BUZZ ETF: Question & Answer

This FAQ is designed to address common questions about investing through the lens of social sentiment, how BUZZ’s AI-driven approach identifies these opportunities, and what makes the strategy distinct within today’s market.

• Is BUZZ an Active or Passive ETF?
• Why Should Investors Consider Investing in BUZZ?
• How Does the Index Work?
• How Does BUZZ Differ from other Thematic ETFs?
• Is BUZZ a Momentum Strategy?
• What Happens When Sentiment Turns Negative Across the Market?
• How Does BUZZ Ensure Sentiment Data Integrity?
• How Can Investors buy VanEck ETFs?

Is BUZZ an Active or Passive ETF?

BUZZ is a passive ETF. It seeks to track the BUZZ NextGen AI US Sentiment Leaders Index. The index is composed of 75 large-cap U.S. equities that exhibit the highest degree of positive investor sentiment, based on the index provider’s analysis of millions of data points each month across social media, news, blogs, and other online sources. The index is reconstituted monthly using this rules-based methodology.

Why Should Investors Consider Investing in BUZZ?

Investors may consider BUZZ because it represents a next-generation approach to equity investing, one that harnesses the collective voice of online investors. Rather than relying solely on traditional financial data or analyst forecasts, BUZZ taps into real-time investor sentiment, identifying where optimism, confidence, and conviction are building in the market.

How Does the Index Work?

Every month, millions of unique data points from online sources, including social media, financial news, and blogs, are aggregated and analyzed.

The process includes:

• Universe Selection: Starts with U.S. large-cap stocks (typically over $5 billion market cap) with robust and diverse online engagement.
• Sentiment Analysis: AI models classify and score the tone of online discussions (positive, neutral, negative) using Natural Language Processing (NLP).
• Scoring and Ranking: Each stock is ranked by overall sentiment and breadth of discussion.
• Portfolio Construction: The top 75 ranked stocks are selected and weighted according to their sentiment scores, subject to a 3% cap per constituent.
• Monthly Rebalancing: The process repeats monthly to capture evolving investor sentiment.

This systematic, data-driven approach allows BUZZ to reflect shifting investor attitudes in real time, adapting naturally to where enthusiasm and confidence are growing across sectors.

How Does BUZZ Differ from other Thematic ETFs?

Unlike thematic ETFs that focus on sectors or technologies, BUZZ is behavioral. Its holdings evolve based on sentiment, not sector or theme. This provides a unique blend of diversification and adaptability to market psychology. As a result, BUZZ’s sector exposures evolve organically based on where market attention and optimism are strongest. The strategy is adaptive, not static, capturing changing market narratives such as enthusiasm around innovation, consumer trends, or leadership performance.

Is BUZZ a Momentum Strategy?

Not in the traditional sense. While sentiment-driven stocks can sometimes overlap with momentum leaders, the BUZZ index is not built on price action or trend-following factors. Instead, it organizes companies based on collective investor sentiment, where optimism, conviction, and confidence are strongest across online communities.

This approach can certainly highlight companies with strong performance recognition, but it also has the flexibility to surface contrarian or deep value opportunities. For instance, when investor discussions turn positive around companies that have fallen out of favor or undergone meaningful change, BUZZ’s underlying index methodology can capture that shift in perception. Over time, this has allowed BUZZ to hold both high-growth innovators and turnaround stories within the same portfolio.

In that way, BUZZ is better described as a behavioral strategy, one that reflects where the collective voice of investors is most constructive, regardless of whether that enthusiasm is driven by momentum or by contrarian conviction.

What Happens When Sentiment Turns Negative Across the Market?

BUZZ is designed to identify the most positive sentiment among eligible stocks, even during pessimistic market cycles. If all stocks are being discussed negatively, BUZZ will still select the “least negative” group, maintaining relatively better sentiment compared to peers.

This approach ensures the strategy continues to reflect real-time investor psychology, providing ongoing exposure to where confidence is strongest, even in challenging environments.

How Does BUZZ Ensure Sentiment Data Integrity?

To protect integrity, the BUZZ Index uses filtering mechanisms designed to exclude bot-generated or manipulative content. Posts are screened to help confirm they represent genuine investor sentiment rather than automated noise or coordinated campaigns.

In addition, the index focuses on large-cap companies and requires a sustained and diverse level of online conversation for inclusion. This combination helps reduce susceptibility to manipulation and helps ensure that the data analyzed reflects genuine investor perspectives.

How Can Investors buy VanEck ETFs?