These units prices may include post unit distribution unit price adjustments and so may not directly correlate with the charts annualised year to date return.

¹ Unit price for Growth Fund on 30th June 08 is ex-distribution of $0.0348 per unit.

² Unit price for Growth Fund on 31st July 09 is ex-distribution of $0.1706 per unit.

³ Unit price for Growth Fund on 31st July 10 is ex-distribution of $0.0637 per unit.

Commonly asked questions

The following information seeks to address the most commonly asked questions about the Theta unit prices.

The unit price represents the audited value of a single unit in the respective Funds after all costs, expenses and earnings. The audit process is done independently by an accounting firm as at the last calendar day of each month.

The monthly unit price can be misleading as to the actual performance of Theta.

Let us explain.

The valuation process (conducted monthly) is based on the Mark to Market value of the fund - the amount of money left in the account if all trade positions were exited at that moment in time.

Theta maintains 30, 60 and 90 day contracts and prior to their expiry, these contracts can have a high relative value to Theta or a low value - depending on the market conditions on the day that you look at them - including the moment in time that the valuation is conducted.

The best way to explain this is to draw an analogy.

Imagine a helicopter hovering above the ocean attempting to winch someone out of the water.

Further imagine that the 'value' attributable to the helicopter and the pilot is the gap between the underside of the helicopter and the water. At any point in time, the gap will either be very small (a big wave coming through) or very large (a trough).

The pilot will set an altitude for the helicopter that is not so high (despite being very safe) that the rope won't reach the water and not so low that the helicopter is constantly having to adjust its altitude to avoid being hit by small waves.

If you were photographing the helicopter from a stable platform and sending those photos back to someone else to view, depending on the exact time that the photo was taken and the wave patterns under the helicopter, the "value" as described earlier would either be very good or very poor - yet the rescue is still very much on track.

Looking at this photo is much the same as looking at the monthly or even quarterly fund results.

If Theta writes a 60 day contract, the market can move heavily against that contract at any time during the 60 days leading to its expiry, yet the returns expected from that particular trade (including the timing) have not changed. The unit price however will reflect the situation at that snapshot in time and in this way not be truly reflective of the Funds' performance.

The July factor

The July unit price reflects both the earnings in July as well as the unit distribution for the previous financial year.

Each year in the first week in July, the fund auditors will determine the unit price for 30th June (as they do every month for the month prior).

In July however, the auditors will take the 30th June result and if there has been a profit (anything over 1.000 unit price), issue to the investor these additional units (increasing the investor's unit holding) or send the investor a cheque (if the investor elected to redeem new profits).

This means that the unit price for 31 July each year will automatically be reduced to 1.000 BEFORE there is a further net adjustment for the July trading activity.

You can see that if for example the fund has made 30% for the year and the unit price is 1.300 going into July, by the time this is taken out as part of the annual distribution process, the July result will LOOK like the fund has made a 30% loss for the month - which clearly is not the case. There is often further confusion around the distribution because as an investor, you don't get your annual statement showing the July distribution of units until mid to late September.