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EXEQ ETF Turns Leadership Into an Investable Factor

This Wedbush ETF adds a leadership overlay to traditional U.S. large cap exposure.

Rony Abboud
By Rony Abboud · March 18, 2026
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EXEQ ETF Turns Leadership Into an Investable Factor

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In mid February, Wedbush Fund Advisers, in partnership with Indiggo LLC, brought the Wedbush ReturnOnLeadership® U.S. Large Cap ETF

to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EXEQ.

The premise is straightforward but novel.

Target the 50 U.S. large cap companies that score highest on a systematic measure of leadership execution.

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Turning Leadership Into a Factor

At the center of the strategy is Indiggo’s ReturnOnLeadership® framework.

Backed by more than a decade of proprietary data, the model seeks to demonstrate that companies with stronger leadership scores have historically delivered stronger financial outcomes across multiple dimensions.

EXEQ tracks the Solactive Indiggo ReturnOnLeadership US Large-Cap Index, translating what has traditionally been a qualitative judgment into a rules based, investable factor.

What ReturnOnLeadership Measures

ReturnOnLeadership® does not attempt to grade personalities.

Instead, it evaluates collective leadership through four defined pillars.

Connection to purpose, strategic clarity, leadership alignment, and focused action.

Each pillar is scored using a blend of structured financial data and unstructured public information, including regulatory filings and corporate disclosures.

Advanced AI tools and large language models are used to identify repeatable signals, which are then aggregated into a composite ROL® score.

The result is a ranked universe of companies based on observable leadership action rather than reputation alone.

Inside the Index Construction

From an implementation standpoint, EXEQ follows a passive indexing approach.

The starting universe is the 500 largest U.S. listed companies.

Each is ranked by its ROL® composite score, and the top 50 names become index constituents.

The index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly, at the end of March, June, September, and December.

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80 percent of its net assets in index components.

It generally uses full replication, holding securities in approximately the same weights as the index, though representative sampling may be employed when necessary.

As of March 2nd, 2026, the top holdings of EXEQ include General Electric at 4.98%, Motorola Solutions at 4.51%, and Western Digital at 3.73%.

Additional positions are The Coca-Cola Company at 3.17%, Steel Dynamics at 3.10%, Ventas at 2.93%, Howmet Aerospace at 2.88%, Expand Energy at 2.83%, PulteGroup at 2.72%, and Nucor at 2.71%.

Why It Matters for Investors

For investors, the appeal lies in factor innovation within a familiar wrapper. Leadership has always mattered in equity analysis, but it has rarely been codified in a systematic way.

EXEQ offers core U.S. large cap exposure with an overlay that screens for measurable leadership execution.

In a market where traditional factors such as value, growth, and quality are well established, EXEQ introduces leadership as a distinct and transparent dimension of portfolio construction.

EXEQ has a total expense ratio of 0.75%.

About Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC

Wedbush Fund Advisers launched in 2024 to build on Wedbush’s 70-year legacy of market insight, innovation, and client trust. Its mission is to design forward-thinking investment strategies that reflect the evolving nature of markets and investor priorities. Backed by a seasoned team with decades of asset management experience, the firm is committed to delivering products that extend Wedbush’s tradition of excellence into the next era of investment innovation.

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