KDEF
Exchange Listed Funds Trust
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KDEF. Youre seeing a lot of korean peninsula spending between europe and asia
Bought KDEF on Dec 30th 25 and it is up like 37% so far.
Cool thanks, also WDEF. And just bought South Korea's ETF KDEF.
\> As far as I know Samsung and SK Hynix are only listed in Korea Get the EWY etf. About 25% Samsung and 20% SK Hynix, plus 80+ other holdings including LS Electric, Hyundai, SK Square, Hanwha Aerospace, Kia, etc. Also the KDEF etf (Korea military) is just over a year old and has performed just slightly less good as EWY in that time.
KDEF has them as 3rd largest holding 9.8%
Never heard of EWJV until I went to buy EWJ on my brokerage app and it popped up. Bought a bunch today, seemed like a no brainer. I'm trying to expand my foreign holdings at this point too and agree SK and Japan are good calls. Already have some SK exposure through KDEF which is focused on Korean defense firms. Up more than 60% there since I bought mid 2025
Yeah, Korea and Japan have some funny conglomerate megacorps with Hyundai being one of them. Samsung used to make artillery and aircraft components up until just a few years ago. People are really sleeping on Korean defense contractors in general, they've been booming since the start of Russian invasion of Ukraine as they produce hardy, quality equipment at affordable prices. Also worth noting that South Korea makes a huge portion of the world's ships, including a lot of military ships as well, which will likely be exploited sooner than later by the US which has seen its shipbuilding capacity fall off a cliff over the past 50 years. KDEF offers exposure to Korean defense contractors and launched in Feb 2025, currently up 123% over that period.
Check out KDEF. Kind of quiet the last few months, but look at the last 2 years.
Oh you want to be holding assets 100%. Personally I've tried to diversify my accounts to offset major downside risks, while raking in gains from precious metals. I'm holding VEU, IAU/GLD, GLTR, mining companies, S&P index funds, SCHD, defense etfs (including foreign ones like KDEF and EUAD), BRKB, SOXX, and large cap growth mutual funds.
My EUAD and my KDEF calls are printing! Starting to scale out today!
Look at NATO and EUAD if you like defense/aerospace. This would diversify your portfolio towards Europe. There's also a new EU ETF called wisdom tree WDEF. Also KDEF holds Korean defense. Importantly you could look at XAR, UAV and JEDI, which hold drone tech companies. I also like Rolls Royce (RYCEY in the US). I also like the solid VTI/AVUV advice (see VT as well). I don't invest in those other sectors you listed.
Trump's entire MO is ideologically inconsistent because he doesnt actually believe in anything except enriching himself. That being said, this is GREAT news for US national defense, our shipbuilding sector is a fucking catastrophe. It needs to be reworked from top to bottom and letting our SK allies, some of the most important shipbuilders on the planet, help out is critical to prevent China from completely overtaking the USN in the next decade or two. Also I'm holding KDEF right now so this is welcome news :)
Biggest gains were from precious metal etfs, NEM, RKLB, GOOGL (bought after April dip, still undervalued imo), VEU, defense etfs (EUAD, KDEF), RNMBY (bought early in year and sold in the summer), and COF. Also swing traded LULU for solid profit in the fall. Biggest loser this year was NVO but I'm bullish on it in the medium term
Did anyone else buy KDEF and EUAD on the dip. Nope because you all only know meme stocks and Chip stocks
Ahh I was wondering why KDEF was down so much today today
they probably just wanted something that was like catchy you know... I mean my justification was that China would be cutting us off from rare Earth minerals because Donald Trump would start a trade war with China, and we would have an acceleration of the global macroeconomic trends that have been taking place over the last decade which could be compressed into several years... such as dedollarization, money printing, massive political instability leading nations to acquire lots of defense products. coupled with the fact the United States is rebuilding our entire nuclear arsenal but does not have enough uranium to complete the task, which means that there needs to be a massive increase in uranium mining. Russia used to be our top source for enriched uranium for nuclear plants, but that's no longer an option... in Jan/Feb my core position moved to EUAD, KDEF, ITA, SMH, XME, GLD, SPY, UDN. With some other fun stuff like Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu stock
Nope. VSAT, EUAD, KDEF, all dipped a little so I lost too. But the trajectory is still good.
I'm still sad I second-guessed my initial investment in KDEF. I got back in, but I missed some of that +125% this year.
My position has improved 40%. KDEF is doing even better. Poland can’t buy enough Korean artillery and tanks!
Europe and Asia have robust markets, if not always as profitable. Look at Poland (EPOL) and S Korea (KDEF), for example. Poland's economy is doing quite well.
KDEF is the ETF. I was up a lot, it's come back down to earth but even at a 100% increase it's still trading at a better valuation than American Defense stocks
US Treasuries $530k, various, cash flow and savings DISV $300k, April '25, I wanted a big factor tilt VFIAX $215k, this is my wife's 403b and there aren't many options RNMBY $200K, November '24, thought Western security order would be changing w/Trump win. KDEF $200k, March '24, just a bet (a lucky one)
Japan hasn’t really had much of a defense industry post WW2 except for reworking U.S. designs, currently the F-2 derived from the F-16 and the F-15J. Now Japan is involved with the UK and Italy on an original 6th generation stealth fighter the GRAC. Believe Mitsubishi has and will complete all the contracts for fighter airplanes. Their army’s tracked vehicles are Euro or U.S. designs built by Japan Steel Works. Either way you could get exposure in a broad international or single country Japan fund with large caps. KDEF is more developed as Korean armament companies are now exporting and will likely get licensing fees to boot. Both countries build NATO-compliant
Wins: KDEF 53%, EUAD 30% VSAT 56% Loss: POWW….wild swings, currently down 20%. Ford…newer position +3% 🤷🏻♂️
I did the same thing. All the administration's rhetoric pointed to reducing US exposure. Increasing isolationism + loss of trust from allies + pressure to increase NATO military spending: invest in European non-US defense spending (EUAD and KDEF) Dollar devaluation: protect uninvested cash with foreign currencies, precious metals, and safe foreign-denominated bonds (FXE, FXF, FXY, GLD, IGOV) My cash alone has outperformed VOO over the past 3 months. If a cult of unchecked loudmouth lunatics hellbent on getting their way tell you their plans: believe them.
The big European defense players are obvious choices, but I'd actually recommend Korean arms manufacturers. They've been making huge headway in global arms sales over the past decade+, with Poland being a big buyer. Notably, the Korean arms manufacturers are much more open to tech transfers and local manufacturing, a big part of what made them so attractive to Poland. They also have a ton of experience with building high quality (but modestly priced) NATO-compatible equipment and ammunition, and their MLRS platforms are highly sought after. Conveniently the KDEF ETF launched earlier this year, though it has already doubled in price since February.
I get, in order of size, PPA, KDEF, EUAD, SHLD. Since tech and semis are involved in defense products, those also follow defense spending a little.
KDEF is up over 50% in a quarter. The world has realized that modern warfare can in fact burn through shit tons of tanks and arty ammo. And the Koreans do that very, very well. They also license their products for overseas production which few manufacturers do. Poland has and continues to spend gobs of money in Korea.
Good point — defense isn’t just a US game anymore. Europe and South Korea are definitely stepping up, and ETFs like EUAD and KDEF give decent exposure without the single-stock risk. I’m mostly US-focused but should probably diversify a bit more overseas too. How long have you been holding those?
Remember there are defense builders outside America. Many former customers of American hardware are questioning the prudence of staking their security on America. Major players are South Korea, Germany, France, Uk. I am 85% in EUAD and KDEF.
KDEF/ EUAD For some odd reason people seem to be buying weapons. 🤷🏻♂️
I also have KDEF and am definitely satisfied. Since it’s a new ETF and Korea is expanding the price will go up even more over time, especially as the pool of buyers increases. I don’t see any other ETF focused specifically on Korean Defense, and that industry has some really well performing companies.
I think Korea can also be good. Kepco has done very well the past week and KDEF has surged this year. I think the new president will be a surge of investment in nuclear, renewables, AI, etc.
I see KDEF is up over five years.
Regarding non-US securities, I did EU-related ETFs, defense sector ETFs and stocks (European + KDEF), and personally I'm long-term bullish on semiconductors & ASML, so I have those too.
What is your take now given the EU is investing in building an army and building up its arms industry? FINMY, the Leonardo SPA's ADR, has done alright but I think long-term Leonardo has good growth potential due to its current share value and its expected profitability increase for guns, helicopters, and I believe naval upgrade orders. Supposedly Leonardo is poised to increase its profitability by a lot, but I could be wrong. I'm toying with EUAD (EU Defense ETF), KDEF (Korean Defense ETF), and PPA (US Defense ETF), since I think the military will be invested in more across the board longer-term. I'm aware of the Korean Stock Market being a scam so I don't have a lot in KDEF, but I'm bullish on defense.
KDEF is a pretty young ETF but hopefully someone posts good DD on it one day. IMO countries not wanting to buy American weapons is bullish for Korean arms exports but I'm regarded
Shifting to Korean I think, KDEF is up a bit.
Idk, but the full name is Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense ETF. Next paycheck I might put some money into KDEF which is a Korean defense ETF. There is some excellent kit coming out of Korea and Poland buys a lot of it. Poland is rapidly expanding.
I made about 20% on KDEF in a couple weeks. You know, totally normal ETF behavior.