A Quiet Unraveling: The Tale of a Momentum ETF’s Gentle Retreat

by

In the unremarkable offices of LJI Wealth Management, where the hum of fluorescent lights never ceases, a modest drama unfolded this autumn. The firm divested itself of $5.9 million worth of Invesco DWA Momentum ETF shares – a sum neither grand nor tragic, yet sufficient to stir quiet contemplation among those who ponder the rhythms of capital. The transaction, recorded in an SEC filing with bureaucratic indifference, removed 52,386 shares from their portfolio, leaving behind 21,170 like forgotten seeds in an autumn field.

The Mechanics of Letting Go

Consider the numbers, if you will: $123.06 per share, a 16% annual gain, yet still trailing the S&P 500’s 18.5% ascent. A curious paradox, much like the man who walks faster to arrive nowhere sooner. The ETF, which once occupied 1.4% of the firm’s assets like a favored chair by the fireplace, now occupies merely 0.4% – a space reduced as surely as winter reduces the garden.

Portfolio as Portrait

The remaining holdings form a tableau of cautious optimism: ITOT at 29.1%, SLQD at 10.2%, and the rest arranged like familiar constellations. Together they form a mosaic of stability, each ticker symbol a brick in the fortress against uncertainty. Yet the absence of PDP lingers, a quiet echo in the hallway of investments.

On Momentum and Mortality

Metric Value
AUM $1.6 billion
Price (as of market close Wednesday) $123.06
12-month distribution rate 0.3%
1-year total return 15%

The ETF itself remains what it always was: a machine for tracking momentum, a compass pointing toward the next peak. It holds 100 securities from the NASDAQ universe, rebalancing its affairs with mechanical regularity. One might call it diligent, though diligence has never guaranteed affection.

Reflections in a Brokerage Account

LJI’s quarterly filing reveals more than numbers – it reveals a philosophy. “Thinking like an institution” when others think in headlines, they claim. And yet their hands, too, tremble slightly when plucking shares from the fire. The reduction of PDP shares, the trimming of VTIW, these are gestures of a gardener who prunes not from fear, but from the quiet understanding that some blooms are seasonal.

In their summer missive they spoke of markets as undefeated adversaries, which is both true and not. For while the market may never lose, its participants often do – quietly, politely, with spreadsheets as their elegies. Their portfolio now leans heavier on ITOT and VTI, those stolid companions of long-term journeys, as though seeking solace in the familiar.

Glossary of Vanishing Points

  • 13F AUM: The arithmetic of accountability, where value becomes narrative.
  • ETF: A mirror reflecting a thousand investments, each seeing something different.
  • Momentum: The illusion of control dressed in mathematical finery.
  • Rebalanced: The art of pretending we can tame the chaos with quarterly adjustments.
  • Alpha: The ghost we chase through benchmarks and smoke.
  • Dividend yield: The whisper of return in a world of deafening noise.
  • Index-driven strategy: Following maps drawn by others, yet claiming discovery.
  • Large-cap: The comfort of giants in a forest of saplings.
  • Rules-based approach: Order imposed on disorder, with intervals of five business days.
  • Underlying index: The shadow that dances while the sun moves imperceptibly.
  • Portfolio weight: The gravity of numbers, pressing down on dreams.
  • Total return: The story we tell ourselves about beginnings and endings.

And so the market turns, indifferent to our reckonings. The ETF continues its algorithmic pilgrimage, the portfolio adjusts its balance sheet, and somewhere in Indiana, an analyst closes a spreadsheet with the same deliberation one might close a book whose ending fails to satisfy. Perhaps that is the nature of things – to adjust, to recalibrate, to pretend we understand the forces that move us even as we are moved. 🌱

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2025-10-30 14:14