BATS Global Markets, a leading electronic stock exchange group, has announced that ProShares, a US-based provider of specialist exchange-traded funds, will be transferring four of their NYSE Arca-listed ETFs to their exchange. The relocation, which sees the number of ProShares ETFs listed on the BATS ETF Marketplace increase to 11, is indicative of the growing presence of BATS as a listing destination for ETFs in the US.
Chris Concannon, CEO of BATS Global Markets.
Chris Concannon, CEO of BATS, commented: “We are pleased that ProShares is moving these four products to The BATS ETF Marketplace, becoming the first issuer to switch products to our market. We believe this important transfer is a recognition of BATS exceptional market quality coupled with our client-focused approach that supports all the needs of our ETP issuers.”
The four funds will be transferred to the BATS exchange in mid December 2015. The ProShares Large Cap Core Plus ETF (CSM) offers US large cap equity exposure similar to holding the S&P 500 (target beta of 1.0) while also using a rules-based methodology to pursue long-short strategies. The weightings within the long-short strategy are based on the expected alpha of individual securities which in turn is based on factors such as momentum, technical analysis, profitability, growth, and value. The ProShares Russell 2000 Dividend Growers ETF (SMDV) invests exclusively in Russell 2000 companies while selecting firms that have increased their dividends for a minimum of ten consecutive years. Each firm is assigned an equal weighting within the fund.
The ProShares S&P MidCap 400 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (REGL) invests exclusively in S&P 400 Mid-cap companies which have increased their dividends for a minimum of 15 consecutive years. Each firm is assigned an equal weighting within the fund. The ProShares Morningstar Alternatives Solution ETF (ALTS) uses a fund-of-funds structure to allocate between various ProShares ETFs which cater for alternatives investment solutions. These include investing in private equity, real estate, infrastructure, as well as ETFs that replicate various hedge fund strategies (e.g. managed futures, long-short, merger, treasury spread).
BATS has continued to attract major issuers to its platform through the adoption of innovative programs aimed at incentivising issuers and market makers for respectively listing and providing liquidity on the exchange. WisdomTree, a leading provider of ETFs, also recently launched their first BATS-listed funds. BATS has experienced the highest trading volumes in ETFs of any US exchange for every month of 2015, capturing 27.2% of market share during October.