Acquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF

Acquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF (DEEP), from Exchange Traded Concepts, tracks the Acquirers Deep Value Index: 100 cheap-looking, financially sound stocks from the smallest 75% of US-listed companies, held in near-equal amounts. It may suit investors wanting a strict bargain-hunting approach with fraud and accounting screens. The trade-offs: a 0.80% expense ratio versus a 0.52% average for similar funds, and just $26.2 million in assets as of May 31, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, DEEP returned +21.2%, 4th of 6 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +5.3%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-17.7%); its best was 2023 (+22.4%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 28.4% (Jul 31, 2024 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Sep 18, 2025.

As of May 31, 2026, the fund held 100 securities; the ten largest made up 14.62% of assets.

• Over the three months to May 31, 2026, investors withdrew a net $1.8M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -3.69%, +10.47%, -0.10%.

DEEP is an index fund that aims to match the Acquirers Deep Value Index, before fees. Acquirers Funds, LLC created the index in 2020; the fund launched in September 2014. The index starts with the smallest 75% of US-listed stocks by market value that meet liquidity thresholds.

The index first screens for cheapness with The Acquirer's Multiple, a measure published in 2014 by the index provider's Tobias Carlisle. It then weighs assets, earnings and cash flows to rank stocks by valuation. Next, stocks must pass statistical tests for fraud, earnings manipulation and financial distress, and show a margin of safety: a wide discount to a conservative valuation, a strong, liquid balance sheet and a business that produces free cash flow (cash left after reinvestment). Last comes a forensic-accounting review: a close read of the financial statements for red flags. The top 100 survivors form the index.

Each quarter, after the close on the third Friday of March, June, September and December, every stock is reset to about 1%. Stocks that no longer qualify are replaced, and a buffer on some criteria limits churn. The prospectus still reports 118% portfolio turnover (a year's trading exceeded the fund's size), and the resulting trading costs sit outside the 0.80% expense ratio. The fund generally holds every index stock.

• DEEP charges 0.8% a year, versus an average of 0.52% for the similar funds below (5th of 6, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $82 in the first year and $990 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is a specialized bet on deeply discounted small and micro-cap stocks that lost 40.3% in one quarter of 2020 and costs more than most similar funds.

DEEP could add a deep-value tilt and small-company exposure that large-company index funds barely touch. Over the 12 months to October 27, 2026, it paid $0.88 a share in quarterly dividends, a 2.07% yield. The fund did not exist in 2008, and the prospectus shows a 40.3% loss in the first quarter of 2020. In the 2022 bear market it fell 26.3% from peak to low and took about 15 months from that low to recover; 2022, down 17.7%, was its weakest calendar year from 2022 through 2025. Its deepest drop since February 2021, 28.4% from July 2024 to April 2025, recovered by September 2025. Withdrawals during such slumps lock in losses. Costs run 0.80% a year: $82 in the first year on $10,000 in the SEC's standard example.

Past results don't predict future returns; a plan should weigh the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).