepts in conjunction with Eve Capital, announced the transfer of HYLD to the ETC ELF Trust.[30]
The TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF (NYSE symbol: TTFS)
AdvisorShares teamed up with TrimTabs Investment Research to launch the AdvisorShares TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF nyse: TTFS on October 4, 2011. TTFS was sub-advised by TrimTabs Asset Management ("Portfolio Manager"), a subsidiary of TrimTabs Investment Research (TrimTabs). The Fund sought to achieve this objective by investing in stocks with liquidity and fundamental characteristics that are historically associated with superior long-term performance. Charles Biderman was the CEO of TrimTabs and a Portfolio Manager for the ETF along with Minyi Chen.
Subsequently, TrimTabs filed with the SEC to launch their own self-indexed ETFs without the aid of AdvisorShares.[31] On May 26, 2016, AdvisorShares announced that it had removed TrimTabs as manager of its TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF, which had about $178 million in assets at the time. AdvisorShares replaced TrimTabs with Wilshire Associates, of Santa Monica, California, but offered no explanation for the change.[32] The name of the fund was changed to the Wilshire Buyback ETF but despite the name change AdvisorShares kept the TTFS stock ticker. The TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF had earned a coveted five-star Morningstar rating by delivering annualized returns of 19.22% as of March 31, 2016. TTFS had also outperformed both the NASDAQ Buyback Achievers Index by 2.2% annually and the Russell 3000 Index by 2.49% annually. "This is insane", TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman said of the firing, "They came up with no reason, no nothing.” Charles Biderman claimed that it was nearly impossible for Wilshire to replicate TrimTabs stock selection methodology and his first move after the firing was to open a separately managed account with a lower minimum investment and lower fees than TTFS.
