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WisdomTree Solutions to Market Volatility

Published August 21, 2018

Jeremy Schwartz, CFA
Jeremy Schwartz, CFA

Global Chief Investment Officer

August has been a volatile month from a market performance stand point. With that in mind, it is interesting to look at how WisdomTree strategies have been performing with this volatility.

First, the strongest performing fund within the WisdomTree line up in August was our Strong dollar fund, the WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU). This just goes to show that much of the emerging market uncertainty showing up is coming from within the currency moves. But beyond that, some of our better performing strategies are three of our alternative strategies: the WisdomTree Dynamic Long/Short U.S. Equity Fund (DYLS), the WisdomTree Dynamic Bearish U.S. Equity Fund (DYB), and our WisdomTree CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Strategy Fund (PUTW).

During periods of volatility when people expect upside gains to be limited, a put-writing fund like PUTW can be a valuable tool in gaining access to writing options to collect premiums. Where this strategy may lag is when markets are full-steaming ahead in a strong bull market – which does not appear to be the current mentality for the market, and henceforth, makes the strategy relevant.

Our fixed income funds were also on this list. In particular, our yield enhanced Aggregate bond strategies, both the core and short-term versions -- WisdomTree Yield Enhanced U.S. Aggregate Bond Fund (AGGY) and WisdomTree Yield Enhanced U.S. Short-Term Aggregate Bond Fund (SHAG) --, have shown strong performance in the face of a rising rate environment. Kevin Flanagan just wrote a piece on barbelling fixed income strategies that combine our WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund (USFR) with AGGY, to create a blended fixed income exposure.

The best performing WisdomTree U.S. equity strategy continues to be our WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Fund (USMF), which continues to be among top performing WisdomTree Equity strategies year to date.

Top/Bottom Performing WisdomTree ETFs NAVMarket PriceTopBottomDLYMTDQTDYTD3M1Y3Y5Y10YAll Asset ClassAll Sub Asset ClassAs of 4/17/2026

Ticker

Fund

Category

Inception Date

Cumulative
Returns

No Data To Display*The standardized performance of each Fund, can be found by clicking on the Fund’s ticker symbol.Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than quoted. Investment returns and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Returns less than one year are not annualized. Performance data for the most recent month-end is available on the respective fund pages. Top/Bottom Performing WisdomTree ETFs NAVMarket PriceTopBottomDLYMTDQTDYTD3M1Y3Y5Y10YAll Asset ClassAll Sub Asset ClassAs of 4/17/2026

Ticker

Fund

Category

Inception Date

Cumulative
Returns

No Data To Display*The standardized performance of each Fund, can be found by clicking on the Fund’s ticker symbol.Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than quoted. Investment returns and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Returns less than one year are not annualized. Performance data for the most recent month-end is available on the respective fund pages.

The area of the market that has been hit hardest in August has been the emerging markets, China, and European local market exposure. Of the bottom 10 performing WisdomTree strategies, 8 of them are emerging market focused, and 2 of them are European focused, as the declining euro weighs in on performance.

Top/Bottom Performing WisdomTree ETFs NAVMarket PriceTopBottomDLYMTDQTDYTD3M1Y3Y5Y10YAll Asset ClassAll Sub Asset ClassAs of 4/17/2026

Ticker

Fund

Category

Inception Date

Cumulative
Returns

No Data To Display*The standardized performance of each Fund, can be found by clicking on the Fund’s ticker symbol.Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than quoted. Investment returns and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Returns less than one year are not annualized. Performance data for the most recent month-end is available on the respective fund pages.

For investors who are looking for options to lower volatility in emerging markets and Europe, WisdomTree just launched two multi-factor strategies that employs a currency factor as one of the multiple factors. The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Multifactor Fund (EMMF) launched on August 10th with a 70% currency hedge ratio – which currently places this amongst our more defensive strategies. That currency signal resets every two weeks, so if the currencies start appreciating, it will not stay hedged for long. In fact, our research shows that the signals are only hedged 20% of the time.

The WisdomTree International Multifactor Fund (DWMF) was also launched with over an 80% hedge ratio, and over 90% hedged for the Euro. The developed world signals have lower latency re-balancing and do so monthly. Both strategies have a factor process that emphasizes lower volatility in the weighting process of securities. Through factors like risk-adjusted momentum and low correlation selection in the stock selection process, we expect these strategies to be attractive solutions for periods of higher volatility, like what we just experienced in August. For those interested in learning more about our newest multifactor strategy, please read this latest blog.

Important Risks Related to this Article

There are risks associated with investing, including possible loss of principal. Foreign investing involves currency, political and economic risk. Funds focusing on a single country, sector and/or funds that emphasize investments in smaller companies may experience greater price volatility. Investments in emerging markets, real estate, currency, fixed income and alternative investments include additional risks. Please read each Fund’s prospectus for specific details regarding each Fund’s risk profile.

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About the contributor

Jeremy Schwartz, CFA
Jeremy Schwartz, CFA

Global Chief Investment Officer

Jeremy Schwartz has served as Global Chief Investment Officer since November 2021 and leads WisdomTree’s investment strategy team in the construction of WisdomTree’s equity Indexes, quantitative active strategies and multi-asset Model Portfolios. Jeremy joined WisdomTree in May 2005 as a Senior Analyst, adding Deputy Director of Research to his responsibilities in February 2007. He served as Director of Research from October 2008 to October 2018 and as Global Head of Research from November 2018 to November 2021. Before joining WisdomTree, he was a head research assistant for Professor Jeremy Siegel and, in 2022, became his co-author on the sixth edition of the book Stocks for the Long Run. Jeremy is also co-author of the Financial Analysts Journal paper “What Happened to the Original Stocks in the S&P 500?” He received his B.S. in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and hosts the Behind the Markets podcast. Jeremy is a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia.

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Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Funds before investing. U.S. investors only: To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please call 866.909.9473, or click here to view or download a prospectus online. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest. There are risks involved with investing, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

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Foreign investing involves currency, political and economic risk. Funds focusing on a single country, sector and/or funds that emphasize investments in smaller companies may experience greater price volatility. Investments in emerging markets, real estate, currency, fixed income and alternative investments include additional risks. Due to the investment strategy of certain Funds, they may make higher capital gain distributions than other ETFs. Please see prospectus for discussion of risks.

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