Toronto-based Horizons ETF Management (Canada) Inc. and its affiliate, AlphaPro Management Inc., announced on Wednesday the launch of the Horizons Managed Multi-Asset Momentum ETF, the first actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Canada to use momentum-based investing to target multiple global asset classes, according to the firm’s announcement.

Units of the ETF began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Class E units can be found under the ticker symbol “HMA” while “HMA.A” is designated for Advisor Class units. Montreal-based Landry Investment Management Inc. is subadvising the new product.

“Landry uses a proprietary price momentum model to target top-performing global asset classes,” says Howard Atkinson, president of Horizons, in a statement. “HMA seeks to give Canadian investors optimal risk-adjusted exposure by not only capturing strong pricing uptrends, but also having a strong focus on risk management, such as moving to cash if there are no observable investment opportunities.”

Landry selects the top-ranked global asset classes from a universe of 16 to allocate the ETF’s portfolio. These can include Canadian and U.S equities, emerging-markets equities, Canadian and U.S. bonds, real estate investment trusts and gold.

This product is Landry’s first foray into making its momentum-based investment portfolios available to retail investors, as the firm has typically focused on developing these types of portfolios for institutional investors and private clients.

“We are very excited about partnering with Horizons to launch the first actively managed global multi-asset momentum ETF,” says Jean-Luc Landry, founder and CEO of Landry, in a statement. “We look at momentum investing as a way to capitalize on long-term uptrends and minimize the impact of market drawdowns, and HMA is an opportunity for investors to access our model in the liquid, low-cost ETF structure.”

Horizons’ announcement notes that Canadian investors often express a “home bias,” which typically lead to portfolios that are overweighted in financial and commodities asset classes.

“HMA can provide investors with diversified access to global asset classes,” says Atkinson. “By using the robust Landry model for ranking global assets, HMA’s investors can reduce the concentration risk from being overly invested in domestic markets.”