WisdomTree Europe Defense Fund
$29.25+0.12 (+0.39%)
History starts Jul 17, 2025.
- Expense ratio
- 0.45%
- Fund size
- $84M
- 1Y return
- −9.4%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- Data unavailable
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $29.13
- 52W range
The ETF.net WDEF Grade
Score 47 of 100 sits in the C band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.BScore 66Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.FScore 24Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 47Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.FScore 22Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 61Category rank
Our read on WDEF
CMost defense ETFs are a bet on US primes. WDEF goes the other way: a passive index of European-listed defense companies, weighted more heavily the more of their revenue actually comes from defense.
The Fund is designed to follow the pre-expense price and yield results of the WisdomTree Europe Defense Index. It uses passive indexing and generally applies representative sampling to pursue that objective.
Why people hold it
- Pure European exposure: the index only takes companies domiciled and listed in developed European markets that derive at least 10% of revenue from defense-related activities.wisdomtree.com
- Conviction weighting, not just size: over 50% defense revenue earns a 3x weight multiplier, 25-50% earns 2x. Pure-plays outrank sprawling conglomerates.wisdomtree.com
- Costs 0.45% a year, below the 0.50% median for the defense-theme funds we track.
- Built-in guardrails: $300M minimum free float and $2M median daily dollar volume to qualify, plus per-name weight caps so one runaway winner can't swallow the basket.wisdomtree.comdividend.com
Worth knowing
- Launched in July 2025, so any read on its risk profile rests on a short live record.
- A smaller fund that trades thinly. Spreads can widen, so limit orders do real work here.
- One theme, foreign-listed shares: currency moves feed into dollar returns, and broad US defense funds like XAR (0.35%) and ITA (0.37%) charge less.wisdomtree.com
WDEF Holdings
- Stocks
- —
- 64%
- BA.L
Geography
- United Kingdom25.99%
- France22.32%
- Germany18.82%
- Italy7.10%
- Sweden6.84%
- Norway6.13%
- Netherlands4.98%
- Spain3.61%
- 4.21%
Developed 97% · Emerging 3%
WDEF Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
WDEF$9,056
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | WDEF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +0.4% |
| 1 month | −8.3% |
| 3 months | +4.3% |
| 1 year | −9.4% |
| 3 years | — |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | WDEF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +0.4% | |
| 2025 | −3.4% |
WDEF in the news
WDEF Dividends
- $0.02 per share
- Irregular
Distribution data unavailable.
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 26, 2025 | Dec 30, 2025 | $0.02 |
WDEF Risk
- 32.3%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.19
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −23.9%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.50
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
WDEF Cost
0.45%
WDEF0.45%
- The middle half of Defense & Aerospace funds
- Median 0.50%
6 of the 25 Defense & Aerospace funds charge less.