KDEF · PLUS Korea Defense Industry Index ETF
KDEF holds 20 stocks. 100% of it is not in the S&P 500, and its top ten are 71% of the fund.
Its ten largest positions
| Holding | Ticker | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HANWHA AEROSPACE CO LTD | 18.69% | ||
| HYUNDAI ROTEM COMPANY | 17.07% | ||
| LIG DEFENSE & AEROSPACE CO LTD | 5.87% | ||
| HD HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES CO LTD | 4.80% | ||
| KOREA AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES LTD | 4.58% | ||
| FIRSTEC COMPANY LTD | 4.53% | ||
| POONGSAN CORP | 4.14% | ||
| HANWHA SYSTEMS CO LTD | 4.12% | ||
| SNT DYNAMICS CO LTD | 4.01% | ||
| SAMHYUN CO LTD | 3.64% |
Period by period
| Window | Total return | S&P 500 | Gap to S&P 500 | Gap to Nasdaq-100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | +1.5% | +4.7% | −3.2 pts | −0.6 pts |
| 6 months | −30.6% | +15.2% | −45.8 pts | −50.8 pts |
| 1 year | +1.2% | +20.0% | −18.8 pts | −24.4 pts |
| Since launch | +114.0% | +29.6% | +84.4 pts | +76.5 pts |
In plain words
The top ten holdings are 71% of the fund across 20 positions, as filed for May 31, 2026. Over the year to Sep 4, 2026 the fund returned +1.2% with distributions reinvested against +20.0% for the S&P 500, so a holder was behind by 18.8 pts. It sits 34.5% below its all-time high of May 5, 2026.
| Theme (ETFIQ, editorial) | Defense |
|---|---|
| Launched | Feb 5, 2025 |
| Already in the S&P 500, by weight (ETFIQ) | 0.0% |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 (ETFIQ) | 100.0% |
| Already in the Nasdaq-100, by weight (ETFIQ) | 0.0% |
| Active share vs the Nasdaq-100 (ETFIQ) | 100.0% |
| Top ten holdings weight | 71.4% |
| Holdings | 20 |
| Holdings as of (SEC N-PORT) | May 31, 2026 |
| Top holdings | HANWHA AEROSPACE CO LTD 18.7%, HYUNDAI ROTEM COMPANY 17.1%, LIG DEFENSE & AEROSPACE CO LTD 5.9%, HD HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES CO LTD 4.8%, KOREA AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES LTD 4.6%, FIRSTEC COMPANY LTD 4.5%, POONGSAN CORP 4.1%, HANWHA SYSTEMS CO LTD 4.1%, SNT DYNAMICS CO LTD 4.0%, SAMHYUN CO LTD 3.6% |
| Net assets (SEC filing, whole fund, as filed for May 31, 2026) | $157m |
| Below its all-time high (ETFIQ) | −34.5% |
| Expense ratio (prospectus XBRL) | 0.65% |
| Fee for the part that differs from the S&P 500, active expense ratio (ETFIQ) | 0.65% |
| Closest funds by holdings overlap | WDAF 37% |
Holdings from the fund’s latest public SEC N-PORT filing; overlap and active share computed by ETFIQ against the IVV and QQQM books; returns from Tiingo end-of-day prices with distributions reinvested. How this desk computes every figure
Questions people ask
- How much of KDEF is already in the S&P 500?
- By its holdings filed for May 31, 2026, 0% of KDEF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds. Its active share against the index is 100%, so that share is the part doing something different.
- What does KDEF hold?
- 20 positions as filed for May 31, 2026, with the top ten at 71% of the fund. The largest are HANWHA AEROSPACE CO LTD at 18.7%, HYUNDAI ROTEM COMPANY at 17.1%, LIG DEFENSE & AEROSPACE CO LTD at 5.9%.
- Has KDEF beaten the S&P 500?
- Over the year to Sep 4, 2026 KDEF returned +1.2% with distributions reinvested, against +20.0% for the S&P 500, so it finished behind the index by 18.8 points.
- What does KDEF cost?
- The prospectus expense ratio is 0.65% a year. Because 100% of the fund differs from the S&P 500, the fee on that differing part works out at 0.65%.
The words on this page
- Active share
- The part of the fund doing something the index is not, as a percentage. It is the part a fee is actually buying.
- Weight overlap
- The share of money two portfolios hold in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice.
- Already in the index
- The fund’s weight in securities the S&P 500 holds at all. A fund can be made entirely of index names and still have high active share, because it holds them at very different weights.
- Top ten
- What the ten largest positions add up to. The higher it is, the more the fund is a bet on a few companies rather than a theme.
Every term this desk uses, defined in full on the themes desk vocabulary page.
Where these figures came from
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.
Funds near this one
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Cite this page. ETFIQ, KDEF on the themes desk, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/funds/KDEF.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.