Pass on this ETF

Article Excerpt

HORIZONS ACTIVE A.I. GLOBAL EQUITY ETF $27.43 (Toronto symbol MIND) invests in major global equity indexes primarily available through North American-listed ETFs. However, the fund’s portfolio manager is, in fact, a computer. It picks indexes through a process called “adaptive artificial intelligence.” Essentially, it aims to spot patterns in market indexes by continuously analyzing market data. This hopefully lets the computer correctly identify the factors that drive their overall performance. The computer monitors more than 50 investment metrics in order to determine which ETFs to buy. They include an 80-day moving average, fund volatility, and the betas and short positions of a broad range of ETFs. This fund launched on November 1, 2017, and has a very high 0.98% MER. The Horizons Active A.I. Global Equity ET has so far gained just 9.7% since its inception nearly four years ago. In contrast, the U.S. S&P 500 has gained 71.9%—and that includes soaring beyond its pre-COVID-19 high! “Black boxes” that use past data to…