Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) | None |
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) | |
Management Fees | 0.53% |
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees | None |
Other Expenses | 0.00% |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | 0.53% |
Fee Waivers | (0.05)% 1 |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers | 0.48% 1 |
1 | WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc. (“WisdomTree Asset Management” or the “Adviser”) has contractually agreed to limit the Management Fee to 0.48% through October 31, 2017, unless earlier terminated by the Board of Trustees of WisdomTree Trust (the “Trust”) for any reason at any time. |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
$ 49 | $ 165 | $ 291 | $ 660 |
2 WisdomTree Trust Prospectus |
■ | Investment Risk. As with all investments, an investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk. Investors in the Fund could lose money, including the possible loss of the entire principal amount of an investment, over short or long periods of time. |
■ | Market Risk. The trading prices of equity securities and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors, such as events that impact the entire market, market segments, or specific issuers. The Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time. |
■ | Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The trading prices of the Fund’s shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund’s daily NAV and there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV (premium) or less than the NAV (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines. |
■ | Cash Redemption Risk. The Fund’s investment strategy will require it to redeem shares for cash or to otherwise include cash as part of its redemption proceeds. The Fund may be required to sell or unwind portfolio investments in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. This may cause the Fund to recognize a capital gain that it might not have recognized if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the Fund may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if the in-kind redemption process was used. |
■ | Counterparty and Issuer Credit Risk. The financial condition of an issuer of an instrument or a counterparty to a derivative or other contract may cause such issuer or counterparty to default, become unable to pay interest or principal due or otherwise fail to honor its obligations or cause such issuer or counterparty to be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as being in such situations. The value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning in response to issuer or counterparty defaults, changes in the credit ratings of the Fund’s portfolio investments and/or perceptions related thereto. |
■ | Derivatives Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives, including as a substitute to gain short exposure to equity securities and equity indexes. Derivatives are financial instruments that derive their performance from an underlying reference asset, such as a commodity, index, interest rate or inflation rate. The return on a derivative instrument may not correlate with the return of its underlying reference asset. Derivatives are subject to a number of risks described elsewhere in this Prospectus, such as market risk and issuer-specific risk. Derivatives can be volatile and may be less liquid than other securities. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning and you may lose money. In addition to the other risks associated with the use of derivatives described elsewhere in this Prospectus, there are risks associated with the Fund’s use of futures contracts and swaps. These risks include but are not limited to: (1) the success of the adviser’s and sub-adviser’s ability to predict movements in the prices of individual indexes or securities, fluctuations in markets and movements in interest rates; (2)an imperfect or no correlation between the changes in market value of the indexes or securities and the prices of swaps and futures contracts; and (3) no guarantee that an active market will exist for swaps and futures contracts at any particular time. |
■ | Financial Sector Risk. The Fund currently invests a significant portion of its assets in the financial sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. This sector |
WisdomTree Trust Prospectus 3 |
can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, government regulation, the rate of defaults on corporate, consumer and government debt, the availability and cost of capital, and fallout from the housing and sub-prime mortgage crisis. |
■ | Geopolitical Risk. The United States has experienced security concerns, war, threats of war, aggression and/or conflict, terrorism, economic uncertainty, natural and environmental disasters and/or systemic market dislocations (including due to events outside of the United States) that have led, and in the future may lead, to increased short-term market volatility and may have adverse long-term effects on the U.S. and world economies and markets generally, each of which may negatively impact the Fund’s investments. |
■ | Hedging Risk. Derivatives used by the Fund to offset its exposure to market volatility may not perform as intended. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective. The value of an investment in the Fund could be significantly and negatively impacted if securities shorted by the Fund appreciate at the same time the Fund's long positions decrease in value. |
■ | Index and Data Risk. The Fund is not “actively” managed and will seek to track the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index provider has the right to make adjustments to the Index or to cease making the Index available without regard to the particular interests of the Fund or its shareholders. The Index is heavily dependent on quantitative models and data from one or more third parties and the Index may not perform as intended. If the computers or other facilities of the Index provider, Index calculation agent, data providers and/or relevant stock exchange malfunction for any reason, calculation and dissemination of Index values may be delayed and trading in Fund shares may be suspended for a period of time. Errors in Index data, Index calculations and/or the construction of the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and/or corrected by the Index provider, Index calculation agent or other applicable party for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Funds and their shareholders. The potential risk of continuing error may be particularly heightened in the case of the Index, which is generally not used as a benchmark by other funds or managers. |
■ | Information Technology Sector Risk. The Fund currently invests a significant portion of its assets in the information technology sector. This sector can be significantly affected by, among other things, the supply and demand for specific products and services, the pace of technological development and government regulation. |
■ | Investment Style Risk. The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index. |
■ | Issuer-Specific Risk. Issuer-specific events, including changes in the financial condition of an issuer, can have a negative impact on the value of the Fund. |
■ | Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest a relatively large percentage of its assets in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion. |
■ | Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest a relatively large percentage of its assets in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies. |
■ | Non-Correlation Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. |
■ | Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. To the extent the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers, the Fund is subject to the risks of investing in those few issuers, and may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence. As a result, changes in the market value of a single security could cause greater fluctuations in the value of Fund shares than would occur in a diversified fund. |
4 WisdomTree Trust Prospectus |
■ | Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund’s investment strategy may result in a high portfolio turnover rate. High portfolio turnover would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses and may result in the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance. |
■ | Short Sales Risk. The Fund will engage in “short sale” transactions. The Fund will lose value if the security or instrument that is the subject of a short sale increases in value. The Fund may enter into short positions in equities and equity indexes as well as short derivative positions through swaps and futures contracts on equities and equity indexes. If the price of the security or derivative that is the subject of a short sale increases, then the Fund will incur a loss equal to the increase in price from the time that the short sale was entered into plus any premiums and interest paid to a third party in connection with the short sale. The risk of loss on a shorted position arises from the increase in value of the security sold short and is potentially unlimited unlike the risk of loss on a long position, which is limited to the amount paid for the investment plus transaction costs. Therefore, short sales involve the risk that losses may be exaggerated, potentially losing more money than the actual cost of the investment. Also, there is the risk that the third party to the short sale may fail to honor its contract terms, causing a loss to the Fund. Further, in times of unusual or adverse economic, market or political conditions, neither the Index nor the Fund may be able to fully or partially implement its short selling strategy. |
WisdomTree Trust Prospectus 5 |
6 WisdomTree Trust Prospectus |