First State-Focused ETF Set to Start Trading

Throughout the past months, I have commented on the development of state-specific ETFs. Today, the first of these funds, the OOK Advisers' Oklahoma Fund, will hit the market trading under the ticker symbol OOK. The instrument is designed to track the Spade Oklahoma Index, which is made up of a basket of companies based in or with significant operations in Oklahoma.

The Spade Oklahoma index is heavily weighted in energy, which makes up nearly 75% of the index's assets. The next largest sector, industrials, makes up a little more than 13.5% of the fund.

Of the 29 firms currently represented in the index, those with the largest slices include Helmerich & Payne (HP - commentary - Trade Now), Chesapeake Energy (CHK - commentary - Trade Now), Continental Resource (CLR - commentary - Trade Now) and Oneok Partners (OKS - commentary - Trade Now).The fund will carry a 0.85% expense ratio.

In addition to providing investors with exposure to Oklahoma-specific firms, a minimum of 10% of the fund's management fees will go to Aaron's Bridge, a foundation that aims to provide children of Oklahoma living with developmental disabilities more access to treatment options.

Before putting any money in this fund, investors should be aware that due to heavy sector exposure, OOK will be especially susceptible to market swings.

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At the time of publication, Dion had no positions in the stocks mentioned.

Don Dion is president and founder of Dion Money Management, a fee-based investment advisory firm to affluent individuals, families and nonprofit organizations, where he is responsible for setting investment policy, creating custom portfolios and overseeing the performance of client accounts. Founded in 1996 and based in Williamstown, Mass., Dion Money Management manages assets for clients in 49 states and 11 countries. Dion is a licensed attorney in Massachusetts and Maine and has more than 25 years' experience working in the financial markets, having founded and run two publicly traded companies before establishing Dion Money Management.

Dion also is publisher of the Fidelity Independent Adviser family of newsletters, which provides to a broad range of investors his commentary on the financial markets, with a specific emphasis on mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. With more than 100,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 29 other countries, Fidelity Independent Adviser publishes six monthly newsletters and three weekly newsletters. Its flagship publication, Fidelity Independent Adviser, has been published monthly for 11 years and reaches 40,000 subscribers.