BETHESDA, Md. Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — AdvisorShares, a leading sponsor of actively managed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), announced today that the QAM Equity Hedge ETF (NYSE: QEH ) will open for trading tomorrow, Wednesday, August 8. 2012.  QEH is sub-advised by Commerce Asset Management (CAM), a Memphis, Tenn. -based investment advisor and subsidiary of Commerce Holdings, LLC who advise on approximately $700 million in assets.

QEH employs an actively managed long/short strategy that seeks to exceed the risk-adjusted performance of approximately 50% the long/short equity hedge fund universe as defined by the constituents of the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index, aiming to provide investors with better risk adjusted returns versus the S&P 500 Index over time while reducing the time required and expertise needed to select individual hedge funds.  Combined with its exposure to the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index, CAM utilizes its own proprietary research with Markov Processes International’s (MPI) Dynamic Style Analysis (DSA) hedge fund analysis software, and extensive experience and knowledge of the hedge fund investment community for its portfolio management of QEH.

Noah Hamman. CEO of AdvisorShares, said, We’re excited about our partnership with CAM and bringing QEH to market, providing an alternative strategy and expected return stream that was previously beyond the reach of an average investor but now available with the transparency and liquidity of an actively managed ETF.  Experienced hedge fund managers, represented in this Index that QEH seeks to outperform, are difficult to get access to and a challenge to deal with regarding liquidity, transparency and tax treatment.  In utilizing CAM’s extensive network and knowledge within the hedge fund universe, we feel QEH offers a core alternative solution that investors could use to further diversify their portfolio, which a 20-30% allocation to core alternatives can help bring true diversification to investors’ asset allocation. 

With the launch of QEH, we feel we’re providing advisors and their clients added value with everyday transparency and liquidity of an alternative strategy aimed to deliver a higher risk adjusted return than its notable benchmark over the long-term, said Kurt Voldeng. Chief Operating Officer of CAM and Co-Portfolio Manager of QEH. We believe with our benchmark’s underlying constituents measuring approximately 1,000 hedge fund managers, places QEH at an advantage over our competition to generate alpha.

Through our own advanced proprietary research combined with MPI’s DSA technology, we believe the actively managed methodology employed in QEH may yield better risk adjusted returns than traditional long-only strategies for investors over time, said Akos Beleznay. PhD, Chief Investment Officer of CAM and Co-Portfolio Manager of QEH.  We look forward to working with AdvisorShares in allowing shareholders to allocate their investment capital without the burden of a high minimum threshold historically associated with similar alternative strategies.

For media inquiries requesting more information on AdvisorShares. please contact Ryan Graham at 202-684-6442 or rg@advisorshares.com .  For financial professionals and investors requesting more information, please visit www.advisorshares.com or call the AdvisorShares Investment Consultant Team at 1-877-THE-ETF1 (1-877-843-3831).

About AdvisorShares

AdvisorShares is one of the leading providers of actively managed ETFs.  As of 8/1/2012 AdvisorShares offers 15 active ETFs with approximately $670,000,000 of assets under management, including:

Alternative Strategies