The Russell 2000 small cap value ETF trades under the ticker symbol IWN. It started trading the same day as the Small Cap Growth ETF on July 24, 2000 but it has been a much better performer since inception. At the time, small cap value was extremely out of favor so this fund has been one of the top stock ETF performers over the past decade.


IWN is actively traded so it has plenty of liquidity for trading or investing and has the same expense ratio as IWO (24 basis points). Looking at the chart below you can see that it peaked at roughly a 125% gain in 2007 and as of today (1/25/2011) hasn’t gotten back to that level.

Russell 2000 Small Cap Value Has Out-Performed The Index

In the recent QE2 inspired liquidity rally we have seen a shift where small cap growth began to beat small cap value. It’s hard to tell if this is a meaningful shift of investor sentiment back to growth stocks or if it’s simply a function of the excess liquidity provided by the fed. Only time will tell.

The Small Cap Value ETF Has Been Under Performing For a Couple Months.