Looking for broad exposure to the Small Cap Blend segment of the US equity market? You should consider the Global X Russell 2000 ETF (RSSL), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on June 4, 2024.
The fund is sponsored by Global X Management. It has amassed assets over $1.54 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.
Why Small Cap Blend
There's a lot of potential to investing in small cap companies, but with market capitalization below $2 billion, that high potential comes with even higher risk.
Typically holding a combination of both growth and value stocks, blend ETFs also demonstrate qualities seen in value and growth investments.
Costs
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.08%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.19%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Healthcare sector -- about 20.3% of the portfolio. Financials and Industrials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Brightspring Health Services (BTSG) accounts for about 0.35% of total assets, followed by Cytokinetics Inc (CYTK) and Moog Inc-Class A (MOG/A).
The top 10 holdings account for about 3.13% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
RSSL seeks to match the performance of the RUSSELL 2000 RIC CAPPED INDEX before fees and expenses. The Russell 2000 RIC Capped Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market.
The ETF has added about 23.24% so far this year and is up roughly 34.54% in the last one year (as of 08/13/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $88.60 and $118.47.
The ETF has a beta of 1.20 and standard deviation of 21.66% for the trailing three-year period. With about 1972 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Global X Russell 2000 ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, RSSL is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
The Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF (VB) and the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR) track a similar index. While Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF has $83.08 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF has $112.61 billion. VB has an expense ratio of 0.03% and IJR charges 0.06%.
Bottom-Line
An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Global X Russell 2000 ETF (RSSL): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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