ETF Symposiums

2008 ETF Symposium

Monday, September 22 - Tuesday, September 23
Embassy Suites Hotel -
Centennial Olympic Park
Atlanta, GA

Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) assets topped $607 billion by the end of May 2008.

But that’s just the start of the story. 2007 was the year of the leveraged and inverse ETF, with a total of 52 coming to market. Fixed income had a record 45 ETFs launched in 2007. 70% of the 698 U.S. listed ETFs available in mid 2008 came into existence in 2006 or later.

ETFs are the lowest priced investment tool in registration with the range of fees in domestic equity ETFs from 0.07% to 0.95%; international averages are about 0.55%. Capital gains are avoided when making in-kind transactions.

In a rapidly evolving market, ETFs are an investment advisers need to know and understand how to trade effectively to benefit client portfolios. There’s no better place to obtain that information than the NAAIM ETF Symposium, scheduled for Sept. 22-23 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Centennial Parks Embassy Suites Hotel.

This is your chance to find out about the latest ETF offerings, how other NAAIM members are using these vehicles for client portfolios, as well as successful trading strategies, hedging techniques, exit strategies, identifying trend changes, mean reversion systems and more.

Attendees can anticipate six hours of presentations each day, complemented by networking breaks in the sponsor hall. The registration fee of $250 for NAAIM members, $350 non-members, will include continental breakfast, lunches and a reception on Monday evening.

Sharpen your core competency by attending the ETF Symposium this fall! Register on line at ETF Symposium 2008 or Download a Registration Form today!

"The most eye-opening aspects of last year’s ETF Symposium were the talks by various people about how ETFs work and how managers can profit from knowing when to execute a trade and how. I had no idea I was costing my clients so much money by not trading in the most efficient way, using market orders. Other talks focused on trading tactics that can boost your returns…like using ETFs to get results similar to the Harvard and Yale Endowment funds. As they say about most NAAIM events, it’s like drinking out of a fire hose. Tons of actionable info you can take home and use right away! Many of those same speakers will be there again this year. Sign me up!" Ian Abbott, Abacus Financial Services

Topic Overviews

When to sell a loser, laggard or winner is the heart of Mike Shell’s presentation on combining point and figure charting with relative strength to trade ETFs. "It’s the sell side of the investment that determines your results at the end of the day. If you don’t exit well, you lose all your money," explains Mike.

Bruce Robinson’s firm Omniphase provides consulting for private money managers and through a series of web sites. Bruce’s transition to ETFs was based on greater profit opportunities with lower risks. "As managed funds really started to underperform, we shifted our focus to ETFs, particularly international ETFs. Through spreads we have been able to reduce volatility and capture long-term performance."

Howard Bandy’s Mean Reversion Strategies presentation looks at finding entry prices for investments based on prices that are out alignment with “normalcy.” "One nice thing about sector ETFs is that they model very well. Trading systems tend to perform well in both up and down markets and for a wide variety of sector ETFs. We’ve seen some of our best results using sector ETFs."

Michael Price has taken advantage of the proliferation of short and leveraged ETFs over the past five years to develop hedging approaches for advisers that enable them to “dial in” the client’s level of risk and understand the historical trade off between risk and upside potential and how it might influence future performance. "My goal is to show attendees how they can calculate and develop a long-short portfolio mix using ETFs."

ETFs offer the ability to trade and get exposure to asset classes historically hard to reach, explains Reginald Browne. Commodity ETFs, foreign exchange ETFs, fixed income ETFs and now actively managed ETFs are transforming the whole market."My remarks are designed to help RIAs optimize their trading of ETFs and explore new opportunities, including trading internationally where access has typically been more difficult."

Joe Cunningham’s forte is algorithmic program trading models, and putting those models into work for small gains that compound into significant returns means sensitivity to costs. "My goal is to review trade execution and ETF liquidity issues, combined with essential tips, tactics and potential pitfalls."

NAAIM 2008 ETF Symposium Agenda Monday, September 22 8:30am   Registration - Sponsor Hall opens – Continental breakfast 9:00am   Mean Reversion Strategies – Howard Bandy, Quantitative Trading Systems 10:00am   Networking Break – Sponsor Hall 10:30am   Global Opportunities in ETFs – Reginald Browne, NewEdge 12:30pm   Lunch 1:30pm   Live Trading Tips-Trading Demonstration – Joe Cunningham, ProFunds 2:30pm   Strategic Over-Lays – Bruce Robinson, Omniphase 3:30pm   Networking Break – Sponsor Hall 4:00pm   Different ways of Trading Currencies – Ian Naismith, Sarasota Capital Strategies 5:00pm   Round Table – Member participation 6:00pm   Adjourn Tuesday, September 23 7:30am   Registration - Sponsor Hall opens – Continental breakfast 8:30am   Hedging – Michael Price, Price Capital Management 9:30am   Topic to be announced – Eric Leake, Anchor Capital Management 10:30am   Networking Break – Sponsor Hall 11:00am   Topic and speaker to be announced – Rydex Investments 12:00pm   Lunch 1:00pm   ETF Revolution – Michael Darr, First Trust Portfolios 2:00pm   Exit Strategies – Mike Shell, Shell Capital Management, LLC 3:00pm   Adjournment ETF Symposium 2008 Sponsors NAAIM 2007-2008 National Sponsor: The ProFunds Group -- ProShares NewEdge Group Rydex Investments First Trust Portfolios Van Eck Global Direxion Funds HOTEL: A group room rate of $169 single/double and applicable taxes is available at the Embassy Suites Hotel – Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park for attendees. To make your reservations call 1-800-362-2779 and mention NAAIM. The room block deadline is August 22, 2008.

Sponsor Commitments

15 sponsorship opportunities are available, including six presentation openings. For sponsorship registration materials, please contact NAAIM administrator Susan Truesdale at 1-888-261-0787 or naaim@mindspring.com