Question about the ETF SVAL

[FiveDriver]

Has anyone been following the iShares ETF called "US Small Cap Value Factor" lately?

I have it on my Watch List at MarketWatch and I also check it on Google's Market Summary page. It seems to be rather thinly-traded with low daily volume. Early in the day, the two sites don't always match up on price increases and percent gains -- is it because of the low volume?

SVAL appears to be a good Value play.

Is there something unique about the word 'Factor' in the name ?

 

[OldShooter]

"Factor" almost certainly refers to the Fama/French original three factor model, which identified "small" and "value" as characteristics (with beta) that positively affected stock prices. That was later modified to a five factor model that still included those three. Later, people started to talk about "factor based" investing as a strategy. I haven't paid a lot of attention but I don't think the concept has gained a lot of traction. It is just another stock-picking method among the 10,000 or so mutual funds out there. Over the longer term, if "value" has any value as an idea it will likely be arbitraged away as people adopt the strategy.

So, from an investment standpoint I don't see anything special. I don't have any qualifications to opine on whether it is a candidate for short-term speculation, though. It's been years since I tried to play that game.

 

[FiveDriver]

Thank you Sir.
I've been comparing the SP500 Value Sphere over the last few months.
SVAL, SPYV and IJS.