Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Relating to the Listing and Trading of the WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund, 70319-70325 [2010-28894]
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 17, 2010 / Notices
III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become
effective upon filing pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act 49 and
subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule 19b–4
thereunder 50 because it establishes a
due, fee, or other charge imposed by the
Exchange. At any time within 60 days
of the filing of the proposed rule change,
the Commission summarily may
suspend such rule change if it appears
to the Commission that such action is
necessary or appropriate in the public
interest, for the protection of investors,
or otherwise in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission shall
institute proceedings to determine
whether the proposed rule should be
approved or disapproved.
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing,
including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act.
Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
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Electronic Comments
• Use the Commission’s Internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an e-mail to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File
Number SR–NYSEArca–2010–97 on the
subject line.
Paper Comments
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC
20549–1090.
All submissions should refer to File
Number SR–NYSEArca–2010–97. This
file number should be included on the
subject line if e-mail is used. To help the
Commission process and review your
comments more efficiently, please use
only one method. The Commission will
post all comments on the Commission’s
Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
submission,51 all subsequent
amendments, all written statements
with respect to the proposed rule
change that are filed with the
Commission, and all written
communications relating to the
49 15
U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2).
51 The text of the proposed rule change is
available on the Commission’s Web site at https://
www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml.
proposed rule change between the
Commission and any person, other than
those that may be withheld from the
public in accordance with the
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
available for Web site viewing and
printing in the Commission’s Public
Reference Room, on official business
days between the hours of 10 a.m. and
3 p.m. Copies of the filing also will be
available for inspection and copying at
the principal office of the Exchange. All
comments received will be posted
without change; the Commission does
not edit personal identifying
information from submissions. You
should submit only information that
you wish to make available publicly. All
submissions should refer to File
Number SR–NYSEArca–2010–97 and
should be submitted on or before
December 8, 2010.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.52
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010–28893 Filed 11–16–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
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NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600:
WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy
Fund (‘‘Fund’’). The shares of the Fund
are collectively referred to herein as the
‘‘Shares.’’ 3 The text of the proposed rule
change is available at the Exchange, the
Commission’s Public Reference Room,
and https://www.nyse.com.
II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
In its filing with the Commission, the
Exchange included statements
concerning the purpose of, and basis for,
the proposed rule change and discussed
any comments it received on the
proposed rule change. The text of those
statements may be examined at the
places specified in Item IV below. The
Exchange has prepared summaries, set
forth in sections A, B, and C below, of
the most significant parts of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
1. Purpose
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–63292; File No. SR–
NYSEArca-2010–98]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE
Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed
Rule Change Relating to the Listing
and Trading of the WisdomTree
Managed Futures Strategy Fund
November 9, 2010.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’
or ‘‘Exchange Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4
thereunder,2 notice is hereby given that,
on November 1, 2010, NYSE Arca, Inc.
(‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘NYSE Arca’’ or
‘‘Corporation’’) filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule
change as described in Items I and II
below, which Items have been prepared
by the Exchange. The Commission is
publishing this notice to solicit
comments on the proposed rule change
from interested persons.
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Terms of Substance of
the Proposed Rule Change
The Exchange proposes to list and
trade the shares of the following fund of
the WisdomTree Trust (‘‘Trust’’) under
50 17
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70319
52 17
CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
U.S.C.78s(b)(1).
2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
1 15
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The Exchange proposes to list and
trade the Shares of the Fund under
NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600,4 which
governs the listing and trading of
‘‘Managed Fund Shares’’ on the
Exchange.5
3 See Form 19b–4 Information of the proposed
rule change at 3.
4 NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600(c)(1) provides
that, among other criteria, a Managed Fund Share
is a security that represents an interest in an
investment company registered under the
Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a)
(‘‘1940 Act’’) organized as an open-end investment
company or similar entity that invests in a portfolio
of securities selected by its investment adviser
consistent with its investment objectives and
policies. In contrast, an open-end investment
company that issues Investment Company Units,
listed and traded on the Exchange under NYSE
Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), seeks to provide
investment results that correspond generally to the
price and yield performance of a specific foreign or
domestic stock index, fixed income securities index
or combination thereof.
5 The Commission approved NYSE Arca Equities
Rule 8.600 and the listing and trading of certain
shares of the PowerShares Actively Managed Funds
Trust on the Exchange pursuant to Rule 8.600 in
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 57619 (April
4, 2008), 73 FR 19544 (April 10, 2008) (SR–
NYSEArca–2008–25). The Commission also
previously approved listing and trading on the
Exchange of Managed Fund Shares under Rule
8.600. See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release
Nos. 57801 (May 8, 2008), 73 FR 27878 (May 14,
2008) (SR–NYSEArca–2008–31) (order approving
Exchange listing and trading of twelve activelymanaged funds of the WisdomTree Trust); 60981
(November 10, 2009), 74 FR 59594 (November 18,
2009) (SR–NYSEArca–2009–79) (order approving
listing of five fixed income funds of the PIMCO ETF
Continued
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The Fund will be an actively managed
exchange-traded fund. WisdomTree
Asset Management, Inc. (‘‘WisdomTree
Asset Management’’) is the investment
adviser (‘‘Adviser’’) to the Fund.
WisdomTree Investments, Inc.
(‘‘WisdomTree Investments’’) is the
parent company of WisdomTree Asset
Management. Mellon Capital
Management Corporation (‘‘Mellon’’ or
‘‘Sub-Adviser’’) serves as the sub-adviser
for the Fund. The Bank of New York
Mellon is the administrator, custodian
and transfer agent for the Fund. ALPS
Distributors, Inc. serves as distributor
for the Fund. The Shares will be offered
by the Trust, which is registered with
the Commission as an investment
company.6
Commentary .06 to Rule 8.600
provides that, if the investment adviser
to the Investment Company issuing
Managed Fund Shares is affiliated with
a broker-dealer, such investment adviser
shall erect a ‘‘fire wall’’ between the
investment adviser and the brokerdealer with respect to access to
information concerning the composition
and/or changes to such Investment
Company portfolio. In addition,
Commentary .06 further requires that
personnel who make decisions on the
open-end fund’s portfolio composition
must be subject to procedures designed
to prevent the use and dissemination of
material nonpublic information
regarding the open-end fund’s
portfolio.7 Commentary .06 to Rule
8.600 is similar to Commentary .03(a)(i)
and (iii) to NYSE Arca Equities Rule
5.2(j)(3); however, Commentary .06 in
connection with the establishment of a
‘‘fire wall’’ between the investment
adviser and the broker-dealer reflects
Trust); 61697 (March 12, 2010), 75 FR 13616 (March
22, 2010) (SR–NYSEArca 2010–04) (order
approving listing and trading of WisdomTree Real
Return Fund); and 62604 (June [sic] 30, 2010), 75
FR 47323 (August 5, 2010) (SR–NYSEArca–2010–
49) (order approving listing and trading of the
WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund).
6 See Registration Statement on Form N–1A for
the Trust filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on July 22, 2010 (File Nos. 333–132380
and 811–21864) (‘‘Registration Statement’’). The
Registration Statement became effective on
September 20, 2010. The descriptions of the Fund
and the Shares contained herein are based on
information in the Registration Statement.
7 An investment adviser to an open-end fund is
required to be registered under the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940 (‘‘Advisers Act’’). As a result,
the Adviser and Sub-Adviser are subject to the
provisions of Rule 204A–1 under the Advisers Act
relating to codes of ethics. This Rule requires
investment advisers to adopt a code of ethics that
reflects the fiduciary nature of the relationship to
clients as well as compliance with other applicable
securities laws. Accordingly, procedures designed
to prevent the communication and misuse of nonpublic information by an investment adviser must
be consistent with Rule 204A–1 under the Advisers
Act.
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16:21 Nov 16, 2010
Jkt 223001
the applicable open-end fund’s
portfolio, not an underlying benchmark
index, as is the case with index-based
funds. WisdomTree Asset Management
is not affiliated with any broker-dealer.
Mellon is affiliated with multiple
broker-dealers and has implemented a
‘‘fire wall’’ with respect to such brokerdealers regarding access to information
concerning the composition and/or
changes to the Fund’s portfolio.8 In the
event (a) the Adviser or the Sub-Adviser
becomes newly affiliated with a brokerdealer, or (b) any new adviser or subadviser becomes affiliated with a brokerdealer, they will be required to
implement a fire wall with respect to
such broker-dealer regarding access to
information concerning the composition
and/or changes to a portfolio.
Description of the Shares, the
Benchmark and the Fund:
According to the Registration
Statement, the WisdomTree Managed
Futures Strategy Fund seeks to provide
investors with positive total returns in
rising or falling markets that are not
directly correlated to broad market
equity or fixed income returns. The
Fund is managed using a quantitative,
rules-based strategy designed to provide
returns that correspond to the
performance of the Diversified Trends
IndicatorTM (‘‘Benchmark’’). The
Benchmark is a widely used indicator
designed to capture the economic
benefit derived from rising or declining
8 The Exchange represents that the Adviser and
the Sub-Adviser and their related personnel are
subject to Investment Advisers Act Rule 204A–1.
This Rule specifically requires the adoption of a
code of ethics by an investment adviser to include,
at a minimum: (i) Standards of business conduct
that reflect the firm’s/personnel fiduciary
obligations; (ii) provisions requiring supervised
persons to comply with applicable federal securities
laws; (iii) provisions that require all access persons
to report, and the firm to review, their personal
securities transactions and holdings periodically as
specifically set forth in Rule 204A–1; (iv) provisions
requiring supervised persons to report any
violations of the code of ethics promptly to the
chief compliance officer (‘‘CCO’’) or, provided the
CCO also receives reports of all violations, to other
persons designated in the code of ethics; and (v)
provisions requiring the investment adviser to
provide each of the supervised persons with a copy
of the code of ethics with an acknowledgement by
said supervised persons. In addition, Rule 206(4)–
7 under the Advisers Act makes it unlawful for an
investment adviser to provide investment advice to
clients unless such investment adviser has (i)
adopted and implemented written policies and
procedures reasonably designed to prevent
violation, by the investment adviser and its
supervised persons, of the Advisers Act and the
Commission rules adopted thereunder; (ii)
implemented, at a minimum, an annual review
regarding the adequacy of the policies and
procedures established pursuant to subparagraph (i)
above and the effectiveness of their
implementation; and (iii) designated an individual
(who is a supervised person) responsible for
administering the policies and procedures adopted
under subparagraph (i) above.
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price trends in the commodity, currency
and U.S. Treasury futures markets.
The Benchmark:
The Benchmark is a rules-based
indicator designed to capture rising and
falling price trends in the commodity,
currency and U.S. Treasury markets
through long and short positions on U.S.
listed futures contracts. The Benchmark
consists of U.S. listed futures contracts
on 16 tangible commodities and 8
financial futures. The 16 commodity
futures contracts are: light crude oil,
natural gas, RBOB gas, heating oil,
soybeans, corn, wheat, gold, silver,
copper, live cattle, lean hogs, coffee,
cocoa, cotton and sugar. The 8 financial
futures contracts are: the Australian
dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar,
Euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, U.S.
Treasury Notes and U.S. Treasury
bonds. Each contract is sometimes
referred to as a ‘‘Component’’ of the
Benchmark.
Components that are similar in nature
(such as gas and oil or gold and silver)
are aggregated into ‘‘Sectors.’’ There are
nine commodity Sectors in the
Benchmark: Energy, Grains, Precious
Metals, Industrial Metals, Livestock,
Coffee, Cocoa, Cotton, and Sugar. Each
financial futures contract is considered
to be its own Sector. As a result, there
are eight financial Sectors in the
Benchmark: The Australian dollar,
British pound, Canadian dollar, Euro,
Japanese yen, Swiss franc, U.S. Treasury
Notes and U.S. Treasury bonds.
In order to capture both rising and
falling price trends, at the end of each
month each Sector in the Benchmark
(other than the Energy Sector) is
positioned as either ‘‘long’’ or ‘‘short’’ (at
the end of each month, the Energy
Sector is positioned as either ‘‘long’’ or
‘‘flat’’ (i.e., no exposure)). This
determination is made using an
algorithm that compares the Sector’s
monthly return to the Sector’s historic
weighted moving average returns. If the
Sector’s returns are above its moving
average returns the Sector is positioned
as ‘‘long’’ throughout the following
month. If the Sector’s returns are below
its moving average the Sector is
positioned as ‘‘short’’ throughout the
following month (with the sole
exception of the Energy Sector, which
would be positioned as ‘‘flat’’). All
Components within a Sector are held in
the same direction. The value of a
Sector and the value of the Benchmark
should increase if a long position
increases in value or if a short position
decreases in value. For example, if a
Sector is long in the Benchmark and the
value of its Components goes up intramonth, the return of the Sector (and
therefore the Benchmark) should
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 17, 2010 / Notices
increase. If a Sector is short in the
Benchmark, and the value of its
Components goes down intra-month,
the return of the Sector (and therefore
the Benchmark) should increase.
The Energy Sector and its
Components may never be positioned
short within the Benchmark. The
Benchmark’s methodology provides
that, due to significant levels of
continuous consumption, limited
reserves and other factors, the Energy
Sector can only be long or flat (i.e., no
exposure) within the Benchmark. If the
Energy Sector is flat then the weighting
of the other Sectors and Components
within the Benchmark is increased on a
pro-rata basis.9 As a result, when the
Energy Sector is flat, financial futures
will represent approximately 61.5% of
the weight of the Benchmark and
commodities will represent
approximately 38.5% of the weight of
the Benchmark. When the Energy Sector
is long, financial futures and commodity
futures each represent 50% of the
weight of the Benchmark.
At the beginning of each year and
month, the Benchmark is weighted in
one of two ways. If the Energy Sector is
long, the Benchmark is weighted evenly
(i.e., 50/50) between commodity futures
contracts and financial futures
contracts. If the Energy Sector is flat,
financial futures represent
approximately 61.5% of the weight of
the Benchmark and commodity futures
represent approximately 38.5% of the
Benchmark. At the beginning of 2010,
the Benchmark was weighted evenly: A
50% weight to commodity futures and
a 50% weight to financial futures. At the
beginning of each year, each Component
and Sector also has a ‘‘Base Weight,’’
depending on whether the Energy
Sector is long or flat. If the Energy
Sector is flat, then the Base Weight of
the other Sectors and Components
within the Benchmark is increased on a
pro-rata basis. Commodity Sector
weights are based on, but not exactly
proportional to, historical world
production levels. Commodity Sectors
that have higher historical production
levels are weighted higher in the
Benchmark. Weightings of the financial
futures Sectors are based on, but not
directly proportional to, historical gross
domestic product (‘‘GDP’’). Larger
economic regions (i.e., Europe as
measured by the Euro) should get a
higher weighting than smaller regions
9 To arrive at the Sector weightings when the
Energy Sector is flat, divide the Sector Base Weight
by one minus the Energy Sector Base Weight (i.e.,
Sector Base Weight/1–0.1875)).
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16:21 Nov 16, 2010
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(i.e., Australia as measured by the
Australian dollar).10
The weight of each Component and
Sector in the Benchmark changes
throughout each month based upon
performance. At the end of each month,
each Sector is reset back to its
applicable Base Weight depending on
whether the Energy Sector is long or
flat. Within Sectors that have multiple
Components, the weight of each
Component relative to the others is
allowed to fluctuate throughout the year
and Component weights are reset back
to their respective Base Weights only at
year-end.
The Fund:
The Fund will invest substantially all
of its assets in a combination of
commodity- and currency-linked
investments (including investments
linked to U.S. Treasuries) designed to
correspond to the performance of the
Benchmark, and U.S. government
securities (as defined in Section 3(a)(42)
of the Exchange Act) (‘‘Government
Securities’’) that serve as collateral or
otherwise back the commodity- and
currency-linked investments. More
specifically, the Fund will invest at least
70% of its assets in a combination of: (i)
Listed commodity and financial futures
contracts included in the Benchmark;
and (ii) forward currency contracts
based on currencies represented in the
Benchmark,11 in each case
10 The current Sector (and Component) Base
Weights when the Energy Sector is long are as
follows: Energy 18.75% (light crude 8.50%, natural
gas 4.25%, RBOB 3.0%, heating oil 3.0%); Grains
11.50% (soybeans 5.0%, corn 4.0%, wheat 2.50%);
Precious Metals 5.25% (Gold 3.50%, Silver 1.75%);
Industrial Metals 5.0% (copper 5.0%); Livestock
5.0% (live cattle 3.0%, lean hogs 2.0%); Coffee
1.5%; Cocoa 1.0%; Cotton 1.0%; Sugar 1.0%; Euro
13.0%; Japanese Yen 12.0%; U.S. Treasury Note
7.50%; U.S. Treasury Bond 7.50%; British Pound
5.00%; Swiss Franc 2.0%; Australian Dollar 2.0%;
and Canadian Dollar 1.00%.
The current Sector (and Component) Base
Weights when the Energy Sector is flat are as
follows: Energy 0% (light crude 0%, natural gas
0%, RBOB 0%, heating oil 0%); Grains 14.15%
(soybeans 6.15%, corn 4.92%, wheat 3.08%);
Precious Metals 6.46% (gold 4.31%, silver 2.15%);
Industrial Metals 6.15% (copper 6.15%); Livestock
6.15% (live cattle 3.69%, lean hogs 2.46%); Coffee
1.85%; Cocoa 1.23%; Cotton 1.23%; Sugar 1.23%;
Euro 16.0%; Japanese Yen 14.77%; U.S. Treasury
Note 9.23%; U.S. Treasury Bond 9.23%; British
Pound 6.15%; Swiss Franc 2.46%; Australian
Dollar 2.46%; and Canadian Dollar 1.23%.
11 The Fund’s investments in commodity futures
contracts will be limited by the application of
position limits imposed by the CFTC and U.S.
futures exchanges intended to prevent undue
influence on prices by a single trader or group of
affiliated traders. The Adviser has represented that
the Fund’s investment in futures contracts will be
limited to investments in the U.S. listed futures
contracts included in the Benchmark, except that
the Fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in U.S.
listed commodity and currency futures contracts
not included in the Benchmark in a manner
designed to achieve its investment objective.
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70321
collateralized or otherwise backed by
Government Securities. The Fund may
invest up to 30% of its assets in a
combination of swap transactions 12 and
commodity-linked notes.13 The Fund’s
The U.S. listed commodity futures contracts
included in the Benchmark (and therefore included
in the Fund) are heavily traded and are based on
some of the world’s most liquid and actively-traded
commodities. As of August 31, 2010, the ten
commodity futures contracts that are given the
greatest weighting in the Benchmark, and their
three-month Average Daily Dollar Volume
(‘‘ADDV’’), were: high grade copper (6.15% weight;
ADDV $528,158,471); soybeans (6.06% weight;
ADDV $3,172,701,410); corn (4.67% weight; ADDV
$2,528,323,106); gold (4.29% weight; ADDV
$6,226,943,776); live cattle (3.75% weight; ADDV
$566,731,652); wheat (3.42% weight; ADDV
$1,385,115,481); lean hogs (2.40% weight; ADDV
$339,611,918); silver (2.17% weight; ADDV
$641,111,990); coffee (1.85% weight; ADDV
$505,778,511); and cocoa (1.23% weight; ADDV
$144,259,844).
The Fund will not invest in any currency that is
not represented in the Benchmark. The listed
financial futures contracts included in the
Benchmark (and therefore included in the Fund) are
heavily traded and represent six of the world’s most
liquid and actively-traded currencies (as well as the
U.S. dollar through futures on Treasury bonds and
10 year notes) as measured by daily turnover. For
example, according to Table B.5 of the 2007
Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange
and Derivative Market Activity by the Bank for
International Settlements (‘‘BIS 2007 Survey’’), the
most actively traded currency pairs against the U.S.
dollar (based on average daily turnover in U.S.
dollars at current exchange rates in April 2007)
were as follows: euro ($840 billion), yen ($397
billion), British pound ($361 billion), Australian
dollar ($175 billion), Swiss franc ($143 billion), and
Canadian dollar ($115 billion). According to Table
E.2 of the BIS 2007 Survey, the daily turnover in
April 2007 consisted of the following (in billions of
U.S. dollars) (approximate):
Each of the currencies listed above is represented
by U.S. listed financial futures contracts in the
Benchmark.
As of August 31, 2010, the weighting of the
financial futures contracts in the Benchmark, and
their respective three month ADDV, was: euro
(16.00% weight; ADDV $43,890,327,409); Japanese
yen (14.77% weight; ADDV $16,832,896,412), U.S.
Treasury 10 yr. note (9.23% weight, ADDV
$15,149,128,260); U.S. Treasury Bond (9.23%
weight; ADDV $5,233,746,635); British pound
(6.15% weight; ADDV $9,822,322,233); Australian
dollar (2.46% weight; ADDV U.S. $8,172,424,454);
Swiss franc (2.46% weight; ADDV $4,342,434,023);
and Canadian dollar (1.23% weight; ADDV U.S.
$7,560,986,056). The Adviser represents that the
returns of the forward currency contracts held by
the Fund will be highly correlated to the returns of
the listed futures contracts included in the
Benchmark.
12 The Fund will enter into over-the-counter swap
transactions only with respect to transactions based
on (i) the return of the Benchmark or any subset of
the Benchmark, (ii) any Component in the
Benchmark, or (iii) any commodity or currency
represented in the Benchmark.
13 The Fund may invest in commodity-linked
notes. Commodity-linked notes are over-the-counter
debt instruments, typically issued by a bank or
broker-dealer, that are designed to provide cash
flows linked to the value of a reference asset. They
provide exposure, which may include long and/or
short exposure, to the investment returns of the
reference asset underlying the note. The
performance of these notes is determined by the
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investments in listed futures contracts,
forward currency contracts and swap
transactions will be backed by
investments in Government Securities
Total
Euro .................................................................................................................
Yen ...................................................................................................................
British Pound ...................................................................................................
Australian Dollar ..............................................................................................
Swiss Franc .....................................................................................................
Canadian Dollar ...............................................................................................
in an amount equal to the exposure of
such contracts.
Spot
840
397
361
175
143
115
Forward
265
140
103
39
49
33
Swap
90
42
30
15
12
12
485
215
228
121
81
69
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The Fund will be managed so that the
long and short exposure of the Fund’s
portfolio is economically similar to the
long and short positions in the
Benchmark. This does not, however,
mean that the long and short exposures
will be identical. The Fund’s positions
in such listed futures contracts may
deviate from the Benchmark when the
Adviser or the Sub-Adviser believes it is
in the best interest of the Fund to do
so.14 For example, the Fund may deviate
from the Benchmark in order to manage
cash flows in and out of the Fund, such
as in connection with the payment of
dividends or expenses, to manage
portfolio holdings around Benchmark
changes, or to comply with the 1940
Act, the Commodity Exchange Act
(‘‘CEA’’), the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (‘‘Code’’), exchange position limits
or other applicable laws, rules and
regulations.
To the extent the Fund invests in
futures contracts it will do so only in
accordance with Rule 4.5 of the CEA.
The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has
filed a notice of eligibility for exclusion
from the definition of the term
‘‘commodity pool operator’’ in
accordance with Rule 4.5 so that the
Fund is not subject to registration or
regulation as a commodity pool operator
under the CEA. The Fund does not
invest directly in physical commodities.
The Fund’s investment in
Government Securities shall be limited
to investments: (i) To satisfy margin
requirements, to provide collateral or to
otherwise back investments in
commodity- and currency-linked
derivatives (such as futures contracts,
forward contracts and swaps); (ii) to
help manage cash flows in and out of
the Fund, such as in connection with
the payment of dividends or expenses;
or (iii) as a substitute for investment in
the listed U.S. Treasury futures
contracts included in the Benchmark. In
addition, the Fund may invest in money
market instruments with remaining
maturities of one year or less, as well as
cash and cash equivalents, in order to
collateralize or otherwise back its
positions in listed futures contracts,
forward currency contracts or swaps or
for cash management purposes. All
money market securities acquired by the
Fund will be rated investment grade.
The Fund generally expects to maintain
an average portfolio maturity of 90 days
or less on its investments in money
market securities.
Neither the Fund nor the Benchmark
is leveraged. The Fund will be a ‘‘nondiversified’’ fund. This means that a
relatively high percentage of its assets
may be invested in a limited number of
securities and instruments. The Fund
intends to maintain the level of
diversification necessary to qualify as a
regulated investment company (‘‘RIC’’)
under Subchapter M of the Code.
The Fund will seek to gain exposure
to the commodity and currency markets,
in whole or in part, through investments
in a subsidiary organized in the Cayman
Islands (‘‘Subsidiary’’). The Subsidiary is
wholly-owned and controlled by the
Fund, and its investments will be
consolidated into the Fund’s financial
statements. The Fund’s and the
Subsidiary’s holdings will be disclosed
on the Fund’s website on a daily basis.
The Fund’s investment in the
Subsidiary may not exceed 25% of the
Fund’s total assets at the end of each
fiscal quarter. The Subsidiary’s shares
will be offered only to the Fund and the
Fund will not sell shares of the
Subsidiary to other investors.
The Fund’s use of the Subsidiary is
designed to help the Fund achieve
exposure to commodity and currency
returns in a manner consistent with the
federal tax requirements applicable to
the Fund and other regulated
investment companies. The Subsidiary
will comply with the 1940 Act except
that, unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary
may invest without limitation in
commodity- and currency-linked
investments based on commodities and
currencies included within the
Benchmark. The Subsidiary will
otherwise operate in the same manner
as the Fund with regard to applicable
compliance policies and procedures.
The Fund’s Registration Statement
states that since the Subsidiary’s
investments are consolidated into the
Fund’s, the Fund’s combined holdings
(including the investments of the
Subsidiary) must comply with the 1940
Act.
The Fund will not invest in non-U.S.
equity securities (other than shares of
the Subsidiary).
The Shares:
According to the Registration
Statement, the Fund issues and redeems
Shares on a continuous basis at net asset
value (‘‘NAV’’) 15 only in large blocks of
Shares, typically 50,000 Shares or more
(‘‘Creation Unit Aggregations’’), in
transactions with Authorized
Participants. Only institutional
investors who have entered into an
Authorized Participant agreement may
purchase or redeem Creation Unit
Aggregations. Orders to create or redeem
Creation Unit Aggregations of the Fund
must be delivered through an
Authorized Participant prior to the
price movement of the reference asset underlying
the note. The Fund’s investment in commoditylinked notes will be limited to notes providing
exposure to (i) the Benchmark or any subset of the
Benchmark, (ii) any Component of the Benchmark
or (iii) any commodity or currency represented in
the Benchmark. As noted, the Benchmark consists
of heavily traded U.S. listed futures contracts based
on liquid and actively-traded commodities and
currencies and there is also an active market for
forward currency contracts and other derivatives
based on the commodities and currencies
represented in the Benchmark. In addition, the
Benchmark is widely-followed and currently serves
as the basis for a range of investment products,
including funds, swap contracts and other
derivatives. The Fund’s overall investment in swaps
and commodity-linked notes will not exceed 30%
of the Fund’s assets.
14 The Sub-Adviser is responsible for day-to-day
management of the Fund and, as such, typically
makes all decisions with respect to portfolio
holdings. The Adviser has ongoing oversight
responsibility.
15 The NAV of the Fund’s Shares generally is
calculated once daily Monday through Friday as of
the close of regular trading on the New York Stock
Exchange, generally 4 p.m. Eastern time (‘‘NAV
Calculation Time’’). NAV per Share is calculated by
dividing the Fund’s net assets by the number of
Fund Shares outstanding. For more information
regarding the valuation of Fund investments in
calculating the Fund’s NAV, see the Registration
Statement.
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Fund’s NAV calculation time. The
consideration for purchase of Creation
Unit Aggregations of the Fund will
consist of the in-kind deposit of a
designated portfolio of Government
Securities and/or listed futures contracts
included in the Benchmark (‘‘Deposit
Securities’’) and an amount of cash
(‘‘Cash Component’’). Together, the
Deposit Securities and the Cash
Component constitute the ‘‘Fund
Deposit,’’ which represents the
minimum initial and subsequent
investment amount for a Creation Unit
Aggregation of the Fund. The Fund
Deposit may consist entirely of cash.
The process to redeem Creation Unit
Aggregations works much like the
process to purchase Creation Unit
Aggregations, but in reverse.
Each business day prior to the
opening of trading the Fund will
publish the specific securities and
designated amount of cash included in
that day’s basket for the Fund through
the National Securities Clearing
Corporation or other method of public
dissemination. The Fund reserves the
right to accept or pay out a basket of
securities or cash that differs from the
published basket. The prices at which
creations and redemptions occur are
based on the next calculation of NAV
after an order is received in proper form.
Additional information regarding the
Fund and the Shares, including
investment strategies, risks, creation and
redemption procedures, fees, portfolio
holdings, disclosure policies,
distributions and taxes is included in
the Registration Statement. All terms
relating to the Fund that are referred to,
but not defined in, this proposed rule
change are defined in the Registration
Statement.
Availability of Information:
The Fund’s website (https://
www.wisdomtree.com), which will be
publicly available prior to the public
offering of Shares, will include a form
of the Prospectus for the Fund that may
be downloaded. The website will
include additional quantitative
information updated on a daily basis,
including, for the Fund: (1) The prior
business day’s reported NAV, mid-point
of the bid/ask spread at the time of
calculation of such NAV (‘‘Bid/Ask
Price’’),16 and a calculation of the
premium and discount of the Bid/Ask
Price against the NAV; and (2) data in
chart format displaying the frequency
distribution of discounts and premiums
16 The Bid/Ask Price of the Fund is determined
using the mid-point of the highest bid and the
lowest offer on the Exchange as of the time of
calculation of the Fund’s NAV. The records relating
to Bid/Ask Prices will be retained by the Fund and/
or its service providers.
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of the daily Bid/Ask Price against the
NAV, within appropriate ranges, for
each of the four previous calendar
quarters.
On each business day, before
commencement of trading in Shares in
the Core Trading Session 17 on the
Exchange, the Trust will disclose on its
website the identities and quantities of
the portfolio of securities and other
assets (‘‘Disclosed Portfolio’’) 18 held by
the Fund and the Subsidiary that will
form the basis for the Fund’s calculation
of NAV at the end of the business day.19
On a daily basis, the Adviser (using an
automated process currently used by
existing WisdomTree Funds) will
disclose for each portfolio security or
other investment of the Fund the
following information: ticker symbol (if
applicable), name or description of
security or investment, number of
shares or dollar value of investments
held in the portfolio, and percentage
weighting of the security or investment
in the portfolio. The website
information will be publicly available at
no charge.
In addition, for the Fund, an
estimated value, defined in NYSE Arca
Equities Rule 8.600 as the ‘‘Portfolio
Indicative Value,’’ that reflects an
estimated intra-day value of the Fund’s
portfolio, will be disseminated. The
Portfolio Indicative Value will be based
upon the current value for the
components of the Disclosed Portfolio
and will be updated and disseminated
by one or more major market data
vendors at least every 15 seconds during
the Core Trading Session on the
Exchange. The dissemination of the
Portfolio Indicative Value, together with
the Disclosed Portfolio, will allow
investors to determine the value of the
underlying portfolio of the Fund on a
daily basis and to provide a close
estimate of that value throughout the
trading day.
Intra-day and end-of-day prices are
readily available through Bloomberg,
17 The Core Trading Session is 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Eastern time.
18 The Exchange notes that NYSE Arca Equities
Rule 8.600(d)(2)(B)(ii) provides that the Reporting
Authority that provides the Disclosed Portfolio
must implement and maintain, or be subject to
procedures designed to prevent the use and
dissemination of material non-public information
regarding the actual components of the portfolio.
19 Under accounting procedures followed by the
Fund, trades made on the prior business day (‘‘T’’)
will be booked and reflected in NAV on the current
business day (‘‘T+1’’). Notwithstanding the
foregoing, portfolio trades that are executed prior to
the opening of the Exchange on any business day
may be booked and reflected in NAV on such
business day. Accordingly, the Fund will be able to
disclose at the beginning of the business day the
portfolio that will form the basis for the NAV
calculation at the end of the business day.
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70323
other major market data providers and
broker-dealers for the Benchmark, the
listed futures contracts included in the
Benchmark, the commodities and
currencies represented in the
Benchmark, and the forward currency
contracts, swaps, notes and other
derivatives based on the Benchmark. As
a result, information necessary to
evaluate the value of any swap or
commodity-linked note purchased by
the Fund will be readily available to
market participants. Intra-day prices for
the Benchmark are updated and
disseminated at least every 15 seconds
during the Core Trading Session on the
Exchange.
Investors can also obtain the Trust’s
Statement of Additional Information
(‘‘SAI’’), the Fund’s Shareholder Reports,
and its Form N–CSR and Form N–SAR,
filed twice a year. The Trust’s SAI and
Shareholder Reports are available free
upon request from the Trust, and those
documents and the Form N–CSR and
Form N–SAR may be viewed on-screen
or downloaded from the Commission’s
website at https://www.sec.gov.
Information regarding market price and
trading volume of the Shares is and will
be continually available on a real-time
basis throughout the day on brokers’
computer screens and other electronic
services. Information regarding the
previous day’s closing price and trading
volume information will be published
daily in the financial section of
newspapers. Quotation and last sale
information for the Shares will be
available via the Consolidated Tape
Association (‘‘CTA’’) high-speed line.
Initial and Continued Listing:
The Shares will be subject to NYSE
Arca Equities Rule 8.600(d), which sets
forth the initial and continued listing
criteria applicable to Managed Fund
Shares. The Exchange represents that,
for initial and/or continued listing, the
Shares must be in compliance with Rule
10A–3 under the Exchange Act,20 as
provided by NYSE Arca Equities Rule
5.3. A minimum of 100,000 Shares will
be outstanding at the commencement of
trading on the Exchange. The Exchange
will obtain a representation from the
issuer of the Shares that the NAV per
Share for the Fund will be calculated
daily and that the NAV and the
Disclosed Portfolio will be made
available to all market participants at
the same time.
Trading Halts:
With respect to trading halts, the
Exchange may consider all relevant
factors in exercising its discretion to
halt or suspend trading in the Shares of
the Fund. Shares of the Fund will be
20 See
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70324
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 17, 2010 / Notices
halted if the ‘‘circuit breaker’’ parameters
in NYSE Arca Equities Rule 7.12 are
reached. Trading may be halted because
of market conditions or for reasons that,
in the view of the Exchange, make
trading in the Shares inadvisable. These
may include: (1) The extent to which
trading is not occurring in the securities
comprising the Disclosed Portfolio and/
or the financial instruments of the Fund;
or (2) whether other unusual conditions
or circumstances detrimental to the
maintenance of a fair and orderly
market are present. Trading in the
Shares will be subject to NYSE Arca
Equities Rule 8.600(d)(2)(D), which sets
forth circumstances under which Shares
of the Fund may be halted. Such rule
provides that, if the Portfolio Indicative
Value (as defined in Rule 8.600(c)(3)) of
a series of Managed Fund Shares is not
being disseminated as required, the
Corporation may halt trading during the
day in which the interruption to the
dissemination of the Portfolio Indicative
Value occurs. If the interruption to the
dissemination of the Portfolio Indicative
Value persists past the trading day in
which it occurred, the Corporation will
halt trading no later than the beginning
of the trading day following the
interruption. In addition, if the
Exchange becomes aware that the NAV
or the Disclosed Portfolio with respect
to a series of Managed Fund Shares is
not disseminated to all market
participants at the same time, it will halt
trading in such series until such time as
the NAV or the Disclosed Portfolio is
available to all market participants.
Trading Rules:
The Exchange deems the Shares to be
equity securities, thus rendering trading
in the Shares subject to the Exchange’s
existing rules governing the trading of
equity securities. Shares will trade on
the NYSE Arca Marketplace from 4 a.m.
to 8 p.m. Eastern time in accordance
with NYSE Arca Equities Rule 7.34
(Opening, Core, and Late Trading
Sessions). The Exchange has
appropriate rules to facilitate
transactions in the Shares during all
trading sessions. As provided in NYSE
Arca Equities Rule 7.6, Commentary .03,
the minimum price variation (‘‘MPV’’)
for quoting and entry of orders in equity
securities traded on the NYSE Arca
Marketplace is $0.01, with the exception
of securities that are priced less than
$1.00 for which the MPV for order entry
is $0.0001.
Surveillance:
The Exchange intends to utilize its
existing surveillance procedures
applicable to derivative products (which
includes Managed Fund Shares) to
monitor trading in the Shares. The
Exchange represents that these
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procedures are adequate to properly
monitor Exchange trading of the Shares
in all trading sessions and to deter and
detect violations of Exchange rules and
applicable federal securities laws.
The Exchange’s current trading
surveillance focuses on detecting
securities trading outside their normal
patterns. When such situations are
detected, surveillance analysis follows
and investigations are opened, where
appropriate, to review the behavior of
all relevant parties for all relevant
trading violations.
The Exchange may obtain information
via the Intermarket Surveillance Group
(‘‘ISG’’) from NYMEX, ICE Futures and
other exchanges that are members of
ISG.21
In addition, the Exchange also has a
general policy prohibiting the
distribution of material, non-public
information by its employees.
Information Bulletin:
Prior to the commencement of
trading, the Exchange will inform its
ETP Holders in an Information Bulletin
(‘‘Bulletin’’) of the special characteristics
and risks associated with trading the
Shares. Specifically, the Bulletin will
discuss the following: (1) The
procedures for purchases and
redemptions of Shares in Creation Unit
Aggregations (and that Shares are not
individually redeemable); (2) NYSE
Arca Equities Rule 9.2(a), which
imposes a duty of due diligence on its
ETP Holders to learn the essential facts
relating to every customer prior to
trading the Shares; (3) the risks involved
in trading the Shares during the
Opening and Late Trading Sessions
when an updated Portfolio Indicative
Value will not be calculated or publicly
disseminated; (4) how information
regarding the Portfolio Indicative Value
is disseminated; (5) the requirement that
ETP Holders deliver a prospectus to
investors purchasing newly issued
Shares prior to or concurrently with the
confirmation of a transaction; and (6)
trading information.
In addition, the Bulletin will
reference that the Fund is subject to
various fees and expenses described in
the Registration Statement. The Bulletin
will discuss any exemptive, no-action,
and interpretive relief granted by the
Commission from any rules under the
Exchange Act. The Bulletin will also
disclose that the NAV for the Shares
21 For
a list of the current members of ISG, see
https://www.isgportal.org. The Exchange notes that
not all of the components of the Disclosed Portfolio
for the Fund may trade on exchanges that are
members of ISG or with which the Exchange has in
place a comprehensive surveillance sharing
agreement.
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will be calculated after 4 p.m. Eastern
time each trading day.
2. Statutory Basis
The basis under the Exchange Act for
this proposed rule change is the
requirement under Section 6(b)(5) 22
that an exchange have rules that are
designed to prevent fraudulent and
manipulative acts and practices, to
promote just and equitable principles of
trade, to remove impediments to, and
perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market and, in general, to protect
investors and the public interest. The
Exchange believes that the proposed
rule change will facilitate the listing and
trading of an additional type of
exchange-traded product that will
enhance competition among market
participants, to the benefit of investors
and the marketplace. In addition, the
listing and trading criteria set forth in
NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600 are
intended to protect investors and the
public interest.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that
the proposed rule change will impose
any burden on competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Comments on the
Proposed Rule Change Received From
Members, Participants, or Others
No written comments were solicited
or received with respect to the proposed
rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
Within 45 days of the date of
publication of this notice in the Federal
Register or within such longer period
up to 90 days (i) as the Commission may
designate if it finds such longer period
to be appropriate and publishes its
reasons for so finding or (ii) as to which
the self-regulatory organization
consents, the Commission will:
(A) By order approve or disapprove
the proposed rule change, or
(B) institute proceedings to determine
whether the proposed rule change
should be disapproved.
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing,
including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act.
22 15
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 17, 2010 / Notices
Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Electronic Comments
[Release No. 34–63299; File No. SR–BYX–
2010–005]
• Use the Commission’s Internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an e-mail to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File
Number SR–NYSEArca–2010–98 on the
subject line.
Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS
Y-Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and
Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
Rule Change Related to Fees for Use
of BATS Y-Exchange, Inc.
November 10, 2010.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
• Send paper comments in triplicate
‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary,
notice is hereby given that on October
Securities and Exchange Commission,
29, 2010, BATS Y-Exchange, Inc.
100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC
(‘‘Exchange’’, ‘‘BYX Exchange’’ or ‘‘BYX’’)
20549–1090.
filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’) the
All submissions should refer to File
proposed rule change as described in
Number SR–NYSEArca–2010–98. This
Items I, II and III below, which Items
file number should be included on the
subject line if e-mail is used. To help the have been prepared by the Exchange.
BYX has designated the proposed rule
Commission process and review your
change as one establishing or changing
comments more efficiently, please use
only one method. The Commission will a member due, fee, or other charge
post all comments on the Commission’s imposed by the Exchange under Section
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act 3 and Rule 19b–
Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/
4(f)(2) thereunder,4 which renders the
rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
proposed rule change effective upon
submission, all subsequent
filing with the Commission. The
amendments, all written statements
Commission is publishing this notice to
with respect to the proposed rule
solicit comments on the proposed rule
change that are filed with the
change from interested persons.
Commission, and all written
communications relating to the
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
proposed rule change between the
Statement of the Terms of the Substance
Commission and any person, other than of the Proposed Rule Change
those that may be withheld from the
The Exchange proposes to modify its
public in accordance with the
fee schedule applicable to Members 5 of
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
the Exchange pursuant to BYX Rules
available for Web site viewing and
15.1(a) and (c). While changes to the fee
printing in the Commission’s Public
schedule pursuant to this proposal will
Reference Room, 100 F Street, NE.,
Washington, DC 20549–1090 on official be effective upon filing, the changes will
become operative on November 1, 2010.
business days between 10 a.m. and 3
The text of the proposed rule change
p.m. Copies of the filing will also be
is available at the Exchange’s Web site
available for inspection and copying at
at https://www.batstrading.com, at the
the NYSE’s principal office. All
principal office of the Exchange, on the
comments received will be posted
Commission’s Web site at https://
without change; the Commission does
www.sec.gov, and at the Commission’s
not edit personal identifying
Public Reference Room.
information from submissions. You
should submit only information that
II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
you wish to make available publicly. All Statement of the Purpose of, and
submissions should refer to File
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Number SR–NYSEArca–2010–98 and
Change
should be submitted on or before
In its filing with the Commission, the
December 8, 2010.
Exchange included statements
For the Commission, by the Division of
concerning the purpose of and basis for
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
the proposed rule change and discussed
authority.23
any comments it received on the
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Paper Comments
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
1 15
[FR Doc. 2010–28894 Filed 11–16–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
23 17
CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
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16:21 Nov 16, 2010
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U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.
3 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2).
5 A Member is any registered broker or dealer that
has been admitted to membership in the Exchange.
2 17
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70325
proposed rule change. The text of these
statements may be examined at the
places specified in Item IV below. The
Exchange has prepared summaries, set
forth in Sections A, B, and C below, of
the most significant parts of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
Change
1. Purpose
The Exchange is proposing to modify
its fee schedule to revise pricing for
routed orders that are sent to and
executed by the Exchange’s affiliate,
BATS Exchange, Inc. (‘‘BZX Exchange’’).
Effective November 1, 2010, BZX
Exchange is increasing its standard fee
to remove liquidity to $0.0028 per
share.6 The Exchange has various
routing strategies and order types that
route to BZX Exchange and charge the
current remove rate charged by BZX
Exchange. These strategies include BYX
+ BZX Exchange Destination Specific
Orders orders 7 (referred to by the
Exchange as ‘‘B2B’’ orders), the TRIM
routing strategy 8 and the SLIM routing
strategy.9 The Exchange proposes to
increase the fee for executions at BZX
Exchange through B2B, TRIM and SLIM
to $0.0028 per share, consistent with the
BZX Exchange fee increase.
In addition to the changes described
above, the Exchange proposes to use the
name ‘‘BYX Exchange’’ and ‘‘BYX’’
throughout the fee schedule. Similarly,
the Exchange proposes defining its
affiliate, as it has done above, as ‘‘BZX
Exchange.’’ Also, the Exchange proposes
to make stylistic changes, including
referring to its book of orders as its
‘‘order book,’’ rather than just its ‘‘book.’’
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the
proposed rule change is consistent with
the requirements of the Act and the
rules and regulations thereunder that
are applicable to a national securities
exchange, and, in particular, with the
6 See ‘‘BATS October U.S. Markets Update and
Pricing November 1, 2010’’ (October 25, 2010),
available at: https://batstrading.com/resources/fee_
schedule/2010/BATS-October-US-Markets-Updateand-Pricing-November-1-2010.pdf.
7 As defined in BYX Rule 11.9(c)(12), a
‘‘Destination Specific Order’’ is ‘‘[a] market or limit
order that instructs the System to route the order
to a specified away trading center or centers, after
exposing the order to the BATS Book.’’
8 As defined in BYX Rule 11.13(a)(3)(G), ‘‘TRIM
is a routing option under which an order checks the
System for available shares and then is sent to
destinations on the System routing table.’’
9 As defined in BYX Rule 11.13(a)(3)(H), ‘‘SLIM is
a routing option under which an order checks the
System for available shares and then is sent to
destinations on the System routing table.’’
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 221 (Wednesday, November 17, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70319-70325]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28894]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-63292; File No. SR-NYSEArca-2010-98]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing
of Proposed Rule Change Relating to the Listing and Trading of the
WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund
November 9, 2010.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(``Act'' or ``Exchange Act'') \1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice
is hereby given that, on November 1, 2010, NYSE Arca, Inc.
(``Exchange'' or ``NYSE Arca'' or ``Corporation'') filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') the proposed rule
change as described in Items I and II below, which Items have been
prepared by the Exchange. The Commission is publishing this notice to
solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C.78s(b)(1).
\2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
The Exchange proposes to list and trade the shares of the following
fund of the WisdomTree Trust (``Trust'') under NYSE Arca Equities Rule
8.600: WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund (``Fund''). The shares
of the Fund are collectively referred to herein as the ``Shares.'' \3\
The text of the proposed rule change is available at the Exchange, the
Commission's Public Reference Room, and https://www.nyse.com.
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\3\ See Form 19b-4 Information of the proposed rule change at 3.
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II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements
concerning the purpose of, and basis for, the proposed rule change and
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The
text of those statements may be examined at the places specified in
Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in
sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant parts of such
statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and the
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
The Exchange proposes to list and trade the Shares of the Fund
under NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600,\4\ which governs the listing and
trading of ``Managed Fund Shares'' on the Exchange.\5\
[[Page 70320]]
The Fund will be an actively managed exchange-traded fund.
WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc. (``WisdomTree Asset Management'') is
the investment adviser (``Adviser'') to the Fund. WisdomTree
Investments, Inc. (``WisdomTree Investments'') is the parent company of
WisdomTree Asset Management. Mellon Capital Management Corporation
(``Mellon'' or ``Sub-Adviser'') serves as the sub-adviser for the Fund.
The Bank of New York Mellon is the administrator, custodian and
transfer agent for the Fund. ALPS Distributors, Inc. serves as
distributor for the Fund. The Shares will be offered by the Trust,
which is registered with the Commission as an investment company.\6\
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\4\ NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600(c)(1) provides that, among
other criteria, a Managed Fund Share is a security that represents
an interest in an investment company registered under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a) (``1940 Act'') organized as an
open-end investment company or similar entity that invests in a
portfolio of securities selected by its investment adviser
consistent with its investment objectives and policies. In contrast,
an open-end investment company that issues Investment Company Units,
listed and traded on the Exchange under NYSE Arca Equities Rule
5.2(j)(3), seeks to provide investment results that correspond
generally to the price and yield performance of a specific foreign
or domestic stock index, fixed income securities index or
combination thereof.
\5\ The Commission approved NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600 and
the listing and trading of certain shares of the PowerShares
Actively Managed Funds Trust on the Exchange pursuant to Rule 8.600
in Securities Exchange Act Release No. 57619 (April 4, 2008), 73 FR
19544 (April 10, 2008) (SR-NYSEArca-2008-25). The Commission also
previously approved listing and trading on the Exchange of Managed
Fund Shares under Rule 8.600. See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act
Release Nos. 57801 (May 8, 2008), 73 FR 27878 (May 14, 2008) (SR-
NYSEArca-2008-31) (order approving Exchange listing and trading of
twelve actively-managed funds of the WisdomTree Trust); 60981
(November 10, 2009), 74 FR 59594 (November 18, 2009) (SR-NYSEArca-
2009-79) (order approving listing of five fixed income funds of the
PIMCO ETF Trust); 61697 (March 12, 2010), 75 FR 13616 (March 22,
2010) (SR-NYSEArca 2010-04) (order approving listing and trading of
WisdomTree Real Return Fund); and 62604 (June [sic] 30, 2010), 75 FR
47323 (August 5, 2010) (SR-NYSEArca-2010-49) (order approving
listing and trading of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt
Fund).
\6\ See Registration Statement on Form N-1A for the Trust filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 22, 2010 (File
Nos. 333-132380 and 811-21864) (``Registration Statement''). The
Registration Statement became effective on September 20, 2010. The
descriptions of the Fund and the Shares contained herein are based
on information in the Registration Statement.
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Commentary .06 to Rule 8.600 provides that, if the investment
adviser to the Investment Company issuing Managed Fund Shares is
affiliated with a broker-dealer, such investment adviser shall erect a
``fire wall'' between the investment adviser and the broker-dealer with
respect to access to information concerning the composition and/or
changes to such Investment Company portfolio. In addition, Commentary
.06 further requires that personnel who make decisions on the open-end
fund's portfolio composition must be subject to procedures designed to
prevent the use and dissemination of material nonpublic information
regarding the open-end fund's portfolio.\7\ Commentary .06 to Rule
8.600 is similar to Commentary .03(a)(i) and (iii) to NYSE Arca
Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3); however, Commentary .06 in connection with the
establishment of a ``fire wall'' between the investment adviser and the
broker-dealer reflects the applicable open-end fund's portfolio, not an
underlying benchmark index, as is the case with index-based funds.
WisdomTree Asset Management is not affiliated with any broker-dealer.
Mellon is affiliated with multiple broker-dealers and has implemented a
``fire wall'' with respect to such broker-dealers regarding access to
information concerning the composition and/or changes to the Fund's
portfolio.\8\ In the event (a) the Adviser or the Sub-Adviser becomes
newly affiliated with a broker-dealer, or (b) any new adviser or sub-
adviser becomes affiliated with a broker-dealer, they will be required
to implement a fire wall with respect to such broker-dealer regarding
access to information concerning the composition and/or changes to a
portfolio.
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\7\ An investment adviser to an open-end fund is required to be
registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (``Advisers
Act''). As a result, the Adviser and Sub-Adviser are subject to the
provisions of Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act relating to codes
of ethics. This Rule requires investment advisers to adopt a code of
ethics that reflects the fiduciary nature of the relationship to
clients as well as compliance with other applicable securities laws.
Accordingly, procedures designed to prevent the communication and
misuse of non-public information by an investment adviser must be
consistent with Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act.
\8\ The Exchange represents that the Adviser and the Sub-Adviser
and their related personnel are subject to Investment Advisers Act
Rule 204A-1. This Rule specifically requires the adoption of a code
of ethics by an investment adviser to include, at a minimum: (i)
Standards of business conduct that reflect the firm's/personnel
fiduciary obligations; (ii) provisions requiring supervised persons
to comply with applicable federal securities laws; (iii) provisions
that require all access persons to report, and the firm to review,
their personal securities transactions and holdings periodically as
specifically set forth in Rule 204A-1; (iv) provisions requiring
supervised persons to report any violations of the code of ethics
promptly to the chief compliance officer (``CCO'') or, provided the
CCO also receives reports of all violations, to other persons
designated in the code of ethics; and (v) provisions requiring the
investment adviser to provide each of the supervised persons with a
copy of the code of ethics with an acknowledgement by said
supervised persons. In addition, Rule 206(4)-7 under the Advisers
Act makes it unlawful for an investment adviser to provide
investment advice to clients unless such investment adviser has (i)
adopted and implemented written policies and procedures reasonably
designed to prevent violation, by the investment adviser and its
supervised persons, of the Advisers Act and the Commission rules
adopted thereunder; (ii) implemented, at a minimum, an annual review
regarding the adequacy of the policies and procedures established
pursuant to subparagraph (i) above and the effectiveness of their
implementation; and (iii) designated an individual (who is a
supervised person) responsible for administering the policies and
procedures adopted under subparagraph (i) above.
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Description of the Shares, the Benchmark and the Fund:
According to the Registration Statement, the WisdomTree Managed
Futures Strategy Fund seeks to provide investors with positive total
returns in rising or falling markets that are not directly correlated
to broad market equity or fixed income returns. The Fund is managed
using a quantitative, rules-based strategy designed to provide returns
that correspond to the performance of the Diversified Trends
Indicator\TM\ (``Benchmark''). The Benchmark is a widely used indicator
designed to capture the economic benefit derived from rising or
declining price trends in the commodity, currency and U.S. Treasury
futures markets.
The Benchmark:
The Benchmark is a rules-based indicator designed to capture rising
and falling price trends in the commodity, currency and U.S. Treasury
markets through long and short positions on U.S. listed futures
contracts. The Benchmark consists of U.S. listed futures contracts on
16 tangible commodities and 8 financial futures. The 16 commodity
futures contracts are: light crude oil, natural gas, RBOB gas, heating
oil, soybeans, corn, wheat, gold, silver, copper, live cattle, lean
hogs, coffee, cocoa, cotton and sugar. The 8 financial futures
contracts are: the Australian dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar,
Euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, U.S. Treasury Notes and U.S. Treasury
bonds. Each contract is sometimes referred to as a ``Component'' of the
Benchmark.
Components that are similar in nature (such as gas and oil or gold
and silver) are aggregated into ``Sectors.'' There are nine commodity
Sectors in the Benchmark: Energy, Grains, Precious Metals, Industrial
Metals, Livestock, Coffee, Cocoa, Cotton, and Sugar. Each financial
futures contract is considered to be its own Sector. As a result, there
are eight financial Sectors in the Benchmark: The Australian dollar,
British pound, Canadian dollar, Euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, U.S.
Treasury Notes and U.S. Treasury bonds.
In order to capture both rising and falling price trends, at the
end of each month each Sector in the Benchmark (other than the Energy
Sector) is positioned as either ``long'' or ``short'' (at the end of
each month, the Energy Sector is positioned as either ``long'' or
``flat'' (i.e., no exposure)). This determination is made using an
algorithm that compares the Sector's monthly return to the Sector's
historic weighted moving average returns. If the Sector's returns are
above its moving average returns the Sector is positioned as ``long''
throughout the following month. If the Sector's returns are below its
moving average the Sector is positioned as ``short'' throughout the
following month (with the sole exception of the Energy Sector, which
would be positioned as ``flat''). All Components within a Sector are
held in the same direction. The value of a Sector and the value of the
Benchmark should increase if a long position increases in value or if a
short position decreases in value. For example, if a Sector is long in
the Benchmark and the value of its Components goes up intra-month, the
return of the Sector (and therefore the Benchmark) should
[[Page 70321]]
increase. If a Sector is short in the Benchmark, and the value of its
Components goes down intra-month, the return of the Sector (and
therefore the Benchmark) should increase.
The Energy Sector and its Components may never be positioned short
within the Benchmark. The Benchmark's methodology provides that, due to
significant levels of continuous consumption, limited reserves and
other factors, the Energy Sector can only be long or flat (i.e., no
exposure) within the Benchmark. If the Energy Sector is flat then the
weighting of the other Sectors and Components within the Benchmark is
increased on a pro-rata basis.\9\ As a result, when the Energy Sector
is flat, financial futures will represent approximately 61.5% of the
weight of the Benchmark and commodities will represent approximately
38.5% of the weight of the Benchmark. When the Energy Sector is long,
financial futures and commodity futures each represent 50% of the
weight of the Benchmark.
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\9\ To arrive at the Sector weightings when the Energy Sector is
flat, divide the Sector Base Weight by one minus the Energy Sector
Base Weight (i.e., Sector Base Weight/1-0.1875)).
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At the beginning of each year and month, the Benchmark is weighted
in one of two ways. If the Energy Sector is long, the Benchmark is
weighted evenly (i.e., 50/50) between commodity futures contracts and
financial futures contracts. If the Energy Sector is flat, financial
futures represent approximately 61.5% of the weight of the Benchmark
and commodity futures represent approximately 38.5% of the Benchmark.
At the beginning of 2010, the Benchmark was weighted evenly: A 50%
weight to commodity futures and a 50% weight to financial futures. At
the beginning of each year, each Component and Sector also has a ``Base
Weight,'' depending on whether the Energy Sector is long or flat. If
the Energy Sector is flat, then the Base Weight of the other Sectors
and Components within the Benchmark is increased on a pro-rata basis.
Commodity Sector weights are based on, but not exactly proportional to,
historical world production levels. Commodity Sectors that have higher
historical production levels are weighted higher in the Benchmark.
Weightings of the financial futures Sectors are based on, but not
directly proportional to, historical gross domestic product (``GDP'').
Larger economic regions (i.e., Europe as measured by the Euro) should
get a higher weighting than smaller regions (i.e., Australia as
measured by the Australian dollar).\10\
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\10\ The current Sector (and Component) Base Weights when the
Energy Sector is long are as follows: Energy 18.75% (light crude
8.50%, natural gas 4.25%, RBOB 3.0%, heating oil 3.0%); Grains
11.50% (soybeans 5.0%, corn 4.0%, wheat 2.50%); Precious Metals
5.25% (Gold 3.50%, Silver 1.75%); Industrial Metals 5.0% (copper
5.0%); Livestock 5.0% (live cattle 3.0%, lean hogs 2.0%); Coffee
1.5%; Cocoa 1.0%; Cotton 1.0%; Sugar 1.0%; Euro 13.0%; Japanese Yen
12.0%; U.S. Treasury Note 7.50%; U.S. Treasury Bond 7.50%; British
Pound 5.00%; Swiss Franc 2.0%; Australian Dollar 2.0%; and Canadian
Dollar 1.00%.
The current Sector (and Component) Base Weights when the Energy
Sector is flat are as follows: Energy 0% (light crude 0%, natural
gas 0%, RBOB 0%, heating oil 0%); Grains 14.15% (soybeans 6.15%,
corn 4.92%, wheat 3.08%); Precious Metals 6.46% (gold 4.31%, silver
2.15%); Industrial Metals 6.15% (copper 6.15%); Livestock 6.15%
(live cattle 3.69%, lean hogs 2.46%); Coffee 1.85%; Cocoa 1.23%;
Cotton 1.23%; Sugar 1.23%; Euro 16.0%; Japanese Yen 14.77%; U.S.
Treasury Note 9.23%; U.S. Treasury Bond 9.23%; British Pound 6.15%;
Swiss Franc 2.46%; Australian Dollar 2.46%; and Canadian Dollar
1.23%.
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The weight of each Component and Sector in the Benchmark changes
throughout each month based upon performance. At the end of each month,
each Sector is reset back to its applicable Base Weight depending on
whether the Energy Sector is long or flat. Within Sectors that have
multiple Components, the weight of each Component relative to the
others is allowed to fluctuate throughout the year and Component
weights are reset back to their respective Base Weights only at year-
end.
The Fund:
The Fund will invest substantially all of its assets in a
combination of commodity- and currency-linked investments (including
investments linked to U.S. Treasuries) designed to correspond to the
performance of the Benchmark, and U.S. government securities (as
defined in Section 3(a)(42) of the Exchange Act) (``Government
Securities'') that serve as collateral or otherwise back the commodity-
and currency-linked investments. More specifically, the Fund will
invest at least 70% of its assets in a combination of: (i) Listed
commodity and financial futures contracts included in the Benchmark;
and (ii) forward currency contracts based on currencies represented in
the Benchmark,\11\ in each case collateralized or otherwise backed by
Government Securities. The Fund may invest up to 30% of its assets in a
combination of swap transactions \12\ and commodity-linked notes.\13\
The Fund's
[[Page 70322]]
investments in listed futures contracts, forward currency contracts and
swap transactions will be backed by investments in Government
Securities in an amount equal to the exposure of such contracts.
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\11\ The Fund's investments in commodity futures contracts will
be limited by the application of position limits imposed by the CFTC
and U.S. futures exchanges intended to prevent undue influence on
prices by a single trader or group of affiliated traders. The
Adviser has represented that the Fund's investment in futures
contracts will be limited to investments in the U.S. listed futures
contracts included in the Benchmark, except that the Fund may invest
up to 10% of its assets in U.S. listed commodity and currency
futures contracts not included in the Benchmark in a manner designed
to achieve its investment objective.
The U.S. listed commodity futures contracts included in the
Benchmark (and therefore included in the Fund) are heavily traded
and are based on some of the world's most liquid and actively-traded
commodities. As of August 31, 2010, the ten commodity futures
contracts that are given the greatest weighting in the Benchmark,
and their three-month Average Daily Dollar Volume (``ADDV''), were:
high grade copper (6.15% weight; ADDV $528,158,471); soybeans (6.06%
weight; ADDV $3,172,701,410); corn (4.67% weight; ADDV
$2,528,323,106); gold (4.29% weight; ADDV $6,226,943,776); live
cattle (3.75% weight; ADDV $566,731,652); wheat (3.42% weight; ADDV
$1,385,115,481); lean hogs (2.40% weight; ADDV $339,611,918); silver
(2.17% weight; ADDV $641,111,990); coffee (1.85% weight; ADDV
$505,778,511); and cocoa (1.23% weight; ADDV $144,259,844).
The Fund will not invest in any currency that is not represented
in the Benchmark. The listed financial futures contracts included in
the Benchmark (and therefore included in the Fund) are heavily
traded and represent six of the world's most liquid and actively-
traded currencies (as well as the U.S. dollar through futures on
Treasury bonds and 10 year notes) as measured by daily turnover. For
example, according to Table B.5 of the 2007 Triennial Central Bank
Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivative Market Activity by the
Bank for International Settlements (``BIS 2007 Survey''), the most
actively traded currency pairs against the U.S. dollar (based on
average daily turnover in U.S. dollars at current exchange rates in
April 2007) were as follows: euro ($840 billion), yen ($397
billion), British pound ($361 billion), Australian dollar ($175
billion), Swiss franc ($143 billion), and Canadian dollar ($115
billion). According to Table E.2 of the BIS 2007 Survey, the daily
turnover in April 2007 consisted of the following (in billions of
U.S. dollars) (approximate):
Each of the currencies listed above is represented by U.S.
listed financial futures contracts in the Benchmark.
As of August 31, 2010, the weighting of the financial futures
contracts in the Benchmark, and their respective three month ADDV,
was: euro (16.00% weight; ADDV $43,890,327,409); Japanese yen
(14.77% weight; ADDV $16,832,896,412), U.S. Treasury 10 yr. note
(9.23% weight, ADDV $15,149,128,260); U.S. Treasury Bond (9.23%
weight; ADDV $5,233,746,635); British pound (6.15% weight; ADDV
$9,822,322,233); Australian dollar (2.46% weight; ADDV U.S.
$8,172,424,454); Swiss franc (2.46% weight; ADDV $4,342,434,023);
and Canadian dollar (1.23% weight; ADDV U.S. $7,560,986,056). The
Adviser represents that the returns of the forward currency
contracts held by the Fund will be highly correlated to the returns
of the listed futures contracts included in the Benchmark.
\12\ The Fund will enter into over-the-counter swap transactions
only with respect to transactions based on (i) the return of the
Benchmark or any subset of the Benchmark, (ii) any Component in the
Benchmark, or (iii) any commodity or currency represented in the
Benchmark.
\13\ The Fund may invest in commodity-linked notes. Commodity-
linked notes are over-the-counter debt instruments, typically issued
by a bank or broker-dealer, that are designed to provide cash flows
linked to the value of a reference asset. They provide exposure,
which may include long and/or short exposure, to the investment
returns of the reference asset underlying the note. The performance
of these notes is determined by the price movement of the reference
asset underlying the note. The Fund's investment in commodity-linked
notes will be limited to notes providing exposure to (i) the
Benchmark or any subset of the Benchmark, (ii) any Component of the
Benchmark or (iii) any commodity or currency represented in the
Benchmark. As noted, the Benchmark consists of heavily traded U.S.
listed futures contracts based on liquid and actively-traded
commodities and currencies and there is also an active market for
forward currency contracts and other derivatives based on the
commodities and currencies represented in the Benchmark. In
addition, the Benchmark is widely-followed and currently serves as
the basis for a range of investment products, including funds, swap
contracts and other derivatives. The Fund's overall investment in
swaps and commodity-linked notes will not exceed 30% of the Fund's
assets.
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Total Spot Forward Swap
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Euro............................................ 840 265 90 485
Yen............................................. 397 140 42 215
British Pound................................... 361 103 30 228
Australian Dollar............................... 175 39 15 121
Swiss Franc..................................... 143 49 12 81
Canadian Dollar................................. 115 33 12 69
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The Fund will be managed so that the long and short exposure of the
Fund's portfolio is economically similar to the long and short
positions in the Benchmark. This does not, however, mean that the long
and short exposures will be identical. The Fund's positions in such
listed futures contracts may deviate from the Benchmark when the
Adviser or the Sub-Adviser believes it is in the best interest of the
Fund to do so.\14\ For example, the Fund may deviate from the Benchmark
in order to manage cash flows in and out of the Fund, such as in
connection with the payment of dividends or expenses, to manage
portfolio holdings around Benchmark changes, or to comply with the 1940
Act, the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA''), the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (``Code''), exchange position limits or other applicable laws,
rules and regulations.
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\14\ The Sub-Adviser is responsible for day-to-day management of
the Fund and, as such, typically makes all decisions with respect to
portfolio holdings. The Adviser has ongoing oversight
responsibility.
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To the extent the Fund invests in futures contracts it will do so
only in accordance with Rule 4.5 of the CEA. The Trust, on behalf of
the Fund, has filed a notice of eligibility for exclusion from the
definition of the term ``commodity pool operator'' in accordance with
Rule 4.5 so that the Fund is not subject to registration or regulation
as a commodity pool operator under the CEA. The Fund does not invest
directly in physical commodities.
The Fund's investment in Government Securities shall be limited to
investments: (i) To satisfy margin requirements, to provide collateral
or to otherwise back investments in commodity- and currency-linked
derivatives (such as futures contracts, forward contracts and swaps);
(ii) to help manage cash flows in and out of the Fund, such as in
connection with the payment of dividends or expenses; or (iii) as a
substitute for investment in the listed U.S. Treasury futures contracts
included in the Benchmark. In addition, the Fund may invest in money
market instruments with remaining maturities of one year or less, as
well as cash and cash equivalents, in order to collateralize or
otherwise back its positions in listed futures contracts, forward
currency contracts or swaps or for cash management purposes. All money
market securities acquired by the Fund will be rated investment grade.
The Fund generally expects to maintain an average portfolio maturity of
90 days or less on its investments in money market securities.
Neither the Fund nor the Benchmark is leveraged. The Fund will be a
``non-diversified'' fund. This means that a relatively high percentage
of its assets may be invested in a limited number of securities and
instruments. The Fund intends to maintain the level of diversification
necessary to qualify as a regulated investment company (``RIC'') under
Subchapter M of the Code.
The Fund will seek to gain exposure to the commodity and currency
markets, in whole or in part, through investments in a subsidiary
organized in the Cayman Islands (``Subsidiary''). The Subsidiary is
wholly-owned and controlled by the Fund, and its investments will be
consolidated into the Fund's financial statements. The Fund's and the
Subsidiary's holdings will be disclosed on the Fund's website on a
daily basis. The Fund's investment in the Subsidiary may not exceed 25%
of the Fund's total assets at the end of each fiscal quarter. The
Subsidiary's shares will be offered only to the Fund and the Fund will
not sell shares of the Subsidiary to other investors.
The Fund's use of the Subsidiary is designed to help the Fund
achieve exposure to commodity and currency returns in a manner
consistent with the federal tax requirements applicable to the Fund and
other regulated investment companies. The Subsidiary will comply with
the 1940 Act except that, unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary may invest
without limitation in commodity- and currency-linked investments based
on commodities and currencies included within the Benchmark. The
Subsidiary will otherwise operate in the same manner as the Fund with
regard to applicable compliance policies and procedures. The Fund's
Registration Statement states that since the Subsidiary's investments
are consolidated into the Fund's, the Fund's combined holdings
(including the investments of the Subsidiary) must comply with the 1940
Act.
The Fund will not invest in non-U.S. equity securities (other than
shares of the Subsidiary).
The Shares:
According to the Registration Statement, the Fund issues and
redeems Shares on a continuous basis at net asset value (``NAV'') \15\
only in large blocks of Shares, typically 50,000 Shares or more
(``Creation Unit Aggregations''), in transactions with Authorized
Participants. Only institutional investors who have entered into an
Authorized Participant agreement may purchase or redeem Creation Unit
Aggregations. Orders to create or redeem Creation Unit Aggregations of
the Fund must be delivered through an Authorized Participant prior to
the
[[Page 70323]]
Fund's NAV calculation time. The consideration for purchase of Creation
Unit Aggregations of the Fund will consist of the in-kind deposit of a
designated portfolio of Government Securities and/or listed futures
contracts included in the Benchmark (``Deposit Securities'') and an
amount of cash (``Cash Component''). Together, the Deposit Securities
and the Cash Component constitute the ``Fund Deposit,'' which
represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a
Creation Unit Aggregation of the Fund. The Fund Deposit may consist
entirely of cash.
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\15\ The NAV of the Fund's Shares generally is calculated once
daily Monday through Friday as of the close of regular trading on
the New York Stock Exchange, generally 4 p.m. Eastern time (``NAV
Calculation Time''). NAV per Share is calculated by dividing the
Fund's net assets by the number of Fund Shares outstanding. For more
information regarding the valuation of Fund investments in
calculating the Fund's NAV, see the Registration Statement.
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The process to redeem Creation Unit Aggregations works much like
the process to purchase Creation Unit Aggregations, but in reverse.
Each business day prior to the opening of trading the Fund will
publish the specific securities and designated amount of cash included
in that day's basket for the Fund through the National Securities
Clearing Corporation or other method of public dissemination. The Fund
reserves the right to accept or pay out a basket of securities or cash
that differs from the published basket. The prices at which creations
and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after an
order is received in proper form.
Additional information regarding the Fund and the Shares, including
investment strategies, risks, creation and redemption procedures, fees,
portfolio holdings, disclosure policies, distributions and taxes is
included in the Registration Statement. All terms relating to the Fund
that are referred to, but not defined in, this proposed rule change are
defined in the Registration Statement.
Availability of Information:
The Fund's website (https://www.wisdomtree.com), which will be
publicly available prior to the public offering of Shares, will include
a form of the Prospectus for the Fund that may be downloaded. The
website will include additional quantitative information updated on a
daily basis, including, for the Fund: (1) The prior business day's
reported NAV, mid-point of the bid/ask spread at the time of
calculation of such NAV (``Bid/Ask Price''),\16\ and a calculation of
the premium and discount of the Bid/Ask Price against the NAV; and (2)
data in chart format displaying the frequency distribution of discounts
and premiums of the daily Bid/Ask Price against the NAV, within
appropriate ranges, for each of the four previous calendar quarters.
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\16\ The Bid/Ask Price of the Fund is determined using the mid-
point of the highest bid and the lowest offer on the Exchange as of
the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV. The records relating to
Bid/Ask Prices will be retained by the Fund and/or its service
providers.
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On each business day, before commencement of trading in Shares in
the Core Trading Session \17\ on the Exchange, the Trust will disclose
on its website the identities and quantities of the portfolio of
securities and other assets (``Disclosed Portfolio'') \18\ held by the
Fund and the Subsidiary that will form the basis for the Fund's
calculation of NAV at the end of the business day.\19\ On a daily
basis, the Adviser (using an automated process currently used by
existing WisdomTree Funds) will disclose for each portfolio security or
other investment of the Fund the following information: ticker symbol
(if applicable), name or description of security or investment, number
of shares or dollar value of investments held in the portfolio, and
percentage weighting of the security or investment in the portfolio.
The website information will be publicly available at no charge.
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\17\ The Core Trading Session is 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern
time.
\18\ The Exchange notes that NYSE Arca Equities Rule
8.600(d)(2)(B)(ii) provides that the Reporting Authority that
provides the Disclosed Portfolio must implement and maintain, or be
subject to procedures designed to prevent the use and dissemination
of material non-public information regarding the actual components
of the portfolio.
\19\ Under accounting procedures followed by the Fund, trades
made on the prior business day (``T'') will be booked and reflected
in NAV on the current business day (``T+1''). Notwithstanding the
foregoing, portfolio trades that are executed prior to the opening
of the Exchange on any business day may be booked and reflected in
NAV on such business day. Accordingly, the Fund will be able to
disclose at the beginning of the business day the portfolio that
will form the basis for the NAV calculation at the end of the
business day.
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In addition, for the Fund, an estimated value, defined in NYSE Arca
Equities Rule 8.600 as the ``Portfolio Indicative Value,'' that
reflects an estimated intra-day value of the Fund's portfolio, will be
disseminated. The Portfolio Indicative Value will be based upon the
current value for the components of the Disclosed Portfolio and will be
updated and disseminated by one or more major market data vendors at
least every 15 seconds during the Core Trading Session on the Exchange.
The dissemination of the Portfolio Indicative Value, together with the
Disclosed Portfolio, will allow investors to determine the value of the
underlying portfolio of the Fund on a daily basis and to provide a
close estimate of that value throughout the trading day.
Intra-day and end-of-day prices are readily available through
Bloomberg, other major market data providers and broker-dealers for the
Benchmark, the listed futures contracts included in the Benchmark, the
commodities and currencies represented in the Benchmark, and the
forward currency contracts, swaps, notes and other derivatives based on
the Benchmark. As a result, information necessary to evaluate the value
of any swap or commodity-linked note purchased by the Fund will be
readily available to market participants. Intra-day prices for the
Benchmark are updated and disseminated at least every 15 seconds during
the Core Trading Session on the Exchange.
Investors can also obtain the Trust's Statement of Additional
Information (``SAI''), the Fund's Shareholder Reports, and its Form N-
CSR and Form N-SAR, filed twice a year. The Trust's SAI and Shareholder
Reports are available free upon request from the Trust, and those
documents and the Form N-CSR and Form N-SAR may be viewed on-screen or
downloaded from the Commission's website at https://www.sec.gov.
Information regarding market price and trading volume of the Shares is
and will be continually available on a real-time basis throughout the
day on brokers' computer screens and other electronic services.
Information regarding the previous day's closing price and trading
volume information will be published daily in the financial section of
newspapers. Quotation and last sale information for the Shares will be
available via the Consolidated Tape Association (``CTA'') high-speed
line.
Initial and Continued Listing:
The Shares will be subject to NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600(d),
which sets forth the initial and continued listing criteria applicable
to Managed Fund Shares. The Exchange represents that, for initial and/
or continued listing, the Shares must be in compliance with Rule 10A-3
under the Exchange Act,\20\ as provided by NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.3.
A minimum of 100,000 Shares will be outstanding at the commencement of
trading on the Exchange. The Exchange will obtain a representation from
the issuer of the Shares that the NAV per Share for the Fund will be
calculated daily and that the NAV and the Disclosed Portfolio will be
made available to all market participants at the same time.
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\20\ See 17 CFR 240.10A-3.
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Trading Halts:
With respect to trading halts, the Exchange may consider all
relevant factors in exercising its discretion to halt or suspend
trading in the Shares of the Fund. Shares of the Fund will be
[[Page 70324]]
halted if the ``circuit breaker'' parameters in NYSE Arca Equities Rule
7.12 are reached. Trading may be halted because of market conditions or
for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in the
Shares inadvisable. These may include: (1) The extent to which trading
is not occurring in the securities comprising the Disclosed Portfolio
and/or the financial instruments of the Fund; or (2) whether other
unusual conditions or circumstances detrimental to the maintenance of a
fair and orderly market are present. Trading in the Shares will be
subject to NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600(d)(2)(D), which sets forth
circumstances under which Shares of the Fund may be halted. Such rule
provides that, if the Portfolio Indicative Value (as defined in Rule
8.600(c)(3)) of a series of Managed Fund Shares is not being
disseminated as required, the Corporation may halt trading during the
day in which the interruption to the dissemination of the Portfolio
Indicative Value occurs. If the interruption to the dissemination of
the Portfolio Indicative Value persists past the trading day in which
it occurred, the Corporation will halt trading no later than the
beginning of the trading day following the interruption. In addition,
if the Exchange becomes aware that the NAV or the Disclosed Portfolio
with respect to a series of Managed Fund Shares is not disseminated to
all market participants at the same time, it will halt trading in such
series until such time as the NAV or the Disclosed Portfolio is
available to all market participants.
Trading Rules:
The Exchange deems the Shares to be equity securities, thus
rendering trading in the Shares subject to the Exchange's existing
rules governing the trading of equity securities. Shares will trade on
the NYSE Arca Marketplace from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time in
accordance with NYSE Arca Equities Rule 7.34 (Opening, Core, and Late
Trading Sessions). The Exchange has appropriate rules to facilitate
transactions in the Shares during all trading sessions. As provided in
NYSE Arca Equities Rule 7.6, Commentary .03, the minimum price
variation (``MPV'') for quoting and entry of orders in equity
securities traded on the NYSE Arca Marketplace is $0.01, with the
exception of securities that are priced less than $1.00 for which the
MPV for order entry is $0.0001.
Surveillance:
The Exchange intends to utilize its existing surveillance
procedures applicable to derivative products (which includes Managed
Fund Shares) to monitor trading in the Shares. The Exchange represents
that these procedures are adequate to properly monitor Exchange trading
of the Shares in all trading sessions and to deter and detect
violations of Exchange rules and applicable federal securities laws.
The Exchange's current trading surveillance focuses on detecting
securities trading outside their normal patterns. When such situations
are detected, surveillance analysis follows and investigations are
opened, where appropriate, to review the behavior of all relevant
parties for all relevant trading violations.
The Exchange may obtain information via the Intermarket
Surveillance Group (``ISG'') from NYMEX, ICE Futures and other
exchanges that are members of ISG.\21\
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\21\ For a list of the current members of ISG, see https://www.isgportal.org. The Exchange notes that not all of the components
of the Disclosed Portfolio for the Fund may trade on exchanges that
are members of ISG or with which the Exchange has in place a
comprehensive surveillance sharing agreement.
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In addition, the Exchange also has a general policy prohibiting the
distribution of material, non-public information by its employees.
Information Bulletin:
Prior to the commencement of trading, the Exchange will inform its
ETP Holders in an Information Bulletin (``Bulletin'') of the special
characteristics and risks associated with trading the Shares.
Specifically, the Bulletin will discuss the following: (1) The
procedures for purchases and redemptions of Shares in Creation Unit
Aggregations (and that Shares are not individually redeemable); (2)
NYSE Arca Equities Rule 9.2(a), which imposes a duty of due diligence
on its ETP Holders to learn the essential facts relating to every
customer prior to trading the Shares; (3) the risks involved in trading
the Shares during the Opening and Late Trading Sessions when an updated
Portfolio Indicative Value will not be calculated or publicly
disseminated; (4) how information regarding the Portfolio Indicative
Value is disseminated; (5) the requirement that ETP Holders deliver a
prospectus to investors purchasing newly issued Shares prior to or
concurrently with the confirmation of a transaction; and (6) trading
information.
In addition, the Bulletin will reference that the Fund is subject
to various fees and expenses described in the Registration Statement.
The Bulletin will discuss any exemptive, no-action, and interpretive
relief granted by the Commission from any rules under the Exchange Act.
The Bulletin will also disclose that the NAV for the Shares will be
calculated after 4 p.m. Eastern time each trading day.
2. Statutory Basis
The basis under the Exchange Act for this proposed rule change is
the requirement under Section 6(b)(5) \22\ that an exchange have rules
that are designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and
practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, to remove
impediments to, and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market
and, in general, to protect investors and the public interest. The
Exchange believes that the proposed rule change will facilitate the
listing and trading of an additional type of exchange-traded product
that will enhance competition among market participants, to the benefit
of investors and the marketplace. In addition, the listing and trading
criteria set forth in NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.600 are intended to
protect investors and the public interest.
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\22\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
No written comments were solicited or received with respect to the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
Within 45 days of the date of publication of this notice in the
Federal Register or within such longer period up to 90 days (i) as the
Commission may designate if it finds such longer period to be
appropriate and publishes its reasons for so finding or (ii) as to
which the self-regulatory organization consents, the Commission will:
(A) By order approve or disapprove the proposed rule change, or
(B) institute proceedings to determine whether the proposed rule
change should be disapproved.
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act.
[[Page 70325]]
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Electronic Comments
Use the Commission's Internet comment form (https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
Send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include
File Number SR-NYSEArca-2010-98 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
Send paper comments in triplicate to Elizabeth M. Murphy,
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE.,
Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-NYSEArca-2010-98. This
file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used.
To help the Commission process and review your comments more
efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all
comments on the Commission's Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments,
all written statements with respect to the proposed rule change that
are filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating
to the proposed rule change between the Commission and any person,
other than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance
with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for Web site
viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F
Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549-1090 on official business days
between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of the filing will also be available
for inspection and copying at the NYSE's principal office. All comments
received will be posted without change; the Commission does not edit
personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit
only information that you wish to make available publicly. All
submissions should refer to File Number SR-NYSEArca-2010-98 and should
be submitted on or before December 8, 2010.
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\23\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\23\
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-28894 Filed 11-16-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P