Toronto – February 6, 2018 – Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. (the “Manager”) announced today a trading halt on the units of the Horizons S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures™ Daily Inverse ETF, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol (“HVI”).
HVI seeks daily investment results, before fees, expenses, distributions, brokerage commissions and other transaction costs that endeavour to correspond to the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index™.
The Manager’s decision to halt HVI followed its assessment of the extreme volatility in VIX- futures market that occurred in after-hours market trading yesterday. The unexpected level of volatility has impaired the trading of the underlying derivatives used by many VIX-related exchange traded products that seek to provide inverse exposure to the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures.
The Manager continues to monitor the trading activities in these underlying derivatives and will advise if any further action on HVI is required in due course. In accordance with HVI’s declaration of trust and subject to any necessary regulatory approvals, the Manager has also temporarily suspended redemptions and new subscriptions until further notice.
For investor inquiries:
1-866-641-5739 (toll-free) or (416) 933-5745
info@horizonsetfs.com
For press or other inquiries:
Mark Noble, Head of Sales Strategy
Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc.
(416) 640-8254
mnoble@horizonsetfs.com
Horizons ETFs is a Member of Mirae Asset Global Investments. Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with an investment in exchange traded products managed by Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. (the "Horizons Exchange Traded Products"). The Horizons Exchange Traded Products are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The prospectus contains important detailed information about the Horizons Exchange Traded Products. Please read the relevant prospectus before investing.
The Horizons Exchange Traded Products consist of the Horizons Index ETFs ("Index ETFs"), 2x Daily Bull and -2x Daily Bear ETFs ("2x Daily ETFs"), Inverse ETFs ("Inverse ETFs"), VIX ETFs (defined below) and active ETFs. The 2x Daily ETFs and certain other Horizons Exchange Traded Products use leveraged investment techniques that can magnify gains and losses and may result in greater volatility of returns. These Horizons Exchange Traded Products are subject to leverage risk and may be subject to aggressive investment risk and price volatility risk, which, where applicable, are described in their respective prospectuses. Each 2x Daily ETF seeks a return, before fees and expenses, that is either 200% or -200% of the performance of a specified underlying index, commodity or benchmark (the "Target") for a single day. Each Index ETF or Inverse ETF seeks a return that is 100% or -100%, respectively, of the performance of a Target. Due to the compounding of daily returns, a 2x Daily ETF's or Inverse ETF's returns over periods other than one day will likely differ in amount and possibly direction from the performance of their respective Target(s) for the same period. The Horizons Exchange Traded Products whose Target is the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index™ (the "VIX ETFs"), one of which is a 2x Daily ETF and one of which is an Index ETF, as described in their prospectus, are speculative investment tools that are not conventional investments. The VIX ETFs' Target is highly volatile. As a result, the VIX ETFs are not generally viewed as stand-alone long-term investments. Historically, the VIX ETFs' Target has tended to revert to a historical mean. As a result, the performance of the VIX ETFs' Target is expected to be negative over the longer term and neither the VIX ETFs nor their Target are expected to have positive long term performance. Investors should monitor their holdings, as frequently as daily, to ensure that they remain consistent with their investment strategies.
