adverse
consequences could result from cybersecurity incidents affecting issuers of
securities in which the Fund invests, counterparties with which the Fund
engages, governmental and other regulatory authorities, exchanges and
other financial market operators, banks, brokers, dealers, insurance
companies, other financial institutions and other parties. The Fund and its
shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.
Derivatives
Risk. The Fund may
invest in derivatives, including futures
contracts, options, and options on futures contracts, as applicable.
Derivatives
are financial instruments that derive their value from an underlying
asset, such as a security, index or exchange rate. Their use is a highly
specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different
from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions.
Derivatives may be riskier than other types of investments and may be more
volatile, less tax efficient and less liquid than other securities.
Derivatives
may be used to create synthetic exposure to an underlying asset or to
seek to hedge a portfolio risk. If the Fund uses derivatives to seek to
“hedge” a portfolio risk, the change in value of a derivative may not
correlate as
expected with the underlying asset being hedged, and it is possible that
the hedge therefore may not succeed. In addition, given their complexity,
derivatives may be difficult to value.
Derivatives
are subject to a number of risks including credit risk, interest rate
risk, and market risk. Credit risk refers to the possibility that a counterparty
will be unable and/or unwilling to perform under the agreement.
Interest rate risk refers to fluctuations in the value of an asset resulting
from changes in the general level of interest rates. Over-the-counter
(“OTC”) derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk (sometimes
referred to as “default risk”), which is the risk that the other party to the
contract will not fulfill its contractual obligations.
Derivatives
may be especially sensitive to changes in economic and market
conditions, and their use may give rise to a form of leverage. Leverage may
cause the portfolio of the Fund to be more volatile than if the portfolio had
not been leveraged because leverage can exaggerate the effect of any
increase or decrease in the value of securities and other instruments
held by the Fund. For some derivatives, such leverage could result in
losses that exceed the original amount invested in the derivative. The Fund’s
use of derivatives may be limited by the requirements for taxation of
the Fund as a regulated investment company, as well as by regulatory
changes. Derivatives and other instruments that provide investment
exposure to the investments subject to the 80% investment policy and
derivatives that provide investment exposure to one or more market risk
factors associated with such investments may be included in the Fund's 80%
investment policy.
Forward
Contracts Risk. Forward
contracts are OTC derivative transactions
between the Fund and a counterparty to buy or sell a specified amount of an
underlying investment at a specified price on a specified date in the
future. The market for forward contracts is substantially unregulated
and can
experience lengthy periods of illiquidity or volatility. Forward contracts can
increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying investments and their
attendant risks, such as credit risk, currency risk, market risk, and
interest rate
risk, while also exposing the Fund to counterparty risk, liquidity risk and
valuation risk.
Investments
in Investment Companies Risk. Investing in
other investment
companies subjects the Fund to those risks affecting the investment
company, including the possibility that the value of the underlying
securities held by the investment company could decrease or the portfolio
becomes illiquid. Moreover, the Fund will pay indirectly a proportional
share of the fees and expenses of the investment companies in which it
invests. Investments in an exchange-traded fund are subject to, among other
risks, the risk that the exchange-traded fund’s shares may trade at a
discount or premium relative to the NAV of its shares and the listing
exchange may halt trading of the exchange-traded fund’s shares.
Large
Shareholder Risk.
Certain
shareholders, including a third party
investor, the Adviser or an affiliate of the Adviser, an AP, a lead market
maker, or
another entity, may from time to time own a substantial amount of
Shares or may
invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time
solely to facilitate the commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the
Fund
achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large
shareholder would not redeem its investment. Dispositions of a large number
of Shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund’s
liquidity and net assets to the extent such transactions are executed
directly with
the Fund in the form of redemptions through an AP, rather than executed in
the secondary market. These redemptions may also force the Fund to sell
portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may
negatively impact the Fund’s NAV and increase the Fund’s brokerage costs.
Further, such sales may accelerate the realization of taxable income
and/or gains
to shareholders, or the Fund may be required to sell its more liquid Fund
investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund’s
remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult
to price. To
the extent the Fund permits cash purchases, large purchases of Shares may
adversely affect the Fund’s performance to the extent that the Fund is
delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position
than it ordinarily would. To the extent these large shareholders transact in
shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large
percentage of the trading volume on the Fund’s exchange and may,
therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the
Shares. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, the Fund may hold
a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation
of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns.
Money
Market Funds Risk. Money market
funds are subject to management
fees and other expenses, and the Fund's investments in money market
funds will cause it to bear proportionately the costs incurred by the money
market funds' operations while simultaneously paying its own management
fees and expenses. An investment in a money market fund is not a bank
account and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation or any other government agency; it is possible to lose money by
investing in a money market fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in
money market funds, the Fund will be subject to the same risks that
investors experience when investing in money market funds. These risks may
include the impact of significant fluctuations in assets as a result
of the cash
sweep program or purchase and redemption activity in those funds.
Money
market funds are open-end registered investment companies that
historically have traded at a stable $1.00 per share price. However,
money market
funds that do not meet the definition of a “retail money market fund”
or “government money market fund” under the 1940 Act are required to
transact at a floating NAV per share (i.e., in a manner similar to how all other
non-money market mutual funds transact), instead of at a $1.00 stable
share price. Money market funds may also impose liquidity fees in
certain circumstances, including times of market stress or heavy redemptions.
If the Fund invested in a money market fund with a floating NAV, the
impact on the trading and value of the money market instrument may
negatively affect the Fund's return potential.
Natural
Disaster/Epidemic Risk.
Natural or
environmental disasters,
such as earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis and other severe
weather-related phenomena generally, and widespread disease, including
pandemics and epidemics, have been and may be highly disruptive to
economies and markets, adversely impacting individual companies,
sectors, industries, markets, currencies, interest and inflation rates, credit
ratings, investor sentiment, and other factors affecting the value of the Fund’s
investments. Additionally, if a sector or sectors in which the Fund is
concentrated is negatively impacted to a greater extent by such events, the
Fund may experience heightened volatility. Given the increasing interdependence
among global economies and markets, conditions in one country,
market, or region are increasingly likely to adversely affect markets,
issuers,
and/or foreign exchange rates in other countries, including the U.S.
Any such
events could have a significant adverse impact on the value of the Fund’s
investments.