TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio
Data updated: 2026-08-24
C000097925 — TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio. United States Multi-Cap / All-Cap Blend / Core Equity · $168.19M AUM. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.
C000097925 Fund Overview
TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio is a US ETF managed by Northern Lights Variable Trust, categorised as United States Multi-Cap / All-Cap Blend / Core Equity. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.
- Type: US ETF
- Manager: Northern Lights Variable Trust
- Category: United States Multi-Cap / All-Cap Blend / Core Equity
- Assets under management: $168.19M
- 1-year return: 14.6%
- SEC CIK: 0001352621
- SEC series ID: S000031503
- Share class ID: C000097925
C000097925 Investment Objective and Strategy
TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by Northern Lights Variable Trust.
Investment objective
The Portfolio seeks income and capital appreciation.
Principal investment strategy
The Portfolio employs a fund-of-funds structure that invests, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its assets in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The ETFs included in the Portfolio invest primarily in securities representing one of the following asset classes: Government Fixed Income Securities Corporate Fixed Income Securities Common and Preferred Stocks Real Estate-Related Securities (REITs) Natural Resource-Related Securities The Portfolio restricts investment in fixed income ETFs to those with an average maturity of 20 years or less and invests primarily in ETFs with average portfolio credit quality of investment grade. Maturity is the time between when a fixed income security is issued and when it matures. No more than 15% of the Portfolio will be allocated to fixed income ETFs with an average portfolio credit quality below investment grade (commonly referred to as junk bond credit quality).
The Portfolio defines investment grade credit quality as Baa3 or higher by Moodys Investors Service or BBB- or higher by S&P Rating Group. The Portfolio invests in ETFs that may invest in securities without restriction as to underlying issuer country (including foreign and emerging countries), capitalization or currency. The Portfolio considers emerging market countries to be those represented in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The Portfolio invests in REIT ETFs and natural resource ETFs without restriction as to underlying issuer capitalization. The adviser seeks to achieve the Portfolios investment objectives by allocating assets and selecting individual ETFs using the advisers TOPS (The Optimized Portfolio System) methodology. The TOPS methodology utilizes multiple asset classes in an effort to enhance performance and/or reduce risk (as measured by return volatility).
Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio invests at least 25% of its assets in equity ETFs and at least 25% of its assets in fixed income ETFs. However, to achieve the Portfolios income aspect of the Portfolios investment objectives, the adviser allocates approximately 50% of Portfolio assets to fixed income ETFs. To achieve the capital appreciation aspect of the Portfolios investment objectives, the adviser allocates approximately 50% of Portfolio assets to a combination of equity ETFs, REIT ETFs and natural resource ETFs. Furthermore, the adviser selects some equity ETFs that are composed of value stocks. The adviser expects value stocks (those with a lower-than-average price-to-earnings ratio) to have returns that are less volatile than the equity market as a whole. The adviser selects individual ETFs that it believes are reasonably representative of an asset class and have relatively low expenses and/or relatively high returns when compared to a peer group of ETFs.
The adviser may sell individual ETFs to rebalance asset allocation or to purchase a substitute ETF with a higher expected return or lower risk profile or for any other reason. The adviser seeks to enhance the efficiency of trade execution by employing a sub-adviser to execute security trades. The sub-adviser has some discretion on which securities to trade and when in the day to conduct the trade, subject to the advisers oversight. The Portfolio and the adviser have received a SEC order that allows the adviser to hire a new sub-adviser or sub-advisers without shareholder approval. There is no guarantee that the Portfolio will meet its investment objectives. Who Should Invest in the Portfolio? The adviser believes the Portfolio is appropriate for investors with short-term to intermediate-term investment horizons who seek capital preservation as well as the opportunity for modest income and modest capital appreciation.
C000097925 Holdings
Top 10 holdings of TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| Vanguard Malvern Funds | 11.97% |
| Vanguard Index Funds | 9.07% |
| Vanguard Tax-Managed Funds | 9.03% |
| Spdr Series Trust | 8.98% |
| Ishares Trust | 7.94% |
| Spdr Series Trust | 6.99% |
| Spdr Series Trust | 5.03% |
| Vanguard Scottsdale Funds | 4.98% |
| Spdr Series Trust | 4.02% |
| Vanguard Scottsdale Funds | 4.00% |
C000097925 Portfolio Allocation
Asset-class allocation of TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Asset class | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Equity | 98.0% |
| Cash & Equivalents | 2.3% |
C000097925 Performance
Total returns for C000097925 (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.
| Period | Total return |
|---|---|
| YTD | 7.7% |
| 1 year | 14.6% |
| 3 years (annualised) | 11.0% |
| 5 years (annualised) | 5.6% |
C000097925 Risk Information
Risk metrics for C000097925, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.
- 1-year volatility (annualised): 6.6%
C000097925 Costs and Fees
C000097925 costs about $54 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.
- Net expense ratio: 0.54%
- Gross expense ratio: 0.54%
- Portfolio turnover: 9%
- Brokerage commissions: 0.46 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)
C000097925 Cashflows
Over the 12 months to 2026-06, TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio had net inflows of $18.16M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.
| Month | Net flow |
|---|---|
| 2026-06 | $1.15M |
| 2026-05 | −$470.87K |
| 2026-04 | $269.26K |
| 2026-03 | $620.89K |
| 2026-02 | $2.37M |
| 2026-01 | −$142.51K |
C000097925 Debt Constituents
No individual debt constituents are reported in TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
C000097925 Prospectus and SEC Filings
Official TOPS Balanced ETF Portfolio filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2026-04-21
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2025-04-22
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2024-04-22
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-08-24
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-05-29
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-02-26
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2026-03-16
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2025-03-17
Related Funds
Other United States Multi-Cap / All-Cap Blend / Core Equity funds tracked on ABC INVEST:
Data Sources
ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.