Vident U.S. Equity Strategy ETF

Vident U.S. Equity Strategy ETF (VUSE) tracks the Vident U.S. Quality Index, a rules-based mix of about 126 U.S. stocks. The index picks and weights them by corporate governance, profitability and price momentum. It caps each company's weight, so no single stock dominates. The trade-off is cost: its 0.50% expense ratio ranks last among nine comparable funds, which average 0.20%.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, VUSE returned +7.6%, 9th of 9 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +11.6%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-9.4%); its best was 2021 (+35.5%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 21.4% (Jan 4, 2022 to Sep 26, 2022), recovered by Jun 13, 2023.

As of May 31, 2026, the fund held 126 securities; the ten largest made up 25.32% of assets.

By sector

• Over the three months to May 31, 2026, investors withdrew a net $89.2M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -5.11%, +8.57%, +5.67%.

The index starts with U.S.-listed common stocks of U.S. companies worth at least $100 million that pass liquidity tests. It sorts them into three size groups by market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding): Giant (the top 40%), Large (the next 30%) and SMID, meaning small and mid-sized companies (the bottom 30%). Each company gets a Corporate Governance Score that counts red flags in board structure, pay incentives and shareholder rights. More flags can cut a company's maximum weight, even to zero.

Every eligible stock starts at a 0.10% weight. Caps then apply: 2% for Giant companies, 1% for Large and 0.5% for SMID. Companies in the top quarter of their size group can get 25% more room, so a 2% cap becomes 2.5%. Weights are then adjusted for quality and momentum. Quality means profitability, profit growth, return on invested capital, cash flow and margins. Momentum favors stocks whose prices have been rising. Smaller companies are also scored on debt and new share issuance. Each size group stays within 5% of its share of the market. The index is rebuilt in February and August, and portfolio turnover was 64%.

The fund aims to hold all, or nearly all, the stocks in the index, and at least 80% of its net assets goes into U.S.-traded stocks. Vident Asset Management is both the adviser and the index provider. Its former parent company created the index on November 30, 2022.

• VUSE charges 0.5% a year, versus an average of 0.2% for the similar funds below (9th of 9, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $51 in the first year and $628 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It holds about 126 U.S. stocks of all sizes and has moved closely with the market (a beta, or market sensitivity, of 0.98 over one year), but it adds a quality-and-momentum tilt at a higher fee than plain index funds.

VUSE could serve as a core U.S. stock holding with a tilt toward profitable companies whose prices have been rising. It pays little income: the trailing yield was 0.33% as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly. In the 2022 bear market it fell 21.4% between January 4 and September 26, 2022, then took about 8.5 months to recover, by June 13, 2023. Price data starts in June 2020, after the COVID crash, but the prospectus shows a 31.81% loss in the first quarter of 2020. Its worst full calendar year in the filing was 2018, down 14.75%. Anyone who must sell shares in a slump like that would be selling at low prices. Cost adds up too. In the SEC's standard $10,000 example, expenses come to $628 over 10 years, and several similar funds charge 0.15% or less. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.