485BPOS 1 gug53821-485b.htm CLAYMORE ETF gug53821-485b.htm
 
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22, 2012

SECURITIES ACT FILE NO. 333-134551
INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT FILE NO. 811-21906

 

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933                     |X|
Pre-Effective Amendment No.                                                     | |  

Post Effective Amendment No. 179                                           |X|

and/or

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940               |X|

Amendment No. 182            |X|

(Check appropriate box or boxes)

CLAYMORE EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND TRUST
(EXACT NAME OF REGISTRANT AS SPECIFIED IN ITS CHARTER)

2455 CORPORATE WEST DRIVE
LISLE, ILLINOIS 60532
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

(630) 505-3700
Registrant's Telephone Number

KEVIN M. ROBINSON, ESQ.
GUGGENHEIM FUNDS INVESTMENT ADVISORS, LLC
2455 CORPORATE WEST DRIVE
LISLE, ILLINOIS 60532
(Name and Address of Agent for Service)

Copy to:
STUART M. STRAUSS, ESQ.
DECHERT LLP
1095 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10036

APPROXIMATE DATE OF PROPOSED PUBLIC OFFERING:

IT IS PROPOSED THAT THIS FILING WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE (CHECK APPROPRIATE BOX)
____X____ IMMEDIATELY UPON FILING PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (B) OF RULE 485.
_________ ON [DATE] PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (B) OF RULE 485.
_________ 60 DAYS AFTER FILING PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A)(1) OF RULE 485.
_________ ON [DATE] PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF RULE 485.
_________ 75 DAYS AFTER FILING PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A)(2) OF RULE 485.
_________ ON [DATE] PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF RULE 485.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
   
NYSE ARCA 
 
TICKER 
EXCHANGE TRADED 
SYMBOL 
FUND NAME 
   
BSCI 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF 
BSCJ 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF 
BSCK 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF 
 
 
 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
 
 
 
 

 

 
   
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 
Page 
Summary Information 
3 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF 
3 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF 
10 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF 
17 
Additional Information About the Funds’ Principal Investment Strategies 
 
and Principal Investment Risks 
24 
Non-Principal Investment Strategies 
26 
Non-Principal Risk Considerations 
26 
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings 
28 
Investment Management Services 
29 
Purchase and Redemption of Shares 
31 
How to Buy and Sell Shares 
33 
Frequent Purchases and Redemptions 
37 
Fund Service Providers 
38 
Index Provider 
38 
Disclaimers 
38 
Federal Income Taxation 
39 
Tax-Advantaged Product Structure 
41 
Other Information 
41 
Financial Highlights 
41 
 
 
2 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
Summary Information
 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCI)
 
Investment Objective
 
The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an investment grade corporate bond index called the BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2018 Index (the “2018 Index”).
 
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
 
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. Investors purchasing Shares in the secondary market may be subject to costs (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker.
 
   
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as 
 
a percentage of the value of your investment) 
 
Management fees (comprehensive management fee) 
0.24% 
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees(1) 
– % 
Other expenses 
0.00% 
Total annual Fund operating expenses 
0.24% 
 
1.The Fund has adopted a Distribution and Service (12b-1) Plan pursuant to which the Fund may bear a 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per annum of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund and the Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution that no such fee may be paid in the first 12 months of the Fund’s operations.
 
Example
 
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example does not take into account brokerage commissions that you may pay when purchasing or selling Shares of the Fund.
 
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
 
   
One Year 
Three Years 
$25 
$132  
 
 
PROSPECTUS | 3
 
 
 
 

 

 
Portfolio Turnover
 
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance.
 
Principal Investment Strategies
 
The Fund, using a low cost “passive” or “indexing” investment approach, will seek to replicate, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, the performance of the 2018 Index. The 2018 Index is a rules-based index comprised of, as of February 29, 2012, approximately 150 investment grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the year 2018. The 2018 Index is designed to represent the performance of a held-to-maturity portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the year 2018. The effective maturity of an eligible corporate bond is determined by its actual maturity or, in the case of callable securities, the effective maturity of the security as determined in accordance with a rules-based methodology developed by Accretive Asset Management LLC (“Accretive” or the “Index Provider”).
 
The Fund has a designated year of maturity of 2018 and will terminate on or about December 31, 2018. In connection with such termination, the Fund will make a cash distribution to then-current shareholders of its net assets after making appropriate provisions for any liabilities of the Fund. The Fund does not seek to return any predetermined amount at maturity. The Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in component securities that comprise the 2018 Index. Under normal conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in corporate bonds. The Fund has adopted a policy that requires the Fund to provide shareholders with at least 60 days notice prior to any material change in this policy or the 2018 Index. In the last six months of operation, when the bonds held by the Fund mature, the Fund’s portfolio will transition to cash and cash equivalents, including without limitation U.S. Treasury Bills and investment grade commercial paper. The Fund will terminate on or about the date above without requiring additional approval by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) or Fund shareholders. The Board may change the termination date to an earlier or later date without shareholder approval if a majority of the Board determines the change to be in the best interest of the Fund. The Board of Trustees of the Trust may change the Fund’s investment strategy and other policies without shareholder approval, except as otherwise indicated.
 
The Fund expects to use a sampling approach in seeking to achieve its investment objective. Sampling means that the Investment Adviser uses quantitative analysis to select securities from the Index universe to obtain a representative sample of securities that resemble the Index in terms of key risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics. These characteristics include maturity, credit quality, sector, duration and other financial characteristics of fixed income securities. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including the asset size of the Fund, potential transaction costs in acquiring particular securities, the anticipated impact of particular index securities on the performance of the Index and the availability of particular securities in the secondary market. However, the Fund may use replication to achieve its objective if practicable. A replication strategy involves generally investing in all of the securities in the Index with the same weights as the Index. There may also be instances in which the
 
4 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
Investment Adviser may choose to overweight another security in the Index, or purchase (or sell) securities not in the Index which the Investment Adviser believes are appropriate to substitute for one or more Index components, in seeking to accurately track the Index. In addition, from time to time securities are added to or removed from the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index or purchase securities that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index. If the Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund’s investments will be concentrated accordingly.
 
Principal Investment Risks
 
Investors should consider the following risk factors and special considerations associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause you to lose money.
 
Investment Risk. An investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of the entire principal amount that you invest.
 
Interest Rate Risk. As interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities held by the Fund are likely to decrease. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations.
 
Credit/Default Risk. Issuers or guarantors of debt instruments or the counterparty to a repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments or otherwise honor its obligations. Debt instruments are subject to varying degrees of credit risk, which may be reflected in credit ratings. Securities issued by the U.S. government generally have less credit risk than debt securities of non-government issuers. However, securities issued by certain U.S. government agencies are not necessarily backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Credit rating downgrades and defaults (failure to make interest or principal payment) may potentially reduce the Fund’s income and share price.
 
Asset Class Risk. The bonds in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform the returns of other bonds or indexes that track other industries, markets, asset classes or sectors. Different types of bonds and indexes tend to go through different performance cycles than the general bond market.
 
Call Risk/Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation earlier than expected. This may result in the Fund reinvesting proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.
 
Extension Risk. An issuer may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation later than expected. This may happen when there is a rise in interest rates. Under these circumstances, the value of the obligation will decrease and the Fund’s performance may suffer from its inability to invest in higher yielding securities.
 
Income Risk. Falling interest rates may cause the Fund’s income to decline.
 
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. If the Fund invests in illiquid securities or securities that become illiquid, Fund returns may be reduced because the Fund may be unable to sell the illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price.
 
PROSPECTUS | 5
 
 
 
 

 

 
Declining Yield Risk. During the final year of the Fund’s operations, as the bonds held by the Fund mature and the Fund’s portfolio transitions to cash and cash equivalents, the Fund’s yield will generally tend to move toward the yield of cash and cash equivalents and thus may be lower than the yields of the bonds previously held by the Fund and/or prevailing yields for bonds in the market.
 
Fluctuation of Yield and Liquidation Amount Risk. The Fund, unlike a direct investment in a bond that has a level coupon payment and a fixed payment at maturity, will make distributions of income that vary over time. Unlike a direct investment in bonds, the breakdown of returns between Fund distributions and liquidation proceeds are not predictable at the time of your investment. For example, at times during the Fund’s existence, it may make distributions at a greater (or lesser) rate than the coupon payments received on the Fund’s portfolio, which will result in the Fund returning a lesser (or greater) amount on liquidation than would otherwise be the case. The rate of Fund distribution payments may adversely affect the tax characterization of your returns from an investment in the Fund relative to a direct investment in corporate bonds. If the amount you receive as liquidation proceeds upon the Fund’s termination is higher or lower than your cost basis, you may experience a gain or loss for tax purposes.
 
Financial Services Sector Risk. The financial services industries are subject to extensive government regulation, can be subject to relatively rapid change due to increasingly blurred distinctions between service segments, and can be significantly affected by availability and cost of capital funds, changes in interest rates, the rate of corporate and consumer debt defaults, and price competition. In addition, the deterioration of the credit markets since late 2007 generally has caused an adverse impact in a broad range of markets, including U.S. and international credit and interbank money markets generally, thereby affecting a wide range of financial institutions and markets. In particular, events in the financial sector since late 2008 have resulted, and may continue to result, in an unusually high degree of volatility in the financial markets, both domestic and foreign. These events have included the U.S. government’s placement of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation under conservatorship, the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, the U.S. government support of American International Group, Inc., the sale of Wachovia to Wells Fargo, reports of credit and liquidity issues involving certain money market mutual funds, and emergency measures by the U.S. and foreign governments banning short-selling. This situation has created instability in the financial markets and caused certain financial services companies to incur large losses. Numerous financial services companies have experienced substantial declines in the valuations of their assets, taken action to raise capital (such as the issuance of debt or equity securities), or even ceased operations. These actions have caused the securities of many financial services companies to experience a dramatic decline in value. Moreover, certain financial companies have avoided collapse due to intervention by the U.S. or foreign regulatory authorities (such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve System), but such interventions have often not averted a substantial decline in the value of such companies’ securities. Issuers that have exposure to the real estate, mortgage and credit markets have been particularly affected by the foregoing events and the general market turmoil, and it is uncertain whether or for how long these conditions will continue.
 
Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international
 
6 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products in the marketplace.
 
Non-Correlation Risk. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Since the Index constituents may vary on a monthly basis, the Fund’s costs associated with rebalancing may be greater than those incurred by other exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that track indices whose composition changes less frequently.
 
The Fund may not be fully invested at times, either as a result of cash flows into the Fund or reserves of cash held by the Fund to meet redemptions and expenses. Since the Fund utilizes a sampling approach, its return may not correlate as well with the return on the Index as would be the case if it purchased all of the securities in the Index with the same weightings as the Index.
 
Concentration Risk. If the Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries the Fund’s investments will be concentrated accordingly. In such event, the value of the Fund’s Shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries.
 
Replication Management Risk. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble or defaulted, or whose credit rating was downgraded, unless that security is removed from the Index.
 
Issuer-Specific Changes. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole. The value of securities of smaller issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.
 
Risk of Cash Transactions. In certain instances, unlike most ETFs, the Fund may effect creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in a more conventional ETF. ETFs generally are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gain on the distributed portfolio securities at the Fund level. Because the Fund may effect redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind distributions, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. If the Fund recognizes gain on these sales, this generally will cause the Fund to recognize gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. The Fund generally intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the Fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than, if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its Shares
 
PROSPECTUS | 7
 
 
 
 

 

 
principally in-kind, will be passed on to purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees.
 
Non-Diversified Fund Risk. The Fund is considered non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, changes in the market value of a single investment could cause greater fluctuations in share price than would occur in a diversified fund.
 
The Fund’s Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund has not been guaranteed, sponsored, recommended, or approved by the United States, or any agency, instrumentality or officer of the United States, has not been insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and is not guaranteed by and is not otherwise an obligation of any bank or insured depository institution.
 
Fund Performance
 
As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund has not yet completed a full calendar year of investment operations. When the Fund has completed a full calendar year of investment operations, this section will include charts that show annual total returns, highest and lowest quarterly returns and average annual total returns (before and after taxes) compared to the Index and a broad measure of market performance.
 
Management
 
Investment Adviser. Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC.
 
Portfolio Manager. The portfolio manager who is currently responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio is Saroj Kanuri, CFA. Mr. Kanuri, Vice President, ETF Portfolio Management, has managed the Fund’s portfolio since its inception.
 
Purchase and Sale of Shares
 
The Fund will issue and redeem Shares at NAV only in a large specified number of Shares called a “Creation Unit” or multiples thereof. A Creation Unit consists of 150,000 Shares. Creation Unit transactions are typically constructed in exchange for the deposit or delivery of in-kind securities and/or cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund. Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) and because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than or less than NAV.
 
Tax Information
 
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
 
8 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
 
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Investment Adviser or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, the support of technology platforms and/or reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
 
PROSPECTUS | 9
 
 
 
 

 

 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCJ)
 
Investment Objective
 
The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an investment grade corporate bond index called the BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2019 Index (the “2019 Index”).
 
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
 
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. Investors purchasing Shares in the secondary market may be subject to costs (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker.
 
   
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year 
 
as a percentage of the value of your investment) 
 
Management fees 
0.24% 
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees(1) 
–% 
Other expenses 
0.00% 
Total annual Fund operating expenses 
0.24% 
 
1.The Fund has adopted a Distribution and Service (12b-1) Plan pursuant to which the Fund may bear a 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per annum of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund and the Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution that no such fee may be paid in the first 12 months of the Fund’s operations.
 
Example
 
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the costs of investing in other funds. The Example does not take into account brokerage commissions that you may pay when purchasing or selling Shares of the Fund.
 
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
 
   
One Year 
Three Years 
$25 
$132  
 
 
Portfolio Turnover
 
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs,
 
10 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance.
 
Principal Investment Strategies
 
The Fund, using a low cost “passive” or “indexing” investment approach, will seek to replicate, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, the performance of the 2019 Index. The 2019 Index is a rules-based index comprised of, as of February 29, 2012, approximately 167 investment grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the year 2019. The 2019 Index is designed to represent the performance of a held-to-maturity portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the year 2019. The effective maturity of an eligible corporate bond is determined by its actual maturity or, in the case of callable securities, the effective maturity of the security as determined in accordance with a rules-based methodology developed by Accretive Asset Management LLC (“Accretive” or the “Index Provider”).
 
The Fund has a designated year of maturity of 2019 and will terminate on or about December 31, 2019. In connection with such termination, the Fund will make a cash distribution to then-current shareholders of its net assets after making appropriate provisions for any liabilities of the Fund. The Fund does not seek to return any predetermined amount at maturity. The Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in component securities that comprise the 2019 Index. Under normal conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in corporate bonds. The Fund has adopted a policy that requires the Fund to provide shareholders with at least 60 days notice prior to any material change in this policy or the 2019 Index. In the last six months of operation, when the bonds held by the Fund mature, the Fund’s portfolio will transition to cash and cash equivalents, including without limitation U.S. Treasury Bills and investment grade commercial paper. The Fund will terminate on or about the date above without requiring additional approval by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) or Fund shareholders. The Board may change the termination date to an earlier or later date without shareholder approval if a majority of the Board determines the change to be in the best interest of the Fund. The Board of Trustees of the Trust may change the Fund’s investment strategy and other policies without shareholder approval, except as otherwise indicated.
 
The Fund expects to use a sampling approach in seeking to achieve its investment objective. Sampling means that the Investment Adviser uses quantitative analysis to select securities from the Index universe to obtain a representative sample of securities that resemble the Index in terms of key risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics. These characteristics include maturity, credit quality, sector, duration and other financial characteristics of fixed income securities. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including the asset size of the Fund, potential transaction costs in acquiring particular securities, the anticipated impact of particular index securities on the performance of the Index and the availability of particular securities in the secondary market. However, the Fund may use replication to achieve its objective if practicable. A replication strategy involves generally investing in all of the securities in the Index with the same weights as the Index.There may also be instances in which the Investment Adviser may choose to overweight another security in the Index, or purchase (or sell) securities not in the Index which the Investment Adviser believes are appropriate to substitute for one or more Index components, in seeking to accurately track the Index. In addition, from time to time securities are added to or removed from the Index. The Fund
 
PROSPECTUS | 11
 
 
 
 

 

 
may sell securities that are represented in the Index or purchase securities that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index. If the Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund’s investments will be concentrated accordingly.
 
Principal Investment Risks
 
Investors should consider the following risk factors and special considerations associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause you to lose money.
 
Investment Risk. An investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of the entire principal amount that you invest.
 
Interest Rate Risk. As interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities held by the Fund are likely to decrease. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations.
 
Credit/Default Risk. Issuers or guarantors of debt instruments or the counterparty to a repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments or otherwise honor its obligations. Debt instruments are subject to varying degrees of credit risk, which may be reflected in credit ratings. Securities issued by the U.S. government generally have less credit risk than debt securities of non-government issuers. However, securities issued by certain U.S. government agencies are not necessarily backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Credit rating downgrades and defaults (failure to make interest or principal payment) may potentially reduce the Fund’s income and share price.
 
Asset Class Risk. The bonds in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform the returns of other bonds or indexes that track other industries, markets, asset classes or sectors. Different types of bonds and indexes tend to go through different performance cycles than the general bond market.
 
Call Risk/Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation earlier than expected. This may result in the Fund reinvesting proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.
 
Extension Risk. An issuer may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation later than expected. This may happen when there is a rise in interest rates. Under these circumstances, the value of the obligation will decrease and the Fund’s performance may suffer from its inability to invest in higher yielding securities.
 
Income Risk. Falling interest rates may cause the Fund’s income to decline.
 
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. If the Fund invests in illiquid securities or securities that become illiquid, Fund returns may be reduced because the Fund may be unable to sell the illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price.
 
Declining Yield Risk. During the final year of the Fund’s operations, as the bonds held by the Fund mature and the Fund’s portfolio transitions to cash and cash equivalents, the Fund’s yield will generally tend to move toward the yield of cash and cash equivalents and thus
 
12 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
may be lower than the yields of the bonds previously held by the Fund and/or prevailing yields for bonds in the market.
 
Fluctuation of Yield and Liquidation Amount Risk. The Fund, unlike a direct investment in a bond that has a level coupon payment and a fixed payment at maturity, will make distributions of income that vary over time. Unlike a direct investment in bonds, the breakdown of returns between Fund distributions and liquidation proceeds are not predictable at the time of your investment. For example, at times during the Fund’s existence, it may make distributions at a greater (or lesser) rate than the coupon payments received on the Fund’s portfolio, which will result in the Fund returning a lesser (or greater) amount on liquidation than would otherwise be the case. The rate of Fund distribution payments may adversely affect the tax characterization of your returns from an investment in the Fund relative to a direct investment in corporate bonds. If the amount you receive as liquidation proceeds upon the Fund’s termination is higher or lower than your cost basis, you may experience a gain or loss for tax purposes.
 
Financial Services Sector Risk. The financial services industries are subject to extensive government regulation, can be subject to relatively rapid change due to increasingly blurred distinctions between service segments, and can be significantly affected by availability and cost of capital funds, changes in interest rates, the rate of corporate and consumer debt defaults, and price competition. In addition, the deterioration of the credit markets since late 2007 generally has caused an adverse impact in a broad range of markets, including U.S. and international credit and interbank money markets generally, thereby affecting a wide range of financial institutions and markets. In particular, events in the financial sector since late 2008 have resulted, and may continue to result, in an unusually high degree of volatility in the financial markets, both domestic and foreign. These events have included the U.S. government’s placement of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation under conservatorship, the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, the U.S. government support of American International Group, Inc., the sale of Wachovia to Wells Fargo, reports of credit and liquidity issues involving certain money market mutual funds, and emergency measures by the U.S. and foreign governments banning short-selling. This situation has created instability in the financial markets and caused certain financial services companies to incur large losses. Numerous financial services companies have experienced substantial declines in the valuations of their assets, taken action to raise capital (such as the issuance of debt or equity securities), or even ceased operations. These actions have caused the securities of many financial services companies to experience a dramatic decline in value. Moreover, certain financial companies have avoided collapse due to intervention by the U.S. or foreign regulatory authorities (such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve System), but such interventions have often not averted a substantial decline in the value of such companies’ securities. Issuers that have exposure to the real estate, mortgage and credit markets have been particularly affected by the foregoing events and the general market turmoil, and it is uncertain whether or for how long these conditions will continue.
 
Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics
 
PROSPECTUS | 13
 
 
 
 

 

 
and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products in the marketplace.
 
Non-Correlation Risk. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Since the Index constituents may vary on a monthly basis, the Fund’s costs associated with rebalancing may be greater than those incurred by other exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that track indices whose composition changes less frequently.
 
The Fund may not be fully invested at times, either as a result of cash flows into the Fund or reserves of cash held by the Fund to meet redemptions and expenses. Since the Fund utilizes a sampling approach, its return may not correlate as well with the return on the Index as would be the case if it purchased all of the securities in the Index with the same weightings as the Index.
 
Concentration Risk. If the Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries the Fund’s investments will be concentrated accordingly. In such event, the value of the Fund’s Shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries.
 
Replication Management Risk. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble or defaulted, or whose credit rating was downgraded, unless that security is removed from the Index.
 
Issuer-Specific Changes. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole. The value of securities of smaller issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.
 
Risk of Cash Transactions. In certain instances, unlike most ETFs, the Fund may effect creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in a more conventional ETF. ETFs generally are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gain on the distributed portfolio securities at the Fund level. Because the Fund may effect redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind distributions, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. If the Fund recognizes gain on these sales, this generally will cause the Fund to recognize gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. The Fund generally intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the Fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than, if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its Shares principally in-kind, will be passed on to purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees.
 
14 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
Non-Diversified Fund Risk. The Fund is considered non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, changes in the market value of a single investment could cause greater fluctuations in share price than would occur in a diversified fund.
 
The Fund’s Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund has not been guaranteed, sponsored, recommended, or approved by the United States, or any agency, instrumentality or officer of the United States, has not been insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and is not guaranteed by and is not otherwise an obligation of any bank or insured depository institution.
 
Fund Performance
 
As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund has not yet completed a full calendar year of investment operations. When the Fund has completed a full calendar year of investment operations, this section will include charts that show annual total returns, highest and lowest quarterly returns and average annual total returns (before and after taxes) compared to a benchmark index selected for the Fund.
 
Management
 
Investment Adviser. Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC.
 
Portfolio Manager. The portfolio manager who is currently responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio is Saroj Kanuri, CFA. Mr. Kanuri, Vice President, ETF Portfolio Management, has managed the Fund’s portfolio since its inception.
 
Purchase and Sale of Shares
 
The Fund will issue and redeem Shares at NAV only in a large specified number of Shares called a“Creation Unit” or multiples thereof. A Creation Unit consists of 150,000 Shares. Creation Unit transactions are typically constructed in exchange for the deposit or delivery of in-kind securities and/or cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund. Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) and because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than or less than NAV.
 
Tax Information
 
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
 
PROSPECTUS | 15
 
 
 
 

 

 
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
 
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Investment Adviser or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, the support of technology platforms and/or reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
 
16 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCK)
 
Investment Objective
 
The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an investment grade corporate bond index called the BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2020 Index (the “2020 Index”).
 
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
 
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. Investors purchasing Shares in the secondary market may be subject to costs (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker.
 
   
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year 
 
as a percentage of the value of your investment) 
 
Management fees (comprehensive management fee) 
0.24% 
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees(1) 
—% 
Other expenses 
0.00% 
Total annual Fund operating expenses 
0.24% 
 
1.The Fund has adopted a Distribution and Service (12b-1) Plan pursuant to which the Fund may bear a 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per annum of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund and the Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution that no such fee may be paid in the first 12 months of the Fund’s operations.
 
Example
 
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the costs of investing in other funds. The Example does not take into account brokerage commissions that you may pay when purchasing or selling Shares of the Fund.
 
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
 
   
One Year 
Three Years 
$25 
$132  
 
 
Portfolio Turnover
 
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs,
 
PROSPECTUS | 17
 
 
 
 

 

 
which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance.
 
Principal Investment Strategies
 
The Fund, using a low cost “passive” or “indexing” investment approach, will seek to replicate, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, the performance of the 2020 Index. The 2020 Index is a rules-based index comprised of, as of February 29, 2012, approximately 156 investment grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the year 2020. The 2020 Index is designed to represent the performance of a held-to-maturity portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the year 2020. The effective maturity of an eligible corporate bond is determined by its actual maturity or, in the case of callable securities, the effective maturity of the security as determined in accordance with a rules-based methodology developed by Accretive Asset Management LLC (“Accretive” or the “Index Provider”).
 
The Fund has a designated year of maturity of 2020 and will terminate on or about December 31, 2020. In connection with such termination, the Fund will make a cash distribution to then-current shareholders of its net assets after making appropriate provisions for any liabilities of the Fund. The Fund does not seek to return any predetermined amount at maturity. The Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in component securities that comprise the 2020 Index. Under normal conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in corporate bonds. The Fund has adopted a policy that requires the Fund to provide shareholders with at least 60 days notice prior to any material change in this policy or the 2020 Index. In the last six months of operation, when the bonds held by the Fund mature, the Fund’s portfolio will transition to cash and cash equivalents, including without limitation U.S. Treasury Bills and investment grade commercial paper. The Fund will terminate on or about the date above without requiring additional approval by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) or Fund shareholders. The Board may change the termination date to an earlier or later date without shareholder approval if a majority of the Board determines the change to be in the best interest of the Fund. The Board of Trustees of the Trust may change the Fund’s investment strategy and other policies without shareholder approval, except as otherwise indicated.
 
The Fund expects to use a sampling approach in seeking to achieve its investment objective. Sampling means that the Investment Adviser uses quantitative analysis to select securities from the Index universe to obtain a representative sample of securities that resemble the Index in terms of key risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics. These characteristics include maturity, credit quality, sector, duration and other financial characteristics of fixed income securities. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including the asset size of the Fund, potential transaction costs in acquiring particular securities, the anticipated impact of particular index securities on the performance of the Index and the availability of particular securities in the secondary market. However, the Fund may use replication to achieve its objective if practicable. A replication strategy involves generally investing in all of the securities in the Index with the same weights as the Index. There may also be instances in which the Investment Adviser may choose to overweight another security in the Index, or purchase (or sell) securities not in the Index which the Investment Adviser believes are appropriate to substitute for one or more Index components, in seeking to accurately track the Index. In addition, from time to time securities are added to or removed from the Index. The Fund
 
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may sell securities that are represented in the Index or purchase securities that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index. If the Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund’s investments will be concentrated accordingly.
 
Principal Investment Risks
 
Investors should consider the following risk factors and special considerations associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause you to lose money.
 
Investment Risk. An investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of the entire principal amount that you invest.
 
Interest Rate Risk. As interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities held by the Fund are likely to decrease. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations.
 
Credit/Default Risk. Issuers or guarantors of debt instruments or the counterparty to a repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments or otherwise honor its obligations. Debt instruments are subject to varying degrees of credit risk, which may be reflected in credit ratings. Securities issued by the U.S. government generally have less credit risk than debt securities of non-government issuers. However, securities issued by certain U.S. government agencies are not necessarily backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Credit rating downgrades and defaults (failure to make interest or principal payment) may potentially reduce the Fund’s income and share price.
 
Asset Class Risk. The bonds in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform the returns of other bonds or indexes that track other industries, markets, asset classes or sectors. Different types of bonds and indexes tend to go through different performance cycles than the general bond market.
 
Call Risk/Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation earlier than expected. This may result in the Fund reinvesting proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.
 
Extension Risk. An issuer may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation later than expected. This may happen when there is a rise in interest rates. Under these circumstances, the value of the obligation will decrease and the Fund’s performance may suffer from its inability to invest in higher yielding securities.
 
Income Risk. Falling interest rates may cause the Fund’s income to decline.
 
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. If the Fund invests in illiquid securities or securities that become illiquid, Fund returns may be reduced because the Fund may be unable to sell the illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price.
 
Declining Yield Risk. During the final year of the Fund’s operations, as the bonds held by the Fund mature and the Fund’s portfolio transitions to cash and cash equivalents, the Fund’s yield will generally tend to move toward the yield of cash and cash equivalents and thus
 
PROSPECTUS | 19
 
 
 
 

 

 
may be lower than the yields of the bonds previously held by the Fund and/or prevailing yields for bonds in the market.
 
Fluctuation of Yield and Liquidation Amount Risk. The Fund, unlike a direct investment in a bond that has a level coupon payment and a fixed payment at maturity, will make distributions of income that vary over time. Unlike a direct investment in bonds, the breakdown of returns between Fund distributions and liquidation proceeds are not predictable at the time of your investment. For example, at times during the Fund’s existence, it may make distributions at a greater (or lesser) rate than the coupon payments received on the Fund’s portfolio, which will result in the Fund returning a lesser (or greater) amount on liquidation than would otherwise be the case. The rate of Fund distribution payments may adversely affect the tax characterization of your returns from an investment in the Fund relative to a direct investment in corporate bonds. If the amount you receive as liquidation proceeds upon the Fund’s termination is higher or lower than your cost basis, you may experience a gain or loss for tax purposes.
 
Financial Services Sector Risk. The financial services industries are subject to extensive government regulation, can be subject to relatively rapid change due to increasingly blurred distinctions between service segments, and can be significantly affected by availability and cost of capital funds, changes in interest rates, the rate of corporate and consumer debt defaults, and price competition. In addition, the deterioration of the credit markets since late 2007 generally has caused an adverse impact in a broad range of markets, including U.S. and international credit and interbank money markets generally, thereby affecting a wide range of financial institutions and markets. In particular, events in the financial sector since late 2008 have resulted, and may continue to result, in an unusually high degree of volatility in the financial markets, both domestic and foreign. These events have included the U.S. government’s placement of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation under conservatorship, the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, the U.S. government support of American International Group, Inc., the sale of Wachovia to Wells Fargo, reports of credit and liquidity issues involving certain money market mutual funds, and emergency measures by the U.S. and foreign governments banning short-selling. This situation has created instability in the financial markets and caused certain financial services companies to incur large losses. Numerous financial services companies have experienced substantial declines in the valuations of their assets, taken action to raise capital (such as the issuance of debt or equity securities), or even ceased operations. These actions have caused the securities of many financial services companies to experience a dramatic decline in value. Moreover, certain financial companies have avoided collapse due to intervention by the U.S. or foreign regulatory authorities (such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve System), but such interventions have often not averted a substantial decline in the value of such companies’ securities. Issuers that have exposure to the real estate, mortgage and credit markets have been particularly affected by the foregoing events and the general market turmoil, and it is uncertain whether or for how long these conditions will continue.
 
Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics
 
20 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products in the marketplace.
 
Non-Correlation Risk. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Since the Index constituents may vary on a monthly basis, the Fund’s costs associated with rebalancing may be greater than those incurred by other exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that track indices whose composition changes less frequently.
 
The Fund may not be fully invested at times, either as a result of cash flows into the Fund or reserves of cash held by the Fund to meet redemptions and expenses. Since the Fund utilizes a sampling approach, its return may not correlate as well with the return on the Index as would be the case if it purchased all of the securities in the Index with the same weightings as the Index.
 
Concentration Risk. If the Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries the Fund’s investments will be concentrated accordingly. In such event, the value of the Fund’s Shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries.
 
Replication Management Risk. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble or defaulted, or whose credit rating was downgraded, unless that security is removed from the Index.
 
Issuer-Specific Changes. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole. The value of securities of smaller issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.
 
Risk of Cash Transactions. In certain instances, unlike most ETFs, the Fund may effect creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in a more conventional ETF. ETFs generally are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gain on the distributed portfolio securities at the Fund level. Because the Fund may effect redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind distributions, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. If the Fund recognizes gain on these sales, this generally will cause the Fund to recognize gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. The Fund generally intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the Fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than, if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its Shares principally in-kind, will be passed on to purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees.
 
PROSPECTUS | 21
 
 
 
 

 

 
Non-Diversified Fund Risk. The Fund is considered non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, changes in the market value of a single investment could cause greater fluctuations in share price than would occur in a diversified fund.
 
The Fund’s Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund has not been guaranteed, sponsored, recommended, or approved by the United States, or any agency, instrumentality or officer of the United States, has not been insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and is not guaranteed by and is not otherwise an obligation of any bank or insured depository institution.
 
Fund Performance
 
As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund has not yet completed a full calendar year of investment operations. When the Fund has completed a full calendar year of investment operations, this section will include charts that show annual total returns, highest and lowest quarterly returns and average annual total returns (before and after taxes) compared to a benchmark index selected for the Fund.
 
Management
 
Investment Adviser. Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC.
 
Portfolio Manager. The portfolio manager who is currently responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio is Saroj Kanuri, CFA. Mr. Kanuri, Vice President, ETF Portfolio Management, has managed the Fund’s portfolio since the Fund’s inception.
 
Purchase and Sale of Shares
 
The Fund will issue and redeem Shares at NAV only in a large specified number of Shares called a“Creation Unit” or multiples thereof. A Creation Unit consists of 150,000 Shares. Creation Unit transactions are typically constructed in exchange for the deposit or delivery of in-kind securities and/or cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund. Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) and because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than or less than NAV.
 
Tax Information
 
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
 
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Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
 
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Investment Adviser or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, the support of technology platforms and/or reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
 
PROSPECTUS | 23
 
 
 
 

 

 
Additional Information About the Funds’
Principal Investment Strategies and
Principal Investment Risks
 
Investment Objective
 
Each Fund’s investment objective is non-fundamental and may be changed by the Board of Trustees without shareholder approval.
 
Index Methodology
 
BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2018 Index, BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2019 Index, and BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2020 Index.
 
Each Index is designed to represent the performance of a held-to-maturity portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with effective maturities in the same calendar year. The effective maturity of an eligible corporate bond is determined by its actual maturity or, in the case of callable securities, the effective maturity of the security as determined in accordance with a rules-based methodology developed by Accretive.
 
Index Construction
 
1.     
Securities eligible for inclusion in each Index are U.S. dollar-denominated fixed-income securities of corporate issuers that meet the following criteria:
   
 
·
have at least $500 million of outstanding face value;
     
 
·
are rated investment grade by at least one Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (“NRSRO”); and
     
 
·
are issued by companies domiciled in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) or Japan;
   
2.     
Each Index is limited to securities that pay fixed amounts of interest and the following types of securities are specifically excluded:
     
 
·
Rule 144A securities, private placements or retail bonds;
     
 
·
floating-rate securities;
     
 
·
zero-coupon bonds and zero-coupon step-up bonds;
     
 
·
convertible securities and other bonds with equity-type futures; and
     
 
·
inflation- and other index-linked bonds.
 
 
 
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3.     
Each Index is constructed as follows:
   
 
·
At the beginning of each calendar year each Index undergoes an effective maturity reconstitution, where bonds in the universe of eligible securities are assigned to an Index based on their actual maturities or, in the case of callable bonds, effective maturities as determined by a proprietary, rules-based process.
     
 
·
Prior to July 1 of each Index’s target maturity year, each Index is rebalanced based on the market values of the Index’s constituents on a monthly basis. Additions to or removals from the universe of eligible securities are reflected in each monthly rebalancing.
     
 
·
Prior to July 1 of each Index’s target maturity year, proceeds of constituents that are called or mature between rebalances are reinvested in 13-week U.S. Treasury Bills until the next monthly rebalancing of the Index. The reinvested amount is reallocated on a pro rata basis across Index constituents at the next monthly rebalance.
     
 
·
Beginning on July 1 of an Index’s target maturity year:
     
   
·
The Index is calculated using a proprietary methodology that seeks to track the return of a held-to-maturity individual bond. In accordance with this methodology, the portfolio of bonds established in connection with the last monthly rebalancing of an Index prior to July 1 of its target maturity year will be fixed for the remainder of the life of the Index.
       
   
·
As bonds in an Index mature or are called and principal is returned, proceeds are re-invested in 13-week U.S. Treasury Bills until the termination of the Index. It is expected that each Index will consist largely, if not completely, of assets invested in such instruments when it terminates.
   
4.     
Decisions regarding additions to and removals from an Index are made by the Index Provider and are subject to periodic review by a policy steering committee known as the Bullet Shares® Index Committee.
 
PROSPECTUS | 25
 
 
 
 

 

 
Non-Principal Investment Strategies
 
As a principal investment strategy and as described above, each Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in component securities that comprise its respective Index.
 
As non-principal investment strategies, each Fund may invest its remaining assets in fixed income securities not included in its underlying index, money market instruments, including repurchase agreements or money market funds, convertible securities, structured notes (notes on which the amount of principal repayment and interest payments are based on the movement of one or more specified factors, such as the movement of a particular bond or bond index) and in swaps, options and futures contracts. Swaps, options and futures contracts (and convertible securities and structured notes) may be used by each Fund in seeking performance that corresponds to its respective Index (whether by gaining exposure to the Index as a whole or to certain specific Index components in lieu of the Fund holding such Index components directly), and in managing cash flows, but will not be used for hedging purposes. The Funds will not invest in money market instruments as part of a temporary defensive strategy to protect against potential market declines. The Investment Adviser anticipates that it may take approximately three business days (i.e., each day the NYSE Arca is open) for additions and deletions to each Fund’s Index to be reflected in the portfolio composition of the Fund.
 
Each Fund may borrow money from a bank up to a limit of 10% of the value of its assets, but only for temporary or emergency purposes.
 
Each Fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and other financial institutions desiring to borrow securities to complete transactions and for other purposes. In connection with such loans, the Fund receives liquid collateral equal to at least 102% of the value of the portfolio securities being lent. This collateral is marked to market on a daily basis. Each Fund may lend its portfolio securities in an amount up to 33 1/3 % of its assets. Securities lending is not a principal investment strategy of the Funds.
 
The policies described herein constitute non-fundamental policies that may be changed by the Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Certain fundamental and other non-fundamental policies of the Funds are set forth in the Statement of Additional Information under “Investment Restrictions.”
 
Non-Principal Risk Considerations
 
In addition to the principal risks described previously, there are certain non-principal risks related to investing in the Funds.
 
Foreign Issuers Risk. The Funds may invest in U.S. registered, dollar-denominated bonds of foreign corporations, which have different risks than investing in U.S. companies. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in foreign countries, and potential restrictions of the flow of international capital. Foreign companies may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual foreign economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such
 
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respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital investment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment options.
 
Derivatives Risk. A derivative is a financial contract, whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset such as a security or index. The Funds may invest in certain types of derivatives contracts, including futures, options and swaps. Compared to conventional securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus a Fund’s losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives. Specific risks relating to a Fund’s investments in derivatives are set forth below:
 
Futures Risk. While a Fund may benefit from the use of futures, unanticipated changes in interest rates, securities prices or currency exchange rates may result in poorer overall performance than if the Fund had not entered into any futures contracts. Because perfect correlation between a futures position and an Index position that is intended to be simulated is impossible to achieve, the desired protection may not be obtained and the Fund may be exposed to additional risk of loss. The loss incurred by a Fund in entering into futures contracts is potentially unlimited and may exceed the amount invested. Futures markets are highly volatile and the use of futures may increase the volatility of the Funds’ NAV. As a result of the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in substantial losses to a Fund. Futures contracts may be illiquid, and exchanges may limit fluctuations in futures contract prices during a single day. Foreign exchanges may not provide the same protection as U.S. exchanges.
 
Options Risk. The buyer of an option acquires the right to buy (a call option) or sell (a put option) a certain quantity of a security (the underlying security) or instrument at a certain price up to a specified point in time. The seller or writer of the option is obligated to sell (a call option) or buy (a put option) the underlying security. All options written (sold) by the Funds will be covered. When writing (selling) call options on securities or a securities index, a Fund may cover its positions by owning the underlying security or securities on which the option is written or by owning a call option on the underlying security (or, in the case of options on a securities index, by owning securities whose price changes are expected to be equal to those of the securities in the index). Alternatively, a Fund may cover its positions by maintaining, in a segregated account, cash or liquid securities equal in value to the exercise price of the call options written by the Fund. When a Fund writes (sells) an option, if the underlying securities do not increase or decrease to a price level that would make the exercise of the option profitable to the holder thereof, the option generally will expire without being exercised and the Fund will realize as profit the premium received for such option. When a covered call option which a Fund writes (sells) is exercised, the Fund will be required to sell the underlying securities to the option holder at the strike price, and will not participate in any increase in the price of such securities above the strike price. When a covered put option which a Fund writes (sells) is exercised, the Fund will be required to purchase the underlying securities at a price in excess of the market value of such securities. A decision as to whether, when and how to use options involves the exercise of skill and judgment and even a well conceived option transaction may be unsuccessful because of market behavior or unexpected events. The prices of options can be highly volatile and the use of options can lower total returns. There may be an imperfect correlation between the movement in prices of options and the securities underlying them. There
 
PROSPECTUS | 27
 
 
 
 

 

 
may not be a liquid secondary market for options.
 
Swaps Risk. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates one party to pay the positive return and the other party to pay the negative return on a specified reference security, basket of securities, security index or index component. Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities, because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (e.g., the risk of a counterparty’s defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (i.e., swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may also be considered illiquid. It may not be possible for the Funds to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.
 
Trading Issues. Trading in Shares on the NYSE Arca may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the NYSE Arca, make trading in Shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Shares on the NYSE Arca is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the NYSE Arca “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of the Funds will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
 
Fluctuation of Net Asset Value. The NAV of each Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of the Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of and demand for the Shares on the NYSE Arca. The Investment Adviser cannot predict whether the Shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for the Shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities of the Index trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time.
 
However, given that the Shares can be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes premiums to, their NAV), the Investment Adviser believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Shares should not be sustained.
 
Securities Lending. Although each Fund will receive collateral in connection with all loans of its securities holdings, the Fund would be exposed to a risk of loss should a borrower default on its obligation to return the borrowed securities (e.g., the loaned securities may have appreciated beyond the value of the collateral held by the Fund). In addition, the Funds will bear the risk of loss of any cash collateral that they invest.
 
Leverage. To the extent that each Fund borrows money in the limited circumstances described under “Non-Principal Investment Strategies” above, it may be leveraged. Leveraging generally exaggerates the effect on NAV of any increase or decrease in the market value of a Fund’s portfolio securities.
 
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
 
A description of the Trust’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Funds’ portfolio securities is available in the Funds’ Statement of Additional Information.
 
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Investment Management Services
 
Investment Adviser
 
Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC (the “Investment Adviser”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guggenheim Funds Services, LLC (“Guggenheim Funds Services”), acts as the Funds’ investment adviser pursuant to an advisory agreement with the Trust (the “Advisory Agreement”). The Investment Adviser is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal offices located at 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532. Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC (“Guggenheim Funds Distributors”) currently offers closed-end funds, unit investment trusts and exchange-traded funds. Guggenheim Funds Services is a subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, LLC (“Guggenheim”), a global, diversified financial services firm with more than $125 billion in assets under supervision. Guggenheim, through its affiliates, provides investment management, investment advisory, insurance, investment banking and capital markets services. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and New York with a global network of offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Pursuant to the Advisory Agreement, the Investment Adviser manages the investment and reinvestment of the Fund’s assets and administers the affairs of the Fund to the extent requested by the Board of Trustees. The Investment Adviser also acts as investment adviser to closed-end and open-end management investment companies.
 
Pursuant to the Advisory Agreement, each Fund pays the Investment Adviser a unitary management fee for the services and facilities it provides payable on a monthly basis at the annual rate of each Fund’s average daily net assets as set forth below.
 
   
Fund(s) 
Advisory Fee 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF 
0.24% 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF 
0.24% 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF 
0.24%  
 
 
Out of the unitary management fee, the Investment Adviser pays substantially all expenses of each Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services, except for the fee payments under the Investment Advisory Agreement, distribution fees, if any, brokerage expenses, taxes, interest, litigation expenses and other extraordinary expenses (such as expenses relating to a meeting of a Fund’s shareholders).
 
The Investment Adviser’s unitary management fee is designed to pay each Fund’s expenses and to compensate the Investment Adviser for providing services for each Fund.
 
Approval of Advisory Agreement
 
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board of Trustees’ initial approval of the Advisory Agreement for the Guggenheim Bulletshares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF, Guggenheim Bulletshares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF and Guggenheim Bulletshares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF in 2012 will be available in those Funds’ annual report to shareholders to be dated May 31, 2012.
 
PROSPECTUS | 29
 
 
 
 

 

 
Portfolio Manager
 
The portfolio manager who is currently responsible for the day-to-day management of each Fund’s portfolio is Saroj Kanuri, CFA. Mr. Kanuri has managed each Fund’s portfolio since its inception.
 
Mr. Kanuri is a Vice President, ETF Portfolio Management, of the Investment Adviser and Guggenheim Funds Distributors and joined Guggenheim Funds Distributors in October of 2006. Prior to joining Guggenheim Funds Distributors, Mr. Kanuri served as an analyst at Northern Trust Corporation from 2001-2006. Mr. Kanuri received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
 
The Statement of Additional Information provides additional information about the portfolio manager’s compensation structure, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager and the portfolio manager’s ownership of securities of the Funds.
 
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Purchase and Redemption of Shares
 
General
 
The Shares will be issued or redeemed by each Fund at net asset value per Share only in Creation Unit size.
 
Most investors will buy and sell Shares of each Fund in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of each Fund are listed for trading on the secondary market on the NYSE Arca. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded shares. There is no minimum investment. Although Shares are generally purchased and sold in “round lots” of 100 Shares, brokerage firms typically permit investors to purchase or sell Shares in smaller “odd lots,” at no per-share price differential. When buying or selling Shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered price in the secondary market on each leg of a round trip (purchase and sale) transaction. The Funds trade on the NYSE Arca at prices that may differ to varying degrees from the daily NAV of the Shares. Given that each Fund’s Shares can be issued and redeemed in Creation Units, the Investment Adviser believes that large discounts and premiums to NAV should not be sustained for long. The Funds will trade under the NYSE Arca symbols set forth in the chart below, subject to notice of issuance:
 
Name of Fund
NYSE Arca Ticker Symbol
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF
BSCI
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF
BSCJ
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF
BSCK
 
 
Each Fund may liquidate and terminate at any time without shareholder approval.
 
Share prices are reported in dollars and cents per Share.
 
Investors may acquire Shares directly from each Fund, and shareholders may tender their Shares for redemption directly to each Fund, only in Creation Units of the applicable number of Shares as set forth in the table below.
 
   
Fund(s) 
Creation Unit Size 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF 
150,000 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF 
150,000 
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF 
150,000 
 
In certain circumstances the Funds may restrict or reject a creation or redemption order, and notify a shareholder of such restriction or rejection, as described in “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information and in each Fund’s authorized participant agreement.
 
PROSPECTUS | 31
 
 
 
 

 

 
Book Entry
 
Shares are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding Shares of each Fund and is recognized as the owner of all Shares for all purposes.
 
Investors owning Shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all Shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of Shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have Shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of Shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of Shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other stocks that you may hold in book entry or “street name” form.
 
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How to Buy and Sell Shares
 
Pricing Fund Shares
 
The trading price of each Fund’s shares on the NYSE Arca may differ from each Fund’s daily net asset value and can be affected by market forces of supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors.
 
The NYSE Arca will disseminate the approximate value of Shares of each Fund every fifteen seconds. This approximate value should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV per Share of each Fund because the approximate value may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day. The Fund is not involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of the approximate value and each Fund does not make any warranty as to its accuracy.
 
The net asset value per Share of each Fund is determined once daily as of the close of the NYSE, usually 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, each day the NYSE is open for trading. Shares will not be priced on regular national holidays or other days on which the NYSE is closed. NAV per Share is determined by dividing the value of each Fund’s portfolio securities, cash and other assets (including accrued interest), less all liabilities (including accrued expenses), by the total number of shares outstanding.
 
Debt securities are valued at the mean between the last available bid and ask prices for such securities or, if such prices are not available, at prices for securities of comparable maturity, quality, and type. Debt securities may also be valued based on price quotations or other equivalent indications of value provided by a third-party pricing service. Short-term securities for which market quotations are not readily available are valued at amortized cost, which approximates market value.
 
Equity securities are valued at the last reported sale price on the principal exchange or on the principal OTC market on which such securities are traded, as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE Arca on the day the securities are being valued or, if there are no sales, at the mean of the most recent bid and asked prices. Equity securities that are traded primarily on the NASDAQ Stock Market are valued at the NASDAQ Official Closing Price. Securities for which market quotations (or other market valuations such as those obtained from a pricing service) are not readily available, including restricted securities, are valued by the Investment Adviser by a method that the Investment Adviser believes accurately reflects fair value, pursuant to policies adopted by the Board of Trustees and subject to the ultimate supervision of the Board of Trustees. Securities will be valued at fair value when market quotations are not readily available or are deemed unreliable, such as when a security’s value or meaningful portion of a Fund’s portfolio is believed to have been materially affected by a significant event. Such events may include a natural disaster, an economic event like a bankruptcy filing, a trading halt in a security, an unscheduled early market close or a substantial fluctuation in domestic and foreign markets that has occurred between the close of the principal exchange and the NYSE Arca. In such a case, the value for a security is likely to be different from the last quoted market price. In addition, due to the subjective and variable nature of fair market value pricing, it is possible that the value determined for a particular asset may be materially different from the value realized upon such asset’s sale.
 
PROSPECTUS | 33
 
 
 
 

 

 
Creation Units
 
Investors such as market makers, large investors and institutions who wish to deal in Creation Units directly with each Fund must have entered into an authorized participant agreement with the distributor, or purchase through a dealer that has entered into such an agreement. Set forth below is a brief description of the procedures applicable to purchase and redemption of Creation Units. For more detailed information, see “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information.
 
How to Buy Shares
 
In order to purchase Creation Units of each Fund, an investor must generally deposit a designated portfolio of corporate bonds constituting a substantial replication, or a representation, of the securities included in the Index (the “Deposit Securities”) (and/or an amount of cash in lieu of some or all of the Deposit Securities) and generally make a small cash payment referred to as the “Cash Component.” For those Authorized Participants (as defined below) that are not eligible for trading a Deposit Security, custom orders are available. The list of the names and the amounts of the Deposit Securities is made available by each Fund’s custodian through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation, commonly referred to as NSCC, immediately prior to the opening of business each day of the NYSE Arca. The Cash Component represents the difference between the net asset value of a Creation Unit and the market value of the Deposit Securities. In the case of custom orders, cash-in-lieu may be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Securities that the Authorized Participant (as defined below) may not be eligible to trade. As the planned termination date of a Fund approaches, the Fund may elect to accept creation orders mostly or entirely in cash. As bonds held by a Fund begin to mature, creations may be effected increasingly in cash.
 
Orders must be placed by or through a participant of The Depository Trust Company (“DTC Participant”) that has entered into an agreement with the Trust and the distributor, with respect to purchases and redemptions of Creation Units (collectively, “Authorized Participant” or “AP”) and must be in proper form pursuant to the requirements regarding submission and logistics set forth in such agreement. See “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information. All standard orders must be placed for one or more whole Creation Units of Shares of each Fund and must be received by the distributor in proper form no later than the close of regular trading on the NYSE Arca (ordinarily 4:00 p.m. Eastern time) (“Closing Time”) in order to receive that day’s closing NAV per Share. In the case of certain custom orders, at the request of the AP and as further described in the Statement of Additional Information, the order must be received by the distributor no later than one hour prior to Closing Time in order to receive that day’s closing NAV per Share. A custom order may be placed by an Authorized Participant in the event that the Trust permits or requires the substitution of an amount of cash to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security which may not be available in sufficient quantity for delivery or which may not be eligible for trading by such Authorized Participant or the investor for which it is acting or any other relevant reason. See “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information.
 
A fixed creation transaction fee of $500 per transaction (the“Creation Transaction Fee”) is applicable to each transaction regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased in the transaction. An additional variable charge for cash creations or partial cash creations
 
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may also be imposed to compensate the Funds for the costs associated with buying the applicable securities. The Funds may adjust these fees from time to time based on actual experience. The Funds reserve the right to effect creations in cash. A shareholder may request a cash creation in lieu of securities, however, each Fund may, in its discretion, reject any such request. See“Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information. The price for each Creation Unit will equal the daily NAV per Share times the number of Shares in a Creation Unit plus the fees described above and, if applicable, any transfer taxes.
 
Shares of each Fund may be issued in advance of receipt of all Deposit Securities subject to various conditions, including a requirement to maintain on deposit with the Trust cash at least equal to 115% of the market value of the missing Deposit Securities. See “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information.
 
Legal Restrictions on Transactions in Certain Securities
 
An investor subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security required to be deposited in connection with the purchase of a Creation Unit may, at each Fund’s discretion, be permitted to deposit an equivalent amount of cash in substitution for any security which would otherwise be included in the Deposit Securities applicable to the purchase of a Creation Unit. For more details, see “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information.
 
Redemption of Shares
 
Shares may be redeemed only in Creation Units at their NAV and only on a day the NYSE Arca is open for business. Each Fund’s custodian makes available immediately prior to the opening of business each day of the NYSE Arca, through the facilities of the NSCC, the list of the names and the amounts of each Fund’s portfolio securities that will be applicable that day to redemption requests in proper form (“Fund Securities”). Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities which are applicable to purchases of Creation Units. Unless cash redemptions or partial cash redemptions are available or specified for each Fund, the redemption proceeds consist of the Fund Securities, plus cash in an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of Shares being redeemed as next determined after receipt by the transfer agent of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of the Fund Securities (the “Cash Redemption Amount”), less the applicable redemption fee and, if applicable, any transfer taxes. Should the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of Shares being redeemed, a compensating cash payment to the Trust equal to the differential, plus the applicable redemption fee and, if applicable, any transfer taxes will be required to be arranged for, by or on behalf of the redeeming shareholder. As the planned termination date of a Fund approaches, the Fund may elect to accept creation orders mostly or entirely in cash. As bonds held by a Fund begin to mature, redemptions may be effected increasingly in cash. For more details, see “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information.
 
An order to redeem Creation Units of each Fund may only be effected by or through an Authorized Participant. An order to redeem must be placed for one or more whole Creation Units and must be received by the transfer agent in proper form no later than the Closing Time in order to receive that day’s closing NAV per Share. In the case of certain custom
 
PROSPECTUS | 35
 
 
 
 

 

 
orders, at the request of the AP and as further described in the Statement of Additional Information, the order must be received by the transfer agent no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.
 
A fixed redemption transaction fee of $500 per transaction is applicable to each redemption transaction regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed in the transaction. An additional variable charge for cash redemptions or partial cash redemptions may also be imposed to compensate the Funds for the costs associated with selling the applicable securities. The Funds may adjust these fees from time to time based on actual experience. Each Fund reserves the right to effect redemptions in cash. A shareholder may request a cash redemption in lieu of securities, however, each Fund may, in its discretion, reject any such request. See “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” in the Statement of Additional Information.
 
Distributions
 
Dividends and Capital Gains. Fund shareholders are entitled to their share of each Fund’s income and net realized gains on its investments. Each Fund pays out substantially all of its net earnings to its shareholders as “distributions.”
 
Each Fund typically earns interest from debt securities. These amounts, net of expenses, are passed along to Fund shareholders as “income dividend distributions.” Each Fund realizes capital gains or losses whenever it sells securities. Net long-term capital gains are distributed to shareholders as “capital gain distributions.”
 
Income dividends, if any, are distributed to shareholders monthly. Net capital gains are distributed at least annually. Dividends may be declared and paid more frequently to improve Index tracking or to comply with the distribution requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Some portion of each distribution may result in a return of capital. Fund shareholders will be notified regarding the portion of the distribution that represents a return of capital.
 
Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole Shares only if the broker through which the Shares were purchased makes such option available.
 
Distribution Plan and Service Plan
 
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has adopted a distribution and services plan (the “Plan”) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). Under the Plan, each Fund is authorized to pay distribution fees in connection with the sale and distribution of its shares and pay service fees in connection with the provision of ongoing services to shareholders of each class and the maintenance of shareholder accounts in an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each year.
 
No 12b-1 fees are currently paid by each Fund, and there are no current plans to impose these fees. In addition, no such fees may be paid in the future without further approval by the Board of Trustees and the Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution that no such fees will be paid for at least 12 months from the date of this Prospectus. However, in the event 12b-1 fees are charged in the future, because these fees are paid out of each Fund’s assets on an ongoing basis, these fees will increase the cost of your investment in each Fund. By purchasing shares subject to distribution fees and service fees, you may pay more over time
 
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than you would by purchasing shares with other types of sales charge arrangements. Long-term shareholders may pay more than the economic equivalent of the maximum front-end sales charge permitted by the rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). The net income attributable to the Shares will be reduced by the amount of distribution fees and service fees and other expenses of each Fund.
 
The Investment Adviser or its affiliates may make payments to broker-dealers, banks or other financial intermediaries (together, “intermediaries”) related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, the support of technology platforms and/or reporting systems, or their making shares of the Funds and certain other Guggenheim Funds Advisors ETFs available to their customers. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by a Fund. Rather, such payments are made by the Investment Adviser or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Guggenheim Funds Advisors ETF complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the revenue-sharing payments it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend a Fund or other Guggenheim Funds Advisors ETF over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in each ETFs Funds’ Statement of Additional Information. Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from the Investment Adviser or its affiliates.
 
Frequent Purchases and Redemptions
 
The Funds impose no restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions. The Board of Trustees evaluated the risks of market timing activities by the Funds’ shareholders when they considered that no restriction or policy was necessary. The Board noted that the Funds’ Shares can only be purchased and redeemed directly from the Funds in Creation Units by APs and that the vast majority of trading in the Funds’ Shares occurs on the secondary market. Because the secondary market trades do not involve the Funds directly, it is unlikely those trades would cause many of the harmful effects of market timing, including dilution, disruption of portfolio management, increases in the Funds’ trading costs and the realization of capital gains. To the extent the Funds may effect the purchase or redemption of Creation Units in exchange wholly or partially for cash, the Board noted that such trades could result in dilution to the Funds and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Funds’ ability to achieve their investment objectives.
 
However, the Board noted that direct trading by APs is critical to ensuring that the Funds’ Shares trade at or close to NAV. In addition, the Funds impose fixed and variable transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units to cover brokerage fees and custodial and other costs incurred by the Funds in effecting trades, thus reducing the risk of dilution to the Funds. Finally, the Investment Adviser monitors orders from APs for patterns of abusive trading and the Funds reserve the right to not accept orders from APs that the Investment Adviser has determined may be disruptive to the management of the Funds or otherwise not in the Funds’ best interests.
 
PROSPECTUS | 37
 
 
 
 

 

 
Fund Service Providers
 
Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC is the administrator of the Funds.
 
The Bank of New York Mellon is the custodian and fund accounting and transfer agent for the Funds.
 
Dechert LLP serves as legal counsel to the Funds.
 
Ernst & Young LLP serves as the Funds’ independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the Funds and performs other audit-related and tax services.
 
Index Provider
 
Accretive Asset Management LLC is the Index Provider for the Funds. Accretive is not affiliated with the Trust, the Investment Adviser, or the distributor. The Investment Adviser has entered into a license agreement with Accretive to use each Index. Each Fund is entitled to use its underlying Index pursuant to a sub-licensing arrangement with the Investment Adviser.
 
Guggenheim Funds Services, LLC, the parent entity of the Investment Adviser, has entered into an agreement with Accretive (the “Option Agreement”) pursuant to which Guggenheim Funds Services has the option, between April 28, 2013 and April 28, 2015 (the “Option Period”), to purchase Accretive. However, neither Guggenheim Funds Services nor the Investment Adviser has any rights under the Option Agreement (or the license agreement governing the Investment Adviser’s use of each Index) to (a) control, direct or influence the business of Accretive prior to any eventual exercise of the option to purchase Accretive, or (b) control, direct, influence or obtain any knowledge regarding (i) the compilation or operation, or (ii) any changes to the constituents or underlying methodology, of any Index prior to the time such information is incorporated and/or publicly disclosed. Any exercise of the option to purchase Accretive during the Option Period is at the discretion of Guggenheim Funds Services and does not become mandatory upon the fulfillment of any condition. Moreover, Guggenheim Funds Services will not be permitted to exercise the option to purchase Accretive during the Option Period unless (a) the Investment Adviser and the Trust have obtained exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) allowing them to offer exchange-traded funds based upon indexes provided by an affiliated entity or (b) the SEC has adopted a rule allowing such exchange-traded funds to be offered without additional exemptive relief. Accordingly, the Option Agreement will not affect the compilation and operation of each Index, and Accretive is not affiliated with the Trust, the Investment Adviser or the distributor.
 
Disclaimers
 
“BulletShares®“ and the name of each Index are trademarks of Accretive and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by the Investment Adviser. The Funds and their Shares are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Accretive and Accretive makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in Shares of the Funds. Accretive makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the shareholders of the Funds
 
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or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Funds particularly or the ability of any data supplied by Accretive to track general market performance. Accretive’s only relationship to the Investment Adviser is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names of Accretive and of the data supplied by Accretive, which is determined, composed and calculated by Accretive without regard to the Funds or their Shares. Accretive has no obligation to take the needs of the Investment Adviser or the shareholders of the Funds into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the data supplied by Accretive. Accretive is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the prices of the Shares of the Funds or the timing of the issuance or sale of such Shares. Accretive has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Funds or their Shares.
 
The Investment Adviser does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of each Index or any data included therein.
 
Federal Income Taxation
 
As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in Shares will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in Shares.
 
Unless your investment in Shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA plan, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when:
 
·  
Your Fund makes distributions,
 
·  
You sell your Shares listed on the NYSE Arca, and
 
·  
You purchase or redeem Creation Units.
 
Taxes on Distributions
 
Dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid monthly. The Fund may also pay a special distribution at the end of the calendar year to comply with federal tax requirements. In general, your distributions are subject to federal income tax when they are paid, whether you take them in cash or reinvest them in the Funds. Dividends paid out of the Funds’ income and net short-term gains, if any, are taxable as ordinary income. Distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Shares.
 
Long-term capital gains of non-corporate taxpayers are generally taxed at a maximum rate of 15% for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2013. Thereafter without future Congressional action, the maximum rate of long-term capital gain will return to 20% in 2013.
 
Distributions in excess of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits are treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of your basis in the Shares, and as capital gain thereafter. A distribution will reduce a Fund’s net asset value per Share and may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gain even though, from an investment standpoint, the distribution may constitute a return of capital.
 
PROSPECTUS | 39
 
 
 
 

 

 
If you are not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, each Fund’s ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies or unless such income is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business carried on through a permanent establishment in the United States. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors concerning the applicability of the U.S. withholding tax.
 
Dividends and interest received by a Fund and capital gains may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by foreign countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the United States may reduce or eliminate such taxes.
 
By law, each Fund must withhold a percentage of your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number. The backup withholding rate for individuals is currently 28%.
 
Taxes on Exchange-Listed Shares Sales
 
Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Shares is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for one year or less. Capital loss realized on the sale or exchange of shares held for six months or less will be treated as long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain dividends received by the shareholder. The ability to deduct capital losses may be limited.
 
Taxes on Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units
 
An Authorized Participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time and the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered and the Cash Component paid. A person who exchanges Creation Units for securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate market value of the securities received and the Cash Redemption Amount. The Internal Revenue Service, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales” on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether the wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.
 
Under current federal tax laws, any capital gain or loss realized upon redemption of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year and as a short-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for one year or less.
 
If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many and at what price you purchased or sold Shares.
 
The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the possible consequences under current federal tax law of an investment in a Fund. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice. You may also be subject to state and local taxation on Fund distributions and sales of Fund Shares. You are
 
40 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
advised to consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in Fund Shares under all applicable tax laws.
 
Tax-Advantaged Product Structure
 
Unlike interests in many conventional mutual funds, the Shares are traded throughout the day on a national securities exchange, whereas mutual fund interests are typically only bought and sold at closing net asset values. The Shares have been designed to be tradable in the secondary market on a national securities exchange on an intra-day basis, and to be created and redeemed in-kind and/or for cash in Creation Units at each day’s next calculated NAV. These arrangements are designed to protect ongoing shareholders from adverse effects on a Fund’s portfolio that could arise from frequent cash creation and redemption transactions. In a conventional mutual fund, redemptions can have an adverse tax impact on taxable shareholders because the mutual fund may need to sell portfolio securities to obtain cash to meet fund redemptions. These sales may generate taxable gains for the shareholders of the mutual fund, whereas the Shares’ in-kind redemption mechanism generally will not lead to a tax event for a Fund or its ongoing shareholders.
 
Other Information
 
For purposes of the 1940 Act, each Fund is treated as a registered investment company. Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of the Funds. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in an SEC exemptive order issued to the Trust, including that such investment companies enter into an agreement with a Fund.
 
Financial Highlights
 
Because the Shares of the Funds are newly offered, there is no financial information available for the Shares as of the date of this Prospectus.
 
PROSPECTUS | 41
 
 
 
 

 

 
Premium/Discount Information
 
Information about the differences between the daily market price on secondary markets for Shares and the NAV of each Fund can be found at www.guggenheimfunds.com.
 
Total Return Information
 
Information about the total return of each Fund’s Index in comparison to the total return of that Fund can be found at www.guggenheimfunds.com.
 
42 |
 
 
 
 

 

 
For More Information
 
Existing Shareholders or Prospective Investors
 
·  
Call your broker
·  
www.guggenheimfunds.com
 
Dealers
 
·  
www.guggenheimfunds.com
·  
Distributor Telephone: (800) 345-7999
 
Investment Adviser
Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC
2455 Corporate West Drive
Lisle, Illinois 60532
 
Distributor
Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC
2455 Corporate West Drive
Lisle, Illinois 60532
 
Custodian
The Bank of New York Mellon
101 Barclay Street
New York, New York 10286
 
Transfer Agent
The Bank of New York Mellon
101 Barclay Street
New York, New York 10286
 
Legal Counsel
Dechert LLP
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036-6797
 
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Ernst & Young LLP
155 North Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
 
 
 
 

 

 
A Statement of Additional Information dated March 21, 2012, which contains more details about each Fund, is incorporated by reference in its entirety into this Prospectus, which means that it is legally part of this Prospectus.
 
You will find additional information about each Fund in its annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders, when available. The annual report will explain the market conditions and investment strategies affecting each Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year.
 
You can ask questions or obtain a free copy of the Funds’ shareholder reports or the Statement of Additional Information by calling 1-800-345-7999. Free copies of the Funds’ shareholder reports and the Statement of Additional Information are available from our website at www.guggenheimfunds.com.
 
Information about the Funds, including their reports and the Statement of Additional Information, has been filed with the SEC. It can be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, DC or on the EDGAR database on the SEC’s internet site (http://www.sec.gov). Information on the operation of the SEC’s Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at (202) 551-8090. You can also request copies of these materials, upon payment of a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the SEC’s e-mail address (publicinfo@sec.gov) or by writing the Public Reference section of the SEC, 100 F Street NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549.
 
PROSPECTUS
 
Distributor
Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC
2455 Corporate West Drive
Lisle, Illinois 60532
 
March 22, 2012
 
Investment Company Act File No. 811-21906
 
 
 
ETF-PRO-BULLETSHARES-0312
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT FILE NO. 811-21906
 
CLAYMORE EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND TRUST
 
STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
DATED MARCH  22, 2012

 
This Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus dated March  22, 2012 for the Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: BSCI), Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: BSCJ) and Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: BSCK), each a series of the Claymore Exchange-Traded Fund Trust (the “Trust”), as it may be revised from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. A copy of the Prospectus may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust’s Distributor, Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC, or by calling toll free 1-800-345-7999.
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS

 
Page
   
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TRUST AND THE FUNDS
2
   
EXCHANGE LISTING AND TRADING
3
   
INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS AND POLICIES
3
   
INVESTMENT POLICIES AND RISKS
6
   
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND RISKS
11
   
MANAGEMENT
13
   
BROKERAGE TRANSACTIONS
29
   
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE TRUST
30
   
CREATION AND REDEMPTION OF CREATION UNIT AGGREGATIONS
34
   
TAXES
40
   
FEDERAL TAX TREATMENT OF FUTURES AND OPTIONS CONTRACTS
43
   
DETERMINATION OF NAV
43
   
DIVIDENDS AND DISTRIBUTIONS
44
   
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
44
   
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
44
 

 
1

 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TRUST AND THE FUNDS
 
The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on May 24, 2006 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Trust currently consists of 31 investment portfolios. This SAI relates to the following three investment portfolios: the Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF, Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF and Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF (each a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”). Each Fund is based on an underlying index (each an “Underlying Index” and together, the “Underlying Indexes”) of corporate bonds. The Funds are “non-diversified” and, as such, the Funds’ investments are not required to meet certain diversification requirements under the 1940 Act.1 The shares of each Fund are referred to herein as “Shares” or “Fund Shares.”

The Funds are managed by Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC (“Guggenheim Funds Advisors” or the “Investment Adviser”).
 
                  Each Fund offers and issues Shares at net asset value (“NAV”) only in aggregations of a specified number of Shares (each a “Creation Unit” or a “Creation Unit Aggregation”), generally in exchange for a basket of component securities included in its Underlying Index (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or an amount of cash in lieu of some or all of the Deposit Securities, together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (the “Cash Component”).  Each Fund’s Shares are listed on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”). Fund Shares will trade on the NYSE Arca at market prices that may be below, at or above NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Unit Aggregations and, generally, in exchange for portfolio securities and/or a specified cash payment. Creation Units are aggregations of 150,000 Shares for each Fund. In the event of the liquidation of the Funds, the Trust may lower the number of Shares in a Creation Unit.
 
The Trust reserves the right to offer a “cash” option for creations and redemptions of Fund Shares. Fund Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities subject to various conditions including a requirement to maintain on deposit with the Trust cash at least equal to 115% of the market value of the missing Deposit Securities. See the “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations” section. In each instance of such cash creations or redemptions, transaction fees may be imposed that will be higher than the transaction fees associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, such fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) applicable to

 

1
If a Fund’s investments are “diversified” under the 1940 Act for a period of three years, the Fund will then be considered “diversified” and will not be able to convert to a non-diversified fund without the approval of shareholders.
 
 

 
2

 

management investment companies offering redeemable securities.
 
EXCHANGE LISTING AND TRADING
 
There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of Shares of the Funds will continue to be met. The NYSE Arca may, but is not required to, remove the Shares of the Funds from listing if (i) following the initial 12-month period beginning at the commencement of trading of the Funds, there are fewer than 50 beneficial owners of the Shares of the Funds for 30 or more consecutive trading days; (ii) the value of the Underlying Index is no longer calculated or available; or (iii) such other event shall occur or condition exist that, in the opinion of the NYSE Arca, makes further dealings on the NYSE Arca inadvisable. The NYSE Arca will remove the Shares of the Funds from listing and trading upon termination of the Funds.
 
As in the case of other stocks traded on the NYSE Arca, broker’s commissions on transactions will be based on negotiated commission rates at customary levels.
 
The Trust reserves the right to adjust the price levels of the Shares in the future to help maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Fund.
 
INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS AND POLICIES
 
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
 
The Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an investment grade corporate bond index called the BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2018 Index (the “2018 Index”).
 
The Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an investment grade corporate bond index called the BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2019 Index (the “2019 Index”).
 
The Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an investment grade corporate bond index called the BulletShares® USD Corporate Bond 2020 Index (the “2020 Index”).


 
3

 

 
INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS
 
The Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board” or the “Trustees”) has adopted as fundamental policies the Funds’ investment restrictions, numbered (1) through (7) below. Each Fund, as a fundamental policy, may not:
 
(1) Invest 25% or more of the value of its total assets in securities of issuers in any one industry or group of industries, except to the extent that the Underlying Index that the Fund replicates concentrates in an industry or group of industries. This restriction does not apply to obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities.
 
(2) Borrow money, except that the Fund may (i) borrow money from banks for temporary or emergency purposes (but not for leverage or the purchase of investments) up to 10% of its total assets and (ii) make other investments or engage in other transactions permissible under the 1940 Act that may involve a borrowing, provided that the combination of (i) and (ii) shall not exceed 33 1/3% of the value of the Fund’s total assets (including the amount borrowed), less the Fund’s liabilities (other than borrowings).
 
(3) Act as an underwriter of another issuer’s securities, except to the extent that the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriter within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 in connection with the purchase and sale of portfolio securities.
 
(4) Make loans to other persons, except through (i) the purchase of debt securities permissible under the Fund’s

 
4

 

investment policies, (ii) repurchase agreements or (iii) the lending of portfolio securities, provided that no such loan of portfolio securities may be made by the Fund if, as a result, the aggregate of such loans would exceed 33 1/3% of the value of the Fund’s total assets.
 
(5) Purchase or sell physical commodities unless acquired as a result of ownership of securities or other instruments (but this shall not prevent the Fund (i) from purchasing or selling options, futures contracts or other derivative instruments, or (ii) from investing in securities or other instruments backed by physical commodities).
 
(6) Purchase or sell real estate unless acquired as a result of ownership of securities or other instruments (but this shall not prohibit the Fund from purchasing or selling securities or other instruments backed by real estate or of issuers engaged in real estate activities).
 
(7) Issue senior securities, except as permitted under the 1940 Act.
 
Pursuant to restriction (1), if a Fund’s Underlying Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments accordingly. If a Fund’s Underlying Index ceases to concentrate in an industry or group of industries, the Fund will cease concentrating its investments accordingly.
 
Except for restriction (2), if a percentage restriction is adhered to at the time of investment, a later increase in percentage resulting from a change in market value of the investment or the total assets, or the sale of a security out of the portfolio, will not constitute a violation of that restriction.
 
With respect to restriction (2)(ii), the Funds do not currently intend to make investments or engage in other transactions constituting borrowing for 1940 Act purposes where such investments or transactions are for leverage or the purchase of investments.
 
The foregoing fundamental investment policies cannot be changed as to a Fund without approval by holders of a “majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting shares.” As defined in the 1940 Act, this means the vote of (i) 67% or more of the Fund’s shares present at a meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the Fund’s shares are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the Fund’s shares, whichever is less.
 
In addition to the foregoing fundamental investment policies, each Fund is also subject to the following non-fundamental restrictions and policies, which may be changed at any time by the Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Each Fund may not:
 
(1) Sell securities short, unless the Fund owns or has the right to obtain securities equivalent in kind and amount to the securities sold short at no added cost, and provided that transactions in options, futures contracts, options on futures contracts or other derivative instruments are not deemed to constitute selling securities short.
 
(2) Purchase securities on margin, except that the Fund may obtain such short-term credits as are necessary for the clearance of transactions; and provided that margin deposits in connection with futures contracts, options on futures contracts or other derivative instruments shall not constitute purchasing securities on margin.
 

 
5

 

(3) Purchase securities of open-end or closed-end investment companies except in compliance with the 1940 Act.
 
(4) Invest in direct interests in oil, gas or other mineral exploration programs or leases; however, the Fund may invest in the securities of issuers that engage in these activities.
 
(5) Invest in illiquid securities if, as a result of such investment, more than 15% of the Fund’s net assets would be invested in illiquid securities.
 
With respect to investment in illiquid securities, if changes in the values of a Fund’s securities cause the Fund’s holdings of illiquid securities to exceed the 15% limitation (as if liquid securities have become illiquid), the Fund will take such actions as it deems appropriate and practicable to attempt to reduce its holdings of illiquid securities.

The Funds do not currently intend to engage in short sales.
 
The investment objective of each Fund is a non-fundamental policy that can be changed by the Board of Trustees without approval by shareholders.
 
INVESTMENT POLICIES AND RISKS
 
The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, the “Principal Investment Strategies” and “Principal Investment Risks” sections of the Prospectus.
 
Bonds. The Funds invest a portion of their assets in U.S. registered, dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security issued by a company, governmental unit or, in some cases, a non-U.S. entity. The issuer of a bond has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the investor may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Accordingly, a fixed rate bond’s yield (income as a percent of the bond’s current value) may differ from its coupon rate as its value rises or falls. Other types of bonds bear income at an interest rate that is adjusted periodically. Because of their adjustable interest rates, the value of “floating-rate” or “variable-rate” bonds fluctuates much less in response to market interest rate movements than the value of fixed rate bonds. The Fund may treat some of these bonds as having a shorter maturity for purposes of calculating the weighted average maturity of its investment portfolio. Bonds may be senior or subordinated obligations. Senior obligations generally have the first claim on a corporation’s earnings and assets and, in the event of liquidation, are paid before subordinated obligations. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (also backed by specified collateral).
 
Corporate Bonds. The Funds may invest in corporate bonds. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the market place. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.

 
6

 

  
The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, the “Non-Principal Investment Strategies” and “Non-Principal Risk Considerations” sections of the Prospectus.
 
U.S. Government Obligations. The Funds may invest a portion of their assets in various types of U.S. Government obligations. U.S. Government obligations are a type of bond. U.S. Government obligations include securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities. Payment of principal and interest on U.S. Government obligations (i) may be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States (as with U.S. Treasury obligations and Government National Mortgage Association (i.e., GNMA) certificates) or (ii) may be backed solely by the issuing or guaranteeing agency or instrumentality itself (as with Federal National Mortgage Association (i.e., FNMA), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (i.e., FHLMC) and Federal Home Loan Bank (i.e., FHLB) notes. In the latter case, the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the obligation for ultimate repayment, which agency or instrumentality may be privately owned. There can be no assurance that the U.S. Government would provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities where it is not obligated to do so. As a general matter, the value of debt instruments, including U.S. Government obligations, declines when market interest rates increase and rises when market interest rates decrease. Certain types of U.S. Government obligations are subject to fluctuations in yield or value due to their structure or contract terms.
  
Loans of Portfolio Securities. Each Fund may lend its investment securities to approved borrowers. Any gain or loss on the market price of the securities loaned that might occur during the term of the loan would be for the account of the Fund. Pursuant to the positions of the SEC staff, these loans cannot exceed 33 1/3% of the Fund’s total assets. Voting rights in respect of such lent securities will typically pass to the borrower, but the Fund will call loans, vote proxies, or otherwise obtain rights to vote or consent to any action or event that the Investment Adviser deems material to the security on loan.
 
Approved borrowers are brokers, dealers, domestic and foreign banks, or other financial institutions that meet credit or other requirements as established by, and subject to the review of, the Trust’s Board, so long as the terms, the structure and the aggregate amount of such loans are not inconsistent with the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder or interpretations of the SEC, which require that (a) the borrowers pledge and maintain with the Fund collateral consisting of cash, an irrevocable letter of credit issued by a bank, or securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government having a value at all times of not less than 102% of the value of the securities loaned (on a “mark-to-market” basis); (b) the loan be made subject to termination by the Fund at any time; and (c) the Fund receives reasonable interest on the loan. From time to time, the Fund may return a part of the

 
7

 

interest earned from the investment of collateral received from securities loaned to the borrower and/or a third party that is unaffiliated with the Fund and that is acting as a finder.
 
Repurchase Agreements. Each Fund may enter into repurchase agreements, which are agreements pursuant to which securities are acquired by the Fund from a third party with the understanding that they will be repurchased by the seller at a fixed price on an agreed date. These agreements may be made with respect to any of the portfolio securities in which the Fund is authorized to invest. Repurchase agreements may be characterized as loans secured by the underlying securities. The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements with (i) member banks of the Federal Reserve System having total assets in excess of $500 million and (ii) securities dealers (“Qualified Institutions”). The Investment Adviser will monitor the continued creditworthiness of Qualified Institutions.
 
The use of repurchase agreements involves certain risks. For example, if the seller of securities under a repurchase agreement defaults on its obligation to repurchase the underlying securities, as a result of its bankruptcy or otherwise, the Fund will seek to dispose of such securities, which action could involve costs or delays. If the seller becomes insolvent and subject to liquidation or reorganization under applicable bankruptcy or other laws, the Fund’s ability to dispose of the underlying securities may be restricted. Finally, it is possible that the Fund may not be able to substantiate its interest in the underlying securities. To minimize this risk, the securities underlying the repurchase agreement will be held by the custodian at all times in an amount at least equal to the repurchase price, including accrued interest. If the seller fails to repurchase the securities, the Fund may suffer a loss to the extent proceeds from the sale of the underlying securities are less than the repurchase price.
 
The resale price reflects the purchase price plus an agreed upon market rate of interest. The collateral is marked to market daily.
 
Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Each Fund may enter into reverse repurchase agreements, which involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. The securities purchased with the funds obtained from the agreement and securities collateralizing the agreement will have maturity dates no later than the repayment date. Generally the effect of such transactions is that the Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are only advantageous if the Fund has an opportunity to earn a greater rate of return on the cash derived from these transactions than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available and the Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when the Investment Adviser believes it will be advantageous to the Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any interim increase or decrease in the value of the Fund’s assets. The custodian bank will maintain a separate account for the Fund with securities having a value equal to or greater than such commitments. Under the 1940 Act, reverse repurchase agreements are considered a form of borrowing. Accordingly, each Fund may invest up to 33 1/3% of its total assets in reverse repurchase agreements, but each Fund currently expects to only invest in reverse repurchase agreements to a much more limited extent. Reverse repurchase agreements are not part of each Fund’s principal investment strategy.
  
Money Market Instruments. Each Fund may invest a portion of its assets in high-quality money market instruments on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity. The instruments in which the Fund may invest include: (i) short-term obligations issued by the U.S. Government; (ii) negotiable certificates of deposit (“CDs”), fixed time deposits and bankers’ acceptances of U.S. and foreign

 
8

 

banks and similar institutions; (iii) commercial paper rated at the date of purchase at least “Prime-2” by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or “A-2" by Standard & Poor’s or, if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by the Investment Adviser; (iv) repurchase agreements; and (v) money market mutual funds. CDs are short-term negotiable obligations of commercial banks. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Banker’s acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.
 
Investment Companies. Each Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies (including money market funds). Under the 1940 Act or as otherwise permitted by the SEC, the Fund’s investment in investment companies is limited to, subject to certain exceptions, (i) 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of any one investment company, (ii) 5% of the Fund’s total assets with respect to any one investment company and (iii) 10% of the Fund’s total assets of investment companies in the aggregate.
 
Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”). Each Fund may invest in the securities of real estate investment trusts to the extent allowed by law, which pool investors’ funds for investments primarily in commercial real estate properties. Investment in REITs may be the most practical available means for the Fund to invest in the real estate industry. As a shareholder in a REIT, the Fund would bear its ratable share of the REIT’s expenses, including its advisory and administration fees. At the same time, the Fund would continue to pay its own investment advisory fees and other expenses, as a result of which the Fund and its shareholders in effect will be absorbing duplicate levels of fees with respect to investments in REITs.
 
Illiquid Securities. Each Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid securities. Illiquid securities include securities subject to contractual or other restrictions on resale and other instruments that lack readily available markets.
 
Futures and Options. Each Fund may utilize exchange-traded futures and options contracts and swap agreements.
 
Futures contracts generally provide for the future sale by one party and purchase by another party of a specified commodity at a specified future time and at a specified price. Index futures contracts are settled daily with a payment by one party to the other of a cash amount based on the difference between the level of the index specified in the contract from one day to the next. Futures contracts are standardized as to maturity date and underlying instrument and are traded on futures exchanges.
 
Futures traders are required to make a good faith margin deposit in cash or U.S. government securities with a broker or custodian to initiate and maintain open positions in futures contracts. A margin deposit is intended to assure completion of the contract (delivery or acceptance of the underlying commodity or payment of the cash settlement amount) if it is not terminated prior to the specified delivery date. Brokers may establish deposit requirements which are higher than the exchange minimums. Futures contracts are customarily purchased and sold on margin deposits which may range upward from less than 5% of the value of the contract being traded.
 
After a futures contract position is opened, the value of the contract is marked to market daily. If the futures contract price changes to the extent that the margin on deposit does not satisfy margin requirements, payment of additional “variation” margin will be required. Conversely, change in the contract value may reduce the required margin, resulting in a repayment of excess margin to the contract holder. Variation margin payments are made to and from the futures broker for as long as the contract remains open. In such case, the Fund would expect to earn interest income on its margin deposits. Closing out an open

 
9

 

futures position is done by taking an opposite position (“buying” a contract which has previously been “sold,” or “selling” a contract previously “purchased”) in an identical contract to terminate the position. Brokerage commissions are incurred when a futures contract position is opened or closed.
 
Each Fund may use exchange-traded futures and options, together with positions in cash and money market instruments, to simulate full investment in its Underlying Index, but will not use such instruments for hedging purposes. Under such circumstances, the Investment Adviser may seek to utilize other instruments that it believes to be correlated to the Underlying Index components or a subset of the components. A Fund will not use such instruments for hedging purposes.
 
An option on a futures contract, as contrasted with the direct investment in such a contract, gives the purchaser the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in the underlying futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option. Upon exercise of an option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer’s futures margin account that represents the amount by which the market price of the futures contract exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the futures contract. The potential for loss related to the purchase of an option on a futures contract is limited to the premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. Because the value of the option is fixed at the point of purchase, there are no daily cash payments by the purchaser to reflect changes in the value of the underlying contract; however, the value of the option changes daily and that change would be reflected in the NAV of the Fund. The potential for loss related to writing call options on fixed income securities or indices is unlimited. The potential for loss related to writing put options is limited only by the aggregate strike price of the put option less the premium received.
 
Each Fund may purchase and write put and call options on futures contracts that are traded on a U.S. exchange as a hedge against changes in value of its portfolio securities, or in anticipation of the purchase of securities, and may enter into closing transactions with respect to such options to terminate existing positions. There is no guarantee that such closing transactions can be effected.
 
Restrictions on the Use of Futures Contracts and Options on Futures Contracts. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has eliminated limitations on futures trading by certain regulated entities, including registered investment companies, and consequently registered investment companies may engage in unlimited futures transactions and options thereon provided that the investment adviser to the company claims an exclusion from regulation as a commodity pool operator. In connection with its management of the Trust, the Investment Adviser has claimed such an exclusion from registration as a commodity pool operator under the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) and, is not subject to the registration and regulatory requirements of the CEA. Therefore, there are no limitations on the extent to which the Fund may engage in non-hedging transactions involving futures and options thereon, except as set forth in the Funds' Prospectus and this SAI.
 
Swap Agreements. Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party (the “Counterparty”) based on the change in market value or level of a specified rate, index or asset. In return, the Counterparty agrees to make periodic payments to the first party based on the return of a different specified rate, index or asset. Swap agreements will usually be done on a net basis, with each Fund receiving or paying only the net amount of the two payments. The net amount of the excess, if any, of the Fund’s obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis and an amount of cash or highly liquid securities having an aggregate value at least equal to the accrued excess is maintained in an account at the Trust’s custodian bank.
 

 
10

 

The use of interest-rate and index swaps is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions. These transactions generally do not involve the delivery of securities or other underlying assets or principal.
 
The use of swap agreements involves certain risks. For example, if the Counterparty under a swap agreement defaults on its obligation to make payments due from it, as a result of its bankruptcy or otherwise, the Fund may lose such payments altogether, or collect only a portion thereof, which collection could involve costs or delays.
 
Ratings. The use of credit ratings as a principal method of selecting bonds can involve certain risks. For example, credit ratings evaluate the safety of principal and interest payments, not the market value risk of bonds. Also, credit rating agencies may fail to change credit ratings in a timely fashion to reflect events since the security was last rated.

An investment-grade rating means the security or issuer is rated investment-grade by Moody’s(R) Investors Service (“Moody’s”), Standard & Poor’s(R) (“S&P”), Fitch Inc., Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited, or another credit rating agency designated as an NRSRO by the SEC, or is unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by the Investment Adviser. Bonds rated Baa by Moody’s or BBB by S&P or above are considered “investment grade” securities; bonds rated Baa are considered medium grade obligations which lack outstanding investment characteristics and have speculative characteristics, while bonds rated BBB are regarded as having adequate capacity to pay principal and interest.
 
Subsequent to purchase by the applicable Funds, a rated security may cease to be rated or its rating may be reduced below an investment grade rating. Bonds rated lower than Baa3 by Moody’s or BBB- by S&P are below investment grade quality and are obligations of issuers that are considered predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal according to the terms of the obligation and, therefore, carry greater investment risk, including the possibility of issuer default and bankruptcy and increased market price volatility. Such securities (“lower rated securities”) are commonly referred to as “junk bonds” and are subject to a substantial degree of credit risk. Lower rated securities are often issued by smaller, less creditworthy companies or by highly leveraged (indebted) firms, which are generally less able than more financially stable firms to make scheduled payments of interest and principal. The risks posed by securities issued under such circumstances are substantial. Bonds rated below investment grade tend to be less marketable than higher-quality bonds because the market for them is less broad. The market for unrated bonds is even narrower.
 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND RISKS
 
A discussion of the risks associated with an investment in each Fund is contained in the Prospectus in the “Principal Investment Risks” and “Non-Principal Risk Considerations” sections. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, the “Principal Investment Risks” section of the Prospectus.
 
An investment in the Funds should be made with an understanding that the value of each Fund’s portfolio securities may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of fixed income securities in general and other factors that affect the market.
 
An investment in a Fund should also be made with an understanding of the risks inherent in an investment in fixed income securities, including the risk that the financial condition of issuers may become impaired or that the general condition of the fixed income market may deteriorate (either of which may cause a decrease in the value of the portfolio securities and thus in

 
11

 

the value of Fund Shares). Fixed income securities are susceptible to general market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence and perceptions of their issuers change. These investor perceptions are based on various and unpredictable factors, including expectations regarding government, economic, monetary and fiscal policies, inflation and interest rates, economic expansion or contraction, and global or regional political, economic or banking crises.
 
The existence of a liquid trading market for certain securities may depend on whether dealers will make a market in such securities. There can be no assurance that a market will be made or maintained or that any such market will be or remain liquid. The price at which securities may be sold and the value of the Fund’s Shares will be adversely affected if trading markets for the Fund’s portfolio securities are limited or absent, or if bid/ask spreads are wide.
 
The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, the “Non-Principal Risk Considerations” section of the Prospectus.
 
Risks of Futures and Options Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. First, while the Funds plan to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time.
 
Furthermore, because, by definition, futures contracts project price levels in the future and not current levels of valuation, market circumstances may result in a discrepancy between the price of the index future and the movement in the Underlying Index. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if a Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, the Funds may be required to deliver the instruments underlying futures contracts it has sold.
 
The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (e.g., selling uncovered index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Fund does not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit. The Fund, however, intends to utilize futures and options contracts in a manner designed to limit its risk exposure to levels comparable to direct investment in fixed income securities.
 
Utilization of futures and options on futures by the Fund involves the risk of imperfect or even negative correlation to the Underlying Index if the index underlying the futures contract differs from the Underlying Index. There is also the risk of loss by the Fund of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom the Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option; however, this risk is substantially minimized because (a) of the regulatory requirement that the broker has to “segregate” customer funds from its corporate funds, and (b) in the case of regulated exchanges in the United States, the clearing corporation stands behind the broker to make good losses in such a situation. The purchase of put or call options could be based upon predictions by the Investment Adviser as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect and a part or all of the premium paid therefore could be lost.
 
Because the futures market imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the

 
12

 

maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day’s settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting the Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.
 
Although each Fund intends to enter into futures contracts only if there is an active market for such contracts, there is no assurance that an active market will exist for the contracts at any particular time.
 
Risks of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps generally is limited to the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are also subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default were to occur, each Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws which could affect a Fund’s rights as a creditor -- (e.g., the Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it contractually is entitled to receive). Each Fund, however, intends to utilize swaps in a manner designed to limit its risk exposure to levels comparable to direct investments in fixed income securities.
 
MANAGEMENT
 
          Trustees and Officers
 
          The general supervision of the duties performed by the Investment Adviser for the Funds under the Investment Advisory Agreement is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees currently has five Trustees, all of whom have no affiliation or business connection with the Investment Adviser, the Distributor or any of their affiliated persons and do not own any stock or other securities issued by the Investment Adviser or the Distributor. These are the “non-interested” or “independent” Trustees (“Independent Trustees”).
 
The Independent Trustees of the Trust, their term of office and length of time served, their principal business occupations during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Fund Complex (defined below) overseen by each Independent Trustee, and other directorships, if any, held by the Trustee are shown below. The Fund Complex includes all open- and closed-end funds (including all of their portfolios) advised and/or serviced by the Investment Adviser or its affiliate, the Distributor. As of the date of this SAI, the Fund Complex consists of the Trust’s 31 portfolios, 15 separate portfolios of Claymore Exchange-Traded Fund Trust 2 and 15 closed-end management investment companies.
 
 
13

 
 

                     
NAME, ADDRESS
AND YEAR OF
BIRTH OF
INDEPENDENT
TRUSTEES*
 
POSITION(S)
HELD WITH
TRUST
 
TERM OF
OFFICE AND
LENGTH OF
TIME SERVED**
 
PRINCIPAL
OCCUPATION(S)
DURING PAST 5 YEARS
 
NUMBER OF
PORTFOLIOS
IN FUND
COMPLEX
OVERSEEN
BY
TRUSTEES
 
OTHER
DIRECTORSHIPS
HELD BY
TRUSTEES
DURING THE PAST
FIVE YEARS
                     
Randall C. Barnes
Year of birth: 1951
 
Trustee
 
Since 2006
 
Private Investor (2001-present). Formerly, Senior Vice President & Treasurer, PepsiCo, Inc. (1993-1997), President, Pizza Hut International (1991-1993) and Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and New Business Development, PepsiCo, Inc. (1987-1990).
 
58
 
None.
                     
Roman Friedrich III
Year of birth: 1946
 
Trustee
 
Since 2010
 
Founder and President of Roman Friedrich & Company, Ltd., a mining and metals investment bank (1998-present). Advisory Board Member of MLV & Co LLC, an investment bank and institutional broker-dealer specializing in capital intensive industries such as energy, metals and mining (2010-present).
 
 
52
 
Director of StrataGold Corporation (2003-2009), Gateway Gold Corp. (2004-2008), GFM Resources Ltd. (2005-2010), Zincore Metals Inc. (2009-present), Windstorm Resources Inc. (March 2011-present), and Axiom Gold & Silver Corp. (June 2011-present).
 
                     
Robert B. Karn III
Year of birth: 1942
  Trustee   Since 2010   Consultant (1998-present). Formerly, Managing Partner, Financial and Economic Consulting, St. Louis office of Arthur Andersen, LLP. (1965-1998).   52   Director of Peabody Energy Company (2003 to present) and GP Natural Resource Partners, LLC (2002 to present).
 
Ronald A. Nyberg
Year of Birth: 1953
  Trustee   Since 2006   Partner of Nyberg & Cassioppi, LLC, a law firm specializing in Corporate Law, Estate Planning and Business Transactions (2000-present). Formerly, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Van Kampen Investments (1982-1999).   60  
None.
 
 
 
14

 
 
Ronald E. Toupin, Jr.
Year of Birth: 1958
   Trustee   Since 2006   Portfolio Consultant (2010-present). Formerly, Vice President, Manager and Portfolio Manager of Nuveen Asset Management (1998-1999), Vice President of Nuveen Investment Advisory Corp. (1992-1999), Vice President and Manager of Nuveen Unit Investment Trusts (1991-1999) and Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager of Nuveen Unit Investment Trusts (1988-1999), each of John Nuveen & Company, Inc. (1982-1999).   57   Trustee, Bennett Group of Funds (2011-present).
                     
                     
                     

*     The business address of each Trustee is c/o Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC, 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532.
 
**   This is the period for which the Trustee began serving the Trust. Each Trustee serves an indefinite term, until his successor is elected.
 
 
15

 
 
          The executive officers of the Trust, length of time served and principal business occupations during the past five years are shown below.
 
NAME, ADDRESS
AND YEAR OF
BIRTH OF
EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS*
POSITION(S) HELD
WITH TRUST
LENGTH OF
TIME SERVED**
PRINCIPAL OCCUPATION(S) DURING PAST 5 YEARS
       
Kevin M. Robinson
Year of birth: 1959
 
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer
Since 2008
Senior Managing Director, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary  of Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC, and Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC; Chief Legal Officer of certain funds in the Fund Complex (2007-present).
 
Formerly, Associate General Counsel (2000- 2007) of NYSE Euronext, Inc. Formerly, Archipelago Holdings, Inc. Senior Managing Director and Associate General Counsel (1997-2000) of ABN Amro Inc. Formerly, Senior Counsel in the Enforcement Division (1989-1997) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
       
John L. Sullivan
Year of birth: 1955
Chief Financial Officer, Chief  Accounting Officer and Treasurer
Since 2010
Senior Managing Director and Head of Fund Administration of Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC (2010-present). Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer for certain funds in the Fund Complex. Formerly, Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer for each of the funds in the Van Kampen Investments fund complex (2004-2010). Formerly, Managing Director and Head of Fund Accounting and Administration for Morgan Stanley Investment Management (2002-2004).
       
Bruce Saxon
Year of birth: 1957
Chief Compliance Officer
Since 2006
Vice President, Fund Compliance Officer of Guggenheim Funds Services, LLC (2006-present). Chief Compliance Officer of certain funds in the Fund Complex. Formerly, Chief Compliance Officer/Assistant Secretary of Harris Investment Management, Inc. (2003-2006). Director-Compliance of Harrisdirect LLC (1999-2003).

William H. Belden III
Year of birth: 1965
Vice President
Since 2006
Managing Director of Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC (2005-present). Formerly, Vice President of Product Management at Northern Trust Global Investments (1999-2005); Vice President of Stein Roe & Farnham (1995-1999).
       
 
 
16

 
 
 
David A. Botset
Year of birth: 1974
Vice President
Since 2010
Senior Vice President, Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC from 2008 to present, formerly Vice President, Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC. (2007-2008); Assistant Vice President, Investment Development and Oversight, Nuveen Investments (2004 - 2007); Assistant Vice President Internal Sales and Service, Nuveen Investments.
       
Mark E. Mathiasen
Year of birth: 1978
Secretary
Since 2008
Vice President; Assistant General Counsel of Guggenheim Funds Services, LLC (2007-present). Secretary of certain funds in the Fund Complex. Previously, Law Clerk, Idaho State Courts (2003-2006).
       
Stevens T. Kelly
Year of birth: 1982
Assistant Secretary
Since 2012
Assistant General Counsel of Guggenheim Funds Services, LLC (2011 to present). Assistant Secretary of certain funds in the Fund Complex. Previously, associate at K&L Gates LLP (2008-2011). J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School (2005-2008).
       
James Howley
Year of birth: 1972
Assistant Treasurer
Since 2006
Vice President, Fund Administration of Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC (2004-present). Formerly, Manager, Mutual Fund Administration of Van Kampen Investments, Inc.
       
Mark J. Furjanic
Year of birth: 1959
Assistant Treasurer
Since 2008
Vice President, Fund Administration-Tax (2005-present) of Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC and Guggenheim Funds Distributors,LLC; Assistant Treasurer of certain funds in the Fund Complex. Formerly, Senior Manager (1999-2005) for Ernst & Young LLP.
       
Donald P. Swade
Year of birth: 1972
Assistant Treasurer
Since 2008
Vice President, Fund Administration (2006-present) of Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC and Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC; Assistant Treasurer of certain funds in the Fund Complex. Formerly, Manager-Mutual Fund Financial Administration (2003-2006) for Morgan Stanley/Van Kampen Investments.
 

*     The business address of each Trustee is c/o Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC, 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532.
 
**   This is the period for which the Trustee began serving the Trust. Each Trustee serves an indefinite term, until his successor is elected.
 
 
17

 
 
          For each Trustee, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by the Trustee in the Trust and in all registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee, as of December 31, 2011, is shown below.

 
  NAME OF TRUSTEE
 
DOLLAR RANGE OF EQUITY
SECURITIES IN THE
GUGGEHNHEIM
BULLETSHARES 2018
CORPORATE BOND ETF
 
DOLLAR RANGE OF EQUITY
SECURITIES IN THE
GUGGEHNHEIM
BULLETSHARES 2019
CORPORATE BOND ETF
 
DOLLAR RANGE OF EQUITY
SECURITIES IN THE
GUGGEHNHEIM
BULLETSHARES 2020
CORPORATE BOND ETF
 
AGGREGATE DOLLAR RANGE OF EQUITY SECURITIES IN ALLREGISTERED INVESTMENT COMPANIES OVERSEEN BY TRUSTEE IN FAMILY OF INVESTMENT COMPANIES
 
                 
Randall C. Barnes
 
None
 
None
 
None
  Over $100,000
Roman Friedrich III 
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
$10,001-$50,000
Robert B. Karn III 
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
$10,001-$50,000
Ronald A. Nyberg
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Over $100,000
Ronald E. Toupin, Jr.
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
$10,001-$50,000

 
 
 
 
 
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          As to each Independent Trustee and his immediate family members, no person owned beneficially or of record securities in an investment adviser or principal underwriter of a Fund, or a person (other than a registered investment company) directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control with an investment adviser or principal underwriter of a Fund.
 
          Board Leadership Structure
 
           The primary responsibility of the Board of Trustees is to represent the interests of the Funds and to provide oversight of the management of the Funds. The Funds’ day-to-day operations are managed by the Investment Adviser and other service providers who have been approved by the Board. The Board is currently comprised of five Trustees, all of whom (including the chairperson) are Independent Trustees. Generally, the Board acts by majority vote of all the Trustees, which includes a majority vote of the Independent Trustees.
 
          The Board has appointed an Independent Chairperson, who presides at Board meetings and who is responsible for, among other things, participating in the planning of Board meetings, setting the tone of Board meetings and seeking to encourage open dialogue and independent inquiry among the trustees and management. The Board has established two standing committees (as described below) and has delegated certain responsibilities to those committees, each of which is comprised solely of Independent Trustees. The Board and its committees will meet periodically throughout the year to oversee the Funds’ activities, review contractual arrangements with service providers, review the Funds’ financial statements, oversee compliance with regulatory requirements, and review performance. The Independent Trustees are represented by independent legal counsel at Board and committee meetings. The Board has determined that this leadership structure, including an Independent Chairperson, a supermajority of Independent Trustees and committee membership limited to Independent Trustees, is appropriate in light of the characteristics and circumstances of the Trust.
 
          Qualifications and Experience of Trustees and Nominees
 
          The Trustees considered the educational, business and professional experience of each Board member and the service by each Trustee as a trustee of certain other Guggenheim funds. The Trustees were selected to serve and continue on the Board based upon their skills, experience, judgment, analytical ability, diligence, ability to work effectively with other Trustees, availability and commitment to attend meetings and perform the responsibilities of a Trustee and a demonstrated willingness to take an independent and questioning view of management. The Trustees also considered, among other factors, the particular attributes described below with respect to the various individual Board members.
 
Randall C. Barnes. Mr. Barnes has served as a trustee of certain funds in the Fund Complex since 2004. Through his service as a Trustee of the Funds in the Fund Complex and as a member of the Audit Committee, his employment experience as President of Pizza Hut International and as Treasurer of PepsiCo, Inc. and his personal investment experience, Mr. Barnes is experienced in financial, accounting, regulatory and investment matters.

 
19

 
 
Roman Friedrich III. Mr. Friedrich has served as a trustee of certain funds in the Fund Complex since 2003. Through his service as a Trustee of the Funds in the Fund Complex, his service on other public company boards, his experience as former Senior Managing Director of MLV & Co., LLC, an investment bank and institutional broker-dealer, his experience as founder and President of Roman Friedrich & Company, a mining and metals investment bank, and his prior experience as a senior executive of various financial securities firms, Mr. Friedrich is experienced in financial, investment and regulatory matters.

Robert B. Karn III. Mr. Karn has served as a trustee of certain funds in the Fund Complex since 2004. Through his service as a Trustee of the Funds in the Fund Complex and as chairman of the Audit Committee, his service on other public and private company boards, his experience as an accountant and consultant, and his prior experience, including Managing Partner of the Financial and Economic Consulting Practice of the St. Louis office at Arthur Andersen, LLP, Mr. Karn is experienced in accounting, financial, investment and regulatory matters. The Board has determined that Mr. Karn is an "audit commitee financial expert" as defined by the SEC.

Ronald A. Nyberg. Mr. Nyberg has served as a trustee of certain funds in the Fund Complex since 2003. Through his service as a Trustee of the Funds in the Fund Complex and as chairman of the Nominating & Governance Committee, his professional training and experience as an attorney and partner of a law firm, Nyberg & Cassioppi, LLC, and his prior employment experience, including Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Van Kampen Investments, an asset management firm, Mr. Nyberg is experienced in financial, regulatory and governance matters.

Ronald E. Toupin, Jr. Mr. Toupin has served as a trustee of certain funds in the Fund Complex since 2003. Through his service as a Trustee of the Funds in the Fund Complex and as chairman of the Board, and his professional training and employment experience, including Vice President and Portfolio Manager for Nuveen Asset Management, an asset management firm, Mr. Toupin is experienced in financial, regulatory and investment matters.
 
          Each Trustee also now has considerable familiarity with the Trust, its adviser and other service providers, and their operations, as well as the special regulatory requirements governing regulated investment companies and the special responsibilities of investment company trustees as a result of his substantial prior service as a Trustee of certain funds in the Fund Complex.
 
          Board’s Role in Risk Oversight
 
          Consistent with its responsibility for oversight of the Trust, the Board, among other things, oversees risk management of the Funds’ investment program and business affairs directly and through the committee structure it has established. The Board has established the Audit Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee to assist in its oversight functions, including its oversight of the risks the Funds face. Each committee reports its activities to the Board on a regular basis. Risks to the Funds include, among others, investment risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, valuation risk and operational risk, as well as the overall business risk relating to the Funds. The Board has adopted, and will periodically review, policies, procedures and controls designed to address these different types of risks. Under the Board’s supervision, the officers of the Trust, the Investment Adviser and other service providers to the Funds also have implemented a variety of processes, procedures and controls to address various risks. In addition, as part of the Board’s periodic review of the Funds’ advisory and other service provider agreements, the Board may consider risk management aspects of the service providers’ operations and the functions for which they are responsible.
 
 
20

 
 
          The Board requires officers of the Trust to report to the full Board on a variety of matters at regular and special meetings of the Board and its committees, as applicable, including matters relating to risk management. The Audit Committee also receives reports from the Funds’ independent registered public accounting firm on internal control and financial reporting matters. On at least a quarterly basis, the Board meets with the Funds’ Chief Compliance Officer, including separate meetings with the Independent Trustees in executive session, to discuss compliance matters and, on at least an annual basis, receives a report from the Chief Compliance Officer regarding the effectiveness of the Funds’ compliance program. The Board, with the assistance of Trust management, reviews investment policies and risks in connection with its review of the Funds’ performance. In addition, the Board receives reports from the Investment Adviser on the investments and securities trading of the Funds. With respect to valuation, the Board oversees a pricing committee comprised of Trust officers and Investment Adviser personnel and has approved Fair Valuation procedures applicable to valuing the Funds’ securities, which the Board and the Audit Committee periodically review. The Board also requires the Investment Adviser to report to the Board on other matters relating to risk management on a regular and as-needed basis.
 
          Role of Diversity in Considering Board Candidates
 
          In considering Trustee nominee candidates, the Nominating and Governance Committee takes into account a wide variety of factors, including the overall diversity of the Board’s composition. The Nominating and Governance Committee believes the Board generally benefits from diversity of background, experience and views among its members, and considers this a factor in evaluating the composition of the Board, but has not adopted any specific policy in this regard.
 
          Board Committees
 
          Messrs. Barnes, Friedrich, Karn, Nyberg and Toupin, who are not “interested persons” of the Trust, as defined in the 1940 Act, serve on the Trust’s Nominating and Governance Committee. The Nominating and Governance Committee is responsible for recommending qualified candidates to the Board in the event that a position is vacated or created. The Nominating and Governance Committee would consider recommendations by shareholders if a vacancy were to exist. Such recommendations should be forwarded to the Secretary of the Trust. The Trust does not have a standing compensation committee. During the Funds’ fiscal year ended May 31, 2011, the Trust’s Nominating and Governance Committee met three times.
 
          Messrs. Barnes, Friedrich, Karn, Nyberg and Toupin, who are not “interested persons” of the Trust, as defined in the 1940 Act, serve on the Trust’s Audit Committee. The Audit Committee is generally responsible for reviewing and evaluating issues related to the accounting and financial reporting policies and internal controls of the Trust and, as appropriate, the internal controls of certain service providers, overseeing the quality and objectivity of the Trust’s financial statements and the audit thereof and acting as a liason between the Board of Trustees and the Trust’s independent registered public accounting firm. During the Fund’s fiscal year ended May 31, 2011, the Trust’s Audit Committee met four times.
 
          Remuneration of Trustees and Officers
 
          The Trust, together with Claymore Exchange-Traded Fund Trust 2, pays each Independent Trustee a fee of $35,000 per year, and also pays an annual fee of $4,500 to the independent chairperson of the Board of Trustees, an annual fee of $3,000 to the independent chairperson of the Audit Committee and an annual fee of $1,500 to the independent chairperson of the Nominating and Governance Committee. In addition, the Trust pays each Independent Trustee a fee of (a) $1,000 for each regular or special
 
 
 
21

 
 
meeting of the Board of Trustees attended by such Trustee, (b) $1,000 for each meeting of the Board of Trustees for the organization of one or more new separate series of the Trust attended by such Trustee,  and (c) $500 for each meeting of the Audit Committee or the Nominating and Governance Committee attended by such Trustee (in each case whether the meeting occurs and/or the Trustee attends in person or by telephone).
 
  Officers who are employed by the Investment Adviser receive no compensation or expense reimbursements from the Trust.
 
           The table below shows the estimated compensation that will be paid to Trustees for the Funds' fiscal year ended May 31, 2012:
 
NAME OF TRUSTEE
 
AGGREGATE
COMPENSATION
 FROM TRUST
 
PENSION OR RETIREMENT
 BENEFITS ACCRUED
AS PART OF
 FUND EXPENSES
 
TOTAL
COMPENSATION
PAID FROM
FUND COMPLEX*
INDEPENDENT TRUSTEES
           
Randall C. Barnes
 
$22,750
 
N/A
 
$294,000
Roman Friedrich III
 
$21,625
 
N/A
 
$128,875
Robert B. Karn III
 
$22,000
 
N/A
 
$142,750
Ronald A. Nyberg
 
$22,188
 
N/A
 
$363,750
Ronald E. Toupin, Jr.
 
$23,313
 
N/A
 
$303,000
 
 *      Total compensation paid from fund complex is as of December 31, 2011.
 
          The officers and Trustees of the Trust, in the aggregate, own less than 1% of the shares of each Fund.
  
          Investment Adviser. The Investment Adviser manages the investment and reinvestment of each Fund’s assets and administers the affairs of each Fund to the extent requested by the Board of Trustees.
 
           Portfolio Manager. Saroj Kanuri, CFA, Vice President, ETF Portfolio Management, of Guggenheim Funds Advisors, serves as portfolio manager for the Funds and is responsible for the day-to-day management of each Fund’s portfolio.
 
          Other Accounts Managed by the Portfolio Manager.
           As of May 31, 2011, Mr. Kanuri managed two registered investment companies (consisting of a total of 40 separate series) with a total of approximately $3.8 billion in assets; no pooled investment vehicles other than registered investment companies; and no other accounts.
 
          Although the funds in the Trust that are managed by Mr. Kanuri may have different investment strategies, each has a portfolio objective of replicating its Underlying Index. The Investment Adviser does not believe that management of the different funds of the Trust presents a material conflict of interest for the portfolio manager or the Investment Adviser.
 
          Portfolio Manager Compensation. The portfolio manager’s compensation consists of the following elements:
 
          Base salary: The portfolio manager is paid a fixed base salary by the Investment Adviser which is set at a level determined to be appropriate based upon the individual’s experience and responsibilities.
 
 
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           Annual bonus: The portfolio manager is eligible for a discretionary annual bonus. There is no policy regarding, or agreement with, the portfolio manager to receive bonuses or any other compensation in connection with the performance of any of the accounts managed by the portfolio manager. The portfolio manager also participates in benefit plans and programs generally available to all employees of the Investment Adviser.
 
          Securities Ownership of the Portfolio Manager. The portfolio manager does not own shares of any Fund.
 
          Investment Advisory Agreement. Pursuant to an Investment Advisory Agreement between the Investment Adviser and the Trust, the Investment Adviser is responsible for all expenses of each Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services, except interest expenses, distribution fees or expenses, if any, brokerage expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of a Fund’s business. For the Investment Adviser’s services to the Funds, each Fund has agreed to pay an annual management fee equal to a percentage of its average daily net assets set forth in the chart below:

FUND
FEE
   
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF
0.24% of average daily net assets
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF
0.24% of average daily net assets
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF
0.24% of average daily net assets
 
 
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          Under the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Investment Adviser will not be liable for any error of judgment or mistake of law or for any loss suffered by the Fund in connection with the performance of the Investment Advisory Agreement, except a loss resulting from willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence on the part of the Investment Adviser in the performance of its duties or from reckless disregard of its duties and obligations thereunder. The Investment Advisory Agreement continues until August 30, 2012, and thereafter only if approved annually by the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees. The Agreement terminates automatically upon assignment and is terminable at any time without penalty as to a Fund by the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees, or by vote of the holders of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities on 60 days written notice to the Investment Adviser, or by the Investment Adviser on 60 days written notice to the Fund.
 
           Guggenheim Funds Advisors is located at 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532. Guggenheim Funds Services, LLC (“Guggenheim Funds Services”), the parent company of Guggenheim Funds Advisors, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, LLC (“Guggenheim”). Guggenheim is a diversified financial services firm whose primary business lines include asset management, investment advisory, fixed income brokerage, institutional finance, and merchant banking. Through its affiliates, including Guggenheim Partners Asset Management, Inc., Guggenheim has more than $125 billion of assets under supervision. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and New York with a global network of offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.
 
          Administrator. Guggenheim Funds Advisors also serves as the Trust’s administrator. Pursuant to an administration agreement, Guggenheim Funds Advisors provides certain administrative, bookkeeping and accounting services to the Trust. Guggenheim Funds Advisors is compensated for its administrative, bookkeeping and accounting services to the Funds solely from the unitary management fee pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement.
 
 
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          Custodian and Transfer Agent. The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY”), located at 101 Barclay Street, New York, New York 10286, also serves as custodian for the Fund pursuant to a Custodian Agreement. As custodian, BNY holds the Fund’s assets, calculates the net asset value of Shares and calculates net income and realized capital gains or losses. BNY also serves as transfer agent of the Fund pursuant to a Transfer Agency Agreement. As compensation for the foregoing services, BNY receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by the Investment Adviser from the management fee pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement.
 
           Distributor. Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC (“Guggenheim Funds Distributors”) is the distributor of each Fund’s Shares (in such capacity, the "Distributor"). Its principal address is 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532. The Distributor has entered into a Distribution Agreement with the Trust pursuant to which it distributes Fund Shares. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Funds through the Distributor only in Creation Unit Aggregations, as described in the Prospectus and below under the heading “Creation and Redemption of Creation Unit Aggregations.”
 
          12b-1 Plan. The Trust has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act (the “Plan”) pursuant to which each Fund may reimburse the Distributor up to a maximum annual rate of the percentage of its average daily net assets as set forth in the chart below.
 
FUND
FEE
   
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF
0.25% of average daily net assets
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF
0.25% of average daily net assets
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF
0.25% of average daily net assets
 

The Trust may pay a monthly fee not to exceed 0.25% per annum of each Fund’s average daily net assets to reimburse the Distributor for actual amounts expended to finance any activity primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units of each Fund or the provision of investor services, including but not limited to (i) delivering copies of the Trust’s then-current prospectus to prospective purchasers of such Creation Units; (ii) marketing and promotional services including advertising; (iii) facilitating communications with beneficial owners of shares of the Fund; and (iv) such other services and obligations as are set forth in the Distribution Agreement. Distribution expenses incurred in any one year in excess of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets may be reimbursed in subsequent years subject to the annual 0.25% limit and subject further to the approval of the Board of Trustees, including a majority of the Independent Trustees. The Distributor may use all or any portion of the amount received pursuant to the Plan to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are Authorized Participants for providing distribution assistance, including broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services, pursuant to agreements with the Distributor, or to pay any of the expenses associated with other activities authorized under the Plan.
 
 
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 The Plan shall, unless terminated as set forth below, remain in effect with respect to the Fund provided that its continuance is specifically approved at least annually by a vote of both a majority of the Trustees and a majority of the Independent Trustees, cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on the Plan. The Plan may be terminated at any time, without payment of any penalty, by vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as such term is defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. In the event of termination or non-continuance of the Plan, the Trust may reimburse any expense which it incurred prior to such termination or non-continuance, provided that such reimbursement is specifically approved by both a majority of the Board of Trustees and a majority of the Independent Trustees.
 
          Under the Plan and as required by Rule 12b-1, the Trustees will receive and review after the end of each calendar quarter a written report provided by the Distributor of the amounts expended under the Plan and the purpose for which such expenditures were made.
 
          The Plan was adopted in order to permit the implementation of each Fund’s method of distribution. However, no such fee is currently charged to the Fund, and there are no plans in place to impose such a fee. In addition, the Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution that no such fee shall be paid for at least 12 months from the date of this SAI. 
 
  Financial Intermediary Compensation. The Investment Adviser and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates (“Guggenheim Entities”) may pay certain broker-dealers, banks and other financial intermediaries (“Intermediaries”) for certain activities related to the Funds or other Guggenheim funds (“Payments”). Any Payments made by Guggenheim Entities will be made from their own assets and not from the assets of the Funds. Although a portion of Guggenheim Entities’ revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Funds and other Guggenheim funds, Payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, a Fund or other Guggenheim funds. Guggenheim Entities may make Payments for Intermediaries’ participating in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about the Funds or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, the support of technology platforms and/or reporting systems (“Education Costs”). Guggenheim Entities may also make Payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs associated with the Funds or materials relating to exchange-traded funds in general (“Publishing Costs”). In addition, Guggenheim Entities may make Payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Funds and certain other Guggenheim funds available to their clients or for otherwise promoting the Funds and other Guggenheim funds. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.
 
  Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients or what services to provide for various products based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, Payments create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients and these financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Funds and other Guggenheim funds over other investments. The same conflict of interest exists with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

  Guggenheim Entities may determine to make Payments based on any number of metrics. For example, Guggenheim Entities may make Payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary’s services at defined
 
 
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levels or an amount based on the Intermediary’s net sales of one or more Guggenheim funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, Guggenheim anticipates that the Payments paid by Guggenheim Entities in connection with the Funds and other Guggenheim funds will be immaterial to Guggenhiem Entities in the aggregate for the next year. Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any Payments his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made by the Guggenheim Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for an Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of Guggenheim funds.
 
          Aggregations. Fund Shares in less than Creation Unit Aggregations are not distributed by the Distributor. The Distributor will deliver the Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Unit Aggregations and will maintain records of both orders placed with it and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”).
 
          The Distribution Agreement for the Funds provides that it may be terminated as to a Fund at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days written notice by the Trust to the Distributor (i) by vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees or (ii) by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).
 
          The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers (“Soliciting Dealers”) who will solicit purchases of Creation Unit Aggregations of Fund Shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Participating Parties (as defined in “Procedures for Creation of Creation Unit Aggregations” below) and DTC Participants (as defined in “DTC Acts as Securities Depository” below).
 
          Index Provider. Set forth below is a list of each Fund and the Underlying Index upon which it is based.
 
FUND
UNDERLYING INDEX
   
Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF
2018 Index
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF
2019 Index
Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF
2020 Index
 
 
         
 
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          Accretive Asset Management LLC (“Accretive”) is not affiliated with the Funds or with the Investment Adviser. Each Fund is entitled to use its respective Underlying Index pursuant to a sub-licensing arrangement with the Investment Adviser, which in turn has a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. Each Fund reimburses the Investment Adviser for the licensing fee payable to the Index Provider.
 
          Except as set forth below, the only relationships that Accretive has with the Investment Adviser or Distributor of the Funds in connection with the Funds is that Accretive has licensed certain of its intellectual property, including the determination of the component securities of the Underlying Indices and the name of the Underlying Indices. The Underlying Indices are selected and calculated without regard to the Investment Adviser, Distributor or owners of the Funds. Accretive has no obligation to take the specific needs of the Investment Adviser, Distributor or owners of the Funds into consideration in the determination and calculation of the Underlying Indices. Accretive is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of pricing or the timing of the issuance or sale of the Shares of the Funds or in the determination or calculation of the net asset value of the Funds. Accretive has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Funds.
 
          ACCRETIVE SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR INTERRUPTIONS RELATED TO THE FUNDS OR UNDERLYING INDICES. ACCRETIVE MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE INVESTMENT ADVISER, DISTRIBUTOR OR OWNERS OF THE FUNDS, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, FROM THE USE OF THE UNDERLYING INDICES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. ACCRETIVE MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, WITH RESPECT TO THE FUNDS OR TO UNDERLYING INDICES OR TO ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL ACCRETIVE HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) IN CONNECTION WITH THE FUNDS OR THE UNDERLYING INDICES, EVEN IF ACCRETIVE IS NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
 
           Guggenheim Funds Services, the parent entity of the Investment Adviser, has entered into an agreement with Accretive (the “Option Agreement”) pursuant to which Guggenheim Funds Services has the option, between April 28, 2013 and April 28, 2015 (the “Option Period”), to purchase Accretive. However, neither Guggenheim Funds Services nor the Investment Adviser has any rights under the Option Agreement (or the license agreement governing the Investment adviser’s use of each Index) to (a) control, direct or influence the business of Accretive prior to any eventual exercise of the option to purchase Accretive, or (b) control, direct, influence or obtain any knowledge regarding (i) the compilation or operation, or (ii) any changes to the constituents or underlying methodology, of any Index prior to the time such information is incorporated and/or publicly disclosed. Any exercise of the option to purchase Accretive during the Option Period is at the discretion of Guggenheim Funds Services and does not become mandatory upon the fulfillment of any condition. Moreover, Guggenheim Funds Services will not be permitted to exercise the option to purchase Accretive during the Option Period unless (a) the Investment Adviser and the Trust have obtained exemptive relief from the SEC allowing them to offer exchange-traded funds based upon indexes provided by an affiliated entity or (b) the SEC has adopted a rule allowing such exchange-traded funds to be offered without additional exemptive relief. Accordingly, the Option Agreement will not affect the compilation and operation of each Index, and Accretive is not affiliated with the Trust, the Investment Adviser or the Distributor.

 
 
 
 
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BROKERAGE TRANSACTIONS
 
          The policy of the Trust regarding purchases and sales of securities is that primary consideration will be given to obtaining the most favorable prices and efficient executions of transactions. Consistent with this policy, when securities transactions are effected on a stock exchange, the Trust’s policy is to pay commissions that are considered fair and reasonable without necessarily determining that the lowest possible commissions are paid in all circumstances. In seeking to determine the reasonableness of brokerage commissions paid in any transaction, the Investment Adviser relies upon its experience and knowledge regarding commissions generally charged by various brokers. The sale of Fund Shares by a broker-dealer is not a factor in the selection of broker-dealers.
 
          In seeking to implement the Trust’s policies, the Investment Adviser effects transactions with those brokers and dealers that the Investment Adviser believes provide the most favorable prices and are capable of providing efficient executions. The Investment Adviser and its affiliates do not currently participate in soft dollar transactions.
 
          The Investment Adviser assumes general supervision over placing orders on behalf of the Funds for the purchase or sale of portfolio securities. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities by the Funds and one or more other investment companies or clients supervised by the Investment Adviser are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Funds, the several investment companies and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all by the Investment Adviser. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Funds are concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower brokerage commissions will be beneficial to the Funds. The primary consideration is prompt execution of orders at the most favorable net price.
 
 

 
 
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE TRUST
 
          The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered under the 1940 Act. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on May 24, 2006.
 
           The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares in one or more series or “funds.” The Trust currently is comprised of 31 funds. The Board of Trustees of the Trust has the right to establish additional series in the future, to determine the preferences, voting powers, rights and privileges thereof and to modify such preferences, voting powers, rights and privileges without shareholder approval.
 
          Each Share issued by a Fund has a pro rata interest in the assets of such Fund. Fund Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each Share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the Fund, and in the net distributable assets of the Fund on liquidation. The Trustees may at any time, by majority vote and without shareholder approval, cause any Fund to redeem all of its Shares and liquidate.
 
          Each Share has one vote with respect to matters upon which a shareholder vote is required consistent with the requirements of the 1940 Act and the rules promulgated thereunder. Shares of all funds, including the Funds, of the Trust vote together as a single class except as otherwise required by the 1940 Act, or if the matter being voted on affects only a particular fund, and, if a matter affects a particular fund differently from other funds, the shares of that fund will vote separately on such matter.
 
          The Declaration of Trust may, except in limited circumstances, be amended or supplemented by the Trustees without shareholder vote. The holders of Fund Shares are required to disclose information on direct or indirect ownership of Fund Shares as may be required to comply with various laws applicable to the Fund, and ownership of Fund Shares may be disclosed by the Fund if so required by law or regulation.
 
          The Trust is not required and does not intend to hold annual meetings of shareholders. Shareholders owning more than 51% of the outstanding shares of the Trust have the right to call a special meeting to remove one or more Trustees or for any other purpose.
 
 
 
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          The Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of Shares held by DTC Participants (as defined below).
 
          Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to the Trust, c/o the Distributor, 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532.
 
           Control Persons and Pricipal Holders of Securities. As of February 29, 2012, no persons owned 5% or more of the Funds’ securities.
 
 
 


 
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          Book Entry Only System. The following information supplements and should be read in conjunction with the section in the Prospectus entitled “Book Entry.”
 
          DTC Acts as Securities Depository for Fund Shares. Shares of the Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.
 
         DTC, a limited-purpose trust company, was created to hold securities of its participants (the “DTC Participants”) and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of securities transactions among the DTC Participants in such securities through electronic book-entry changes in accounts of the DTC Participants, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates. DTC Participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations, some of whom (and/or their representatives) own DTC. More specifically, DTC is owned by a number of its DTC Participants and by the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), the NYSE Arca and FINRA. Access to the DTC system is also available to others such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly (the “Indirect Participants”).
 
          Beneficial ownership of Shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in Shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as “Beneficial Owners”) is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase and sale of Shares.
 
          Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the Shares of the Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding Shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
 
          Fund distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all Fund Shares. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall immediately credit DTC Participants’ accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in Shares of the Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of Shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a “street name,” and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.
 
 
 
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          The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such Shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants.
 
          DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to Shares at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.
 
          Proxy Voting. The Board of Trustees of the Trust has delegated responsibility for decisions regarding proxy voting for securities held by the Fund to the Investment Adviser. The Investment Adviser engages a third-party proxy service, such as Institutional Shareholder Services or a similar service, to vote all proxies on behalf of the Funds. The Investment Adviser periodically reviews the proxy voting results to ensure that proxies are voted in accordance with the service’s guidelines and that proxies are voted in a timely fashion. To avoid any conflicts of interest, the Investment Adviser does not have authority to override the recommendations of the third party service provider, except upon the written authorization of the client directing the Investment Adviser to vote in a specific manner. All overrides shall be approved by the Chief Compliance Officer.
 
          To the extent that the third party service provider seeks the Investment Adviser’s direction on how to vote on any particular matter, the Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer shall determine whether any potential conflict of interest is present. If a potential conflict of interest is present, the Investment Adviser shall seek instructions from clients on how to vote that particular item.
 
           The Trust is required to disclose annually the Funds' complete proxy voting record on Form N-PX covering the period July 1 through June 30 and file it with the SEC no later than August 31. Form N-PX for the Funds also will be available at no charge upon request by calling 1-800-345-7999 or by writing to Claymore Exchange-Traded Fund Trust at 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, IL 60532. The Funds' Form N-PX will also be available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
 
           Quarterly Portfolio Schedule. The Trust is required to disclose, after its first and third fiscal quarters, the complete schedule of each Fund’s portfolio holdings with the SEC on Form N-Q. The Trust also discloses a complete schedule of each Fund’s portfolio holdings with the SEC on Form N-CSR after its second and fourth quarters. Form N-Q and Form N-CSR for the Funds will be available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Each Fund’s Form N-Q and Form N-CSR may also be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. and information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 1-202-551-8090. Each Fund’s Form N-Q and Form N-CSR will be available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-345-7999 or by writing to Claymore Exchange-Traded Fund Trust at 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, IL 60532.
 
          Portfolio Holdings Policy. The Trust has adopted a policy regarding the disclosure of information about the Trust’s portfolio holdings. The Fund and its service providers may not receive compensation or any other consideration (which includes any agreement to maintain assets in the Fund or in other investment companies or accounts managed by the Investment Adviser or any affiliated person of the Investment Adviser) in connection with the disclosure of portfolio holdings information of the Fund. The Trust’s policy is implemented and overseen by the Chief Compliance Officer of the Fund, subject to the oversight of the Board of Trustees. Periodic reports regarding these procedures will be provided to the Board of Trustees of the Trust. The Board of Trustees of the Trust must approve all material amendments to this policy. The Fund’s complete portfolio holdings are publicly
 
 
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disseminated each day the Fund is open for business through financial reporting and news services, including publicly accessible Internet web sites. In addition, a basket composition file, which includes the security names and share quantities to deliver in exchange for Fund shares, together with estimates and actual cash components, is publicly disseminated daily prior to the opening of the NYSE Arca via the National Securities Clearing Corporation (“NSCC”). The basket represents one Creation Unit of the Fund. The Trust, the Investment Adviser and the Distributor will not disseminate non-public information concerning the Trust.
 
          Codes of Ethics. Pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act, the Board of Trustees has adopted a Code of Ethics for the Trust and approved Codes of Ethics adopted by the Investment Adviser and the Distributor (collectively the “Codes”). The Codes are intended to ensure that the interests of shareholders and other clients are placed ahead of any personal interest, that no undue personal benefit is obtained from the person’s employment activities and that actual and potential conflicts of interest are avoided.
 
          The Codes apply to the personal investing activities of Trustees and officers of the Trust, the Investment Adviser and the Distributor (“Access Persons”). Rule 17j-1 and the Codes are designed to prevent unlawful practices in connection with the purchase or sale of securities by Access Persons. Under the Codes, Access Persons are permitted to engage in personal securities transactions, but are required to report their personal securities transactions for monitoring purposes. The Codes permit personnel subject to the Codes to invest in securities subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Fund. In addition, Access Persons are required to obtain approval before investing in initial public offerings or private placements. The Codes are on file with the SEC, and are available to the public.
 
CREATION AND REDEMPTION OF CREATION UNIT AGGREGATIONS
 
          Creation. The Trust issues and sells Shares of the Funds only in Creation Unit Aggregations on a continuous basis through the Distributor, without a sales load, at the NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order in proper form.
 
          A “Business Day” is any day on which the NYSE is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, the NYSE observes the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Washington’s Birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
          
Deposit of Securities and Deposit or Delivery of Cash. The consideration for purchase of Creation Unit Aggregations of the Fund generally consists of the in -kind deposit of a designated portfolio of fixed income securities -- the “Deposit Securities” --  (and/or an amount of cash in lieu of some or all of the Deposit Securities) per each Creation Unit Aggregation constituting a substantial replication of the securities included in the Underlying Index (“Fund Securities”) and an amount of cash -- the “Cash Component” -- computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities (and/or an amount of cash in lieu of some or all of the Deposit Securities) and the Cash Component constitute the “Fund Deposit,” which represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit Aggregation of the Fund.
 
           The Cash Component. The Cash Component is sometimes also referred to as the Balancing Amount. The Cash Component serves the function of compensating for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation and the Deposit Amount (as defined below). The Cash Component is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the Fund Shares (per Creation Unit Aggregation) and the “Deposit Amount” -- an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities. If the Cash Component is a positive number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation exceeds the Deposit Amount), the creator will deliver the Cash Component. If the Cash Component is a negative number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation is less than the Deposit Amount), the creator will receive the Cash Component.

 
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           The Custodian, through the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") (discussed below), makes available on each Business Day, prior to the opening of business on the NYSE Arca (currently 9:30 a.m., Eastern time), the list of the names and the required number of shares of each Deposit Security to be included in the current Fund Deposit (based on information at the end of the previous Business Day) for each Fund.
 
           Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, in order to effect creations of Creation Unit Aggregations of a Fund until such time as the next-announced composition of the Deposit Securities is made available.
 
           The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities required for a Fund Deposit for a Fund changes as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected within the Fund from time to time by the Investment Adviser with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities of the Underlying Index. In addition, the Trust reserves the right to permit or require the substitution of an amount of cash -- i.e., a “cash in lieu” amount -- to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security that may not be available in sufficient quantity for delivery or that may not be eligible for transfer through the systems of DTC, or which might not be eligible for trading by an Authorized Participant (as defined below) or the investor for which it is acting or other relevant reason. Brokerage commissions incurred in connection with the acquisition of Deposit Securities not eligible for transfer through the systems of DTC will be at the expense of the Fund and will affect the value of all Shares; but the Investment Adviser, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, may adjust the transaction fee within the parameters described above to protect ongoing shareholders. The adjustments described above will reflect changes known to the Investment Adviser on the date of announcement to be in effect by the time of delivery of the Fund Deposit, in the composition of the Underlying Index or resulting from certain corporate actions.
 
          In addition to the list of names and numbers of securities constituting the current Deposit Securities of a Fund Deposit, the Custodian, through the NSCC, also makes available on each Business Day, the estimated Cash Component, effective through and including the previous Business Day, per outstanding Creation Unit Aggregation of the Fund.
 
           Procedures for Creation of Creation Unit Aggregations. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit Aggregation of the Fund, an entity must be a DTC Participant (see the Book Entry Only System section), and, in each case, must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit Aggregations (“Participant Agreement”) (such entities being “Authorized Participants”). Investors should contact the Distributor for the names of Authorized Participants that have signed a Participant Agreement. All Fund Shares will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.
 
           All orders to create Creation Unit Aggregations must be received by the Distributor no later than the closing time of the regular trading session on the NYSE Arca (“Closing Time”) (ordinarily 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) in each case on the date such order is placed in order for creation of Creation Unit Aggregations to be effected based on the NAV of Shares of the Funds as next determined on such date after receipt of the order in proper form. In the case of custom orders placed by an Authorized Participant in the event that the Trust permits the substitution of an amount of cash to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security which may not be available in sufficient quantity for delivery or which may not be eligible for trading by such Authorized Participant or the investor for which it is acting or other relevant reason, the order must be received by the Distributor no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on the trade date. A custom order placed by an Authorized
 
 
 
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Participant must be received no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on the trade date in the event that the Trust requires the substitution of an amount of cash to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security which may not be available in sufficient quantity for delivery or which may not be eligible for trading by such Authorized Participant or the investor for which it is acting or other relevant reason. The date on which an order to create Creation Unit Aggregations (or an order to redeem Creation Unit Aggregations, as discussed below) is placed is referred to as the “Transmittal Date.” Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant by telephone or other transmission method acceptable to the Distributor pursuant to procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement, as described below (see the “Placement of Creation Orders” section). Severe economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or an Authorized Participant.
 
          All orders from investors who are not Authorized Participants to create Creation Unit Aggregations shall be placed with an Authorized Participant, as applicable, in the form required by such Authorized Participant. In addition, the Authorized Participant may request the investor to make certain representations or enter into agreements with respect to the order, e.g., to provide for payments of cash, when required. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed a Participant Agreement and that, therefore, orders to create Creation Unit Aggregations of the Funds have to be placed by the investor’s broker through an Authorized Participant that has executed a Participant Agreement. In such cases there may be additional charges to such investor. At any given time, there may be only a limited number of broker-dealers that have executed a Participant Agreement. Those placing orders for Creation Unit Aggregations should afford sufficient time to permit proper submission of the order to the Distributor prior to the Closing Time on the Transmittal Date. Persons placing orders should ascertain the deadlines applicable to DTC and the Federal Reserve Bank wire system by contacting the operations department of the broker or depository institution effectuating such transfer of Deposit Securities and Cash Component.
 
          Placement of Creation Orders. Fund Deposits must be delivered through a DTC Participant that has executed a Participant Agreement pre-approved by the Investment Adviser and the Distributor.  Such orders will be effected through a transfer of securities and cash directly through DTC. The Fund Deposit transfer must be ordered by the DTC Participant on the Transmittal Date in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number of Deposit Securities through DTC to the account of the Fund by no later than 11:00 a.m., Eastern time, of the next Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date.
 
           All questions as to the number of Deposit Securities to be delivered, and the validity, form and eligibility (including time of receipt) for the deposit of any tendered securities, will be determined by the Trust, whose determination shall be final and binding. The amount of cash equal to the Cash Component must be transferred directly to the Custodian through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system in a timely manner so as to be received by the Custodian no later than 2:00 p.m., Eastern time, on the next Business Day immediately following such Transmittal Date. An order to create Creation Unit Aggregations is deemed received by the Distributor on the Transmittal Date if (i) such order is received by the Distributor not later than the Closing Time on such Transmittal Date; and (ii) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. However, if the Custodian does not receive both the required Deposit Securities and the Cash Component by 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Eastern time,  respectively, on the next Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date, such order will be canceled. Upon written notice to the Distributor, such canceled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day using a Fund Deposit as newly constituted to reflect the then current Deposit Securities and Cash Component. The delivery of Creation Unit Aggregations so created will occur no later than the third (3rd) Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor.
 
 
 
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          Additional transaction fees may be imposed with respect to transactions in which any cash can be used in lieu of Deposit Securities to create Creation Units. (See Creation Transaction Fee section below).
 
          Creation Unit Aggregations may be created in advance of receipt by the Trust of all or a portion of the applicable Deposit Securities as described below. In these circumstances, the initial deposit will have a value greater than the NAV of the Fund Shares on the date the order is placed in proper form since, in addition to available Deposit Securities, cash must be deposited in an amount equal to the sum of (i) the Cash Component, plus (ii) 115% of the market value of the undelivered Deposit Securities (the “Additional Cash Deposit”). The order shall be deemed to be received on the Business Day on which the order is placed provided that the order is placed in proper form prior to 4:00 p.m., Eastern time, on such date, and federal funds in the appropriate amount are deposited with the Custodian by 11:00 a.m., Eastern time, the following Business Day. If the order is not placed in proper form by 4:00 p.m., Eastern time, or federal funds in the appropriate amount are not received by 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, the next Business Day, then the order may be deemed to be canceled and the Authorized Participant shall be liable to the Fund for losses, if any, resulting therefrom. An additional amount of cash shall be required to be deposited with the Trust, pending delivery of the missing Deposit Securities to the extent necessary to maintain the Additional Cash Deposit with the Trust in an amount at least equal to 115% of the daily marked to market value of the missing Deposit Securities. To the extent that missing Deposit Securities are not received by 1:00 p.m., Eastern time, on the third Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor or in the event a marked-to-market payment is not made within one Business Day following notification by the Distributor that such a payment is required, the Trust may use the cash on deposit to purchase the missing Deposit Securities. Authorized Participants will be liable to the Trust and the Fund for the costs incurred by the Trust in connection with any such purchases. These costs will be deemed to include the amount by which the actual purchase price of the Deposit Securities exceeds the market value of such Deposit Securities on the day the purchase order was deemed received by the Distributor plus the brokerage and related transaction costs associated with such purchases. The Trust will return any unused portion of the Additional Cash Deposit once all of the missing Deposit Securities have been properly received by the Custodian or purchased by the Trust and deposited into the Trust. In addition, a transaction fee, as listed below, will be charged in all cases. The delivery of Creation Unit Aggregations so created will occur no later than the third Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor.
 
          Acceptance of Orders for Creation Unit Aggregations. The Trust reserves the absolute right to reject a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor in respect of the Fund if: (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the Fund Shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of any Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered are not as disseminated for that date by the Custodian, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities would have certain adverse tax consequences to the Fund; (v) acceptance of the Fund Deposit would, in the opinion of counsel, be unlawful; (vi) acceptance of the Fund Deposit would otherwise, in the discretion of the Trust or the Investment Adviser, have an adverse effect on the Trust or the rights of beneficial owners; or (vii) in the event that circumstances outside the control of the Trust, the Custodian, the Distributor and the Investment Adviser make it for all practical purposes impossible to process creation orders. Examples of such circumstances include acts of God; public service or utility problems such as fires, floods, extreme weather conditions and power outages resulting in telephone, telecopy and computer failures; market conditions or activities causing trading halts; systems failures involving computer or other information systems affecting the Trust, the Investment Adviser, the Distributor, DTC, the Custodian or any other participant in the creation process, and similar extraordinary events. The Distributor shall notify a prospective creator of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such prospective creator of its rejection of the order of such person. The Trust, the Custodian, any sub-custodian and the Distributor are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for the failure to give any such notification.
 

 
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          All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility, and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by the Trust, and the Trust’s determination shall be final and binding.
 
           Creation Transaction Fee. Investors will be required to pay a fixed creation transaction fee, described below, payable to the Distributor regardless of the number of creations made each day. An additional variable charge for cash creations or partial cash creations may also be imposed to compensate the Funds for the costs associated with buying the applicable securities. Investors are responsible for the costs of transferring the securities constituting the Deposit Securities to the account of the Trust.
 
          The standard Creation/Redemption Transaction Fee for the Fund will be $500. As the planned termination date of a Fund approaches, the Fund may elect to accept creation orders mostly or entirely in cash. As bonds held by a Fund begin to mature, creations may be effected increasingly in cash.
 
            In the case of cash creations or where the Trust permits or requires a creator to substitute cash in lieu of depositing a portion of the Deposit Securities, the creator may be assessed an additional variable charge to compensate a Fund for the costs associated with purchasing the applicable securities. The Trust may adjust these fees from time to time based upon actual experience. As a result, in order to seek to replicate the in-kind creation order process, the Trust expects to purchase, in the secondary market or otherwise gain exposure to, the portfolio securities that could have been delivered as a result of an in-kind creation order pursuant to local law or market convention, or for other reasons ("Market Purchases"). In such cases where the Trust makes Market Purchases, the Authorized Participant will reimburse the Trust for, among other things, any difference between the market value at which the securities and/or financial instruments were purchased by the Trust and the cash in lieu amount (which amount, at the Investment Adviser's discretion, may be capped), applicable registration fees, brokerage commissions and certain taxes. The Investment Adviser may adjust the transaction fee to the extent the composition of the creation securities changes or cash in lieu is added to the Cash Component to protect ongoing shareholders. Creators of Creation Units are responsible for the costs of transferring the securities constituting the Deposit Securities to the account of the Trust.

          Redemption of Fund Shares in Creation Units Aggregations. Fund Shares may be redeemed only in Creation Unit Aggregations at its NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Fund through the Transfer Agent and only on a Business Day. The Fund will not redeem Shares in amounts less than Creation Unit Aggregations. Beneficial owners must accumulate enough Shares in the secondary market to constitute a Creation Unit Aggregation in order to have such Shares redeemed by the Trust. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the public trading market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit Aggregation. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of Fund Shares to constitute a redeemable Creation Unit Aggregation.
 
          An Authorized Participant submitting a redemption request is deemed to represent to the Trust that it (or its client) (i) owns outright or has full legal authority and legal beneficial right to tender for redemption the requisite number of Shares to be redeemed and can receive the entire proceeds of the redemption, and (ii) the Shares to be redeemed have not been loaned or pledged to another party nor are they the subject of a repurchase agreement, securities lending agreement or such other arrangement which would preclude the delivery of such Shares to the Trust. The Trust reserves the right to verify these representations at its discretion, but will typically require verification with respect to a redemption request from a Fund in connection with higher levels of redemption activity and/or short interest in the Fund. If the Authorized Participant, upon receipt of a verification request, does not provide sufficient verification of its representations as determined by the Trust, the redemption request will not be considered to have been received in proper form and may be rejected by the Trust.
 
          With respect to the Fund, the Custodian, through the NSCC, makes available prior to the opening of business on the NYSE Arca (currently 9:30 a.m., Eastern time) on each Business Day, the identity of the Fund Securities that will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to redemption requests received in proper form (as described below) on that day. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Unit Aggregations.
 
      
Unless cash or partial cash redemptions are available or specified for the Fund, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit Aggregation generally consist of Fund Securities -- as announced on the Business Day of the request for redemption received in proper form -- plus or minus cash in an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the Fund Shares being redeemed, as next determined after a receipt of a request in proper form, and the value of the Fund Securities (the “Cash Redemption Amount”), less a redemption transaction fee as listed below. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the Fund Shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder.
 
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          The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed (i) for any period during which the NYSE is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the NYSE is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Shares of the Fund or determination of the Fund’s NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstances as is permitted by the SEC.
 
            Redemption Transaction Fee. A redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by a Fund. Investors will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from the Trust to their account or on their order. An additional variable charge for cash redemptions or partial cash redemptions may also be imposed to compensate a Fund for the costs associated with buying the applicable securities. A Fund may adjust these fees from time to time based on actual experience. As a result, in order to seek to replicate the in-kind redemption order process, the Trust expects to sell, in the secondary market, the portfolio securities that will not be delivered as part of an in-kind redemption order (“Market Sales”). In such cases where the Trust makes Market Sales, the Authorized Participant will reimburse the Trust for, among other things, any difference between the market value at which the securities were sold by the Trust and the cash in lieu amount (which amount, at the Investment Adviser’s discretion, may be capped), applicable registration fees, brokerage commissions and taxes. To the extent applicable, brokerage commissions incurred in connection with the Trust’s sale of portfolio securities will be at the expense of a Fund and will affect the value of all Shares; but the Investment Adviser may adjust the transaction fee to the extent the composition of the redemption securities changes or cash in lieu is added to the Cash Redemption Amount to protect ongoing shareholders. Investors who use the services of a broker or other such intermediary may be charged a fee for such services. The standard redemption transaction fees for a Fund otherwise are the same as the standard creation fees set forth above.
 
          Placement of Redemption Orders. Orders to redeem Creation Unit Aggregations must be delivered through a DTC Participant that has executed the Participant Agreement.  Such orders will be effected through transfer of Fund Shares directly through DTC. An order to redeem Creation Unit Aggregations is deemed received by the Trust on the Transmittal Date if (i) such order is received by the Transfer Agent not later than 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on such Transmittal Date; (ii) such order is accompanied or followed by the requisite number of Shares of the Fund, which delivery must be made through DTC to the Custodian no later than 11:00 a.m., Eastern time (for the Fund Shares), on the next Business Day immediately following such Transmittal Date (the “DTC Cut-Off-Time”) and 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time for any Cash Component, if any owed to the Fund; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. After the Trust has deemed an order for redemption received, the Trust will initiate procedures to transfer the requisite Fund Securities which are expected to be delivered within three Business Days and the Cash Redemption Amount, if any owed to the redeeming Beneficial Owner to the Authorized Participant on behalf of the redeeming Beneficial Owner by the third Business Day following the Transmittal Date on which such redemption order is deemed received by the Trust. 
 
          The calculation of the value of the Fund Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount to be delivered/received upon redemption will be made by the Custodian according to the procedures set forth under Determination of NAV computed on the Business Day on which a redemption order is deemed received by the Trust. Therefore, if a redemption order in proper form is submitted to the Transfer Agent by a DTC Participant not later than Closing Time on the Transmittal Date, and the requisite

 
 
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number of Shares of the Fund are delivered to the Custodian prior to the DTC Cut-Off-Time, then the value of the Fund Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount to be delivered/received will be determined by the Custodian on such Transmittal Date. If, however, either (i) the requisite number of Shares of the relevant Fund are not delivered by the DTC Cut-Off-Time, as described above, or (ii) the redemption order is not submitted in proper form, then the redemption order will not be deemed received as of the Transmittal Date. In such case, the value of the Fund Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount to be delivered/received will be computed on the Business Day following the Transmittal Date provided that the Fund Shares of the relevant Fund are delivered through DTC to the Custodian by 11:00 a.m., Eastern time, the following Business Day pursuant to a properly submitted redemption order.
 
          If it is not possible to effect deliveries of the Fund Securities, the Trust may in its discretion exercise its option to redeem such Fund Shares in cash, and the redeeming Beneficial Owner will be required to receive its redemption proceeds in cash. In addition, an investor may request a redemption in cash that the Fund may, in its sole discretion, permit. In either case, the investor will receive a cash payment equal to the NAV of its Fund Shares based on the NAV of Shares of the relevant Fund next determined after the redemption request is received in proper form (minus a redemption transaction fee and additional charge for requested cash redemptions specified above, to offset the Fund’s brokerage and other transaction costs associated with the disposition of Fund Securities). A Fund may also, in its sole discretion, upon request of a shareholder, provide such redeemer a portfolio of securities that differs from the exact composition of the Fund Securities, or cash in lieu of some securities added to the Cash Component, but in no event will the total value of the securities delivered and the cash transmitted differ from the NAV.

           Redemptions of Fund Shares for Fund Securities will be subject to compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws and each Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Unit Aggregations for cash to the extent that the Trust could not lawfully deliver specific Fund Securities upon redemptions or could not do so without first registering the Fund Securities under such laws. An Authorized Participant or an investor for which it is acting subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in the Fund Securities applicable to the redemption of a Creation Unit Aggregation may be paid an equivalent amount of cash. The Authorized Participant may request the redeeming Beneficial Owner of the Fund Shares to complete an order form or to enter into agreements with respect to such matters as compensating cash payment, beneficial ownership of Shares or delivery instructions.
 
          As the planned termination date of a Fund approaches, the Fund may elect to accept redemption orders mostly or entirely in cash. As bonds held by a Fund begin to mature, redemptions may be effected increasingly in cash.
 
TAXES
 
           Each Fund intends to qualify for and to elect to be treated as a separate regulated investment company (a “RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). As a RIC, a Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, a company must annually distribute at least 90% of its net investment company taxable income (which includes, but is not limited to, dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements relating to the nature of its income and the diversification of its assets. If a Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC (and is not able to cure said failure through the payment of certain penalties), all of its net taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. In addition, in order to requalify for taxation as a RIC, a Fund may be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest and make certain distributions.

 
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          Each Fund is treated as a separate corporation for federal income tax purposes. Each Fund therefore is considered to be a separate entity in determining its treatment under the rules for RICs described herein and in the Prospectus. Losses in one fund do not offset gains in another fund and the requirements (other than certain organizational requirements) to qualify for RIC status are determined at the Fund level rather than at the Trust level.
 
  Each Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus 98.2% of its net capital gains for twelve months ended October 31 of such year. Each Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax.
 
          As a result of tax requirements, the Trust on behalf of each Fund has the right to reject an order to purchase Shares if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the Shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding Shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to section 351 of the Code, the Fund would have a basis in the Deposit Securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial Share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.
 
          The Funds may make investments that are subject to special federal income tax rules, such as investments in repurchase agreements, money market instruments, convertible securities, structured notes, and non-U.S. corporations classified as “passive foreign investment companies.” Those special tax rules can, among other things, affect the timing of income or gain, the treatment of income as capital or ordinary and the treatment of capital gain or loss as long-term or short-term. The application of these special rules would therefore also affect the character of distributions made by the Funds. The Funds may need to borrow money or dispose of some of its investments earlier than anticipated in order to meet its distribution requirements. See “Federal Tax Treatment of Futures and Options Contracts” for certain federal income tax rules regarding futures and options contracts.
 
Distributions from a Fund’s net investment income, including net short-term capital gains, if any, and distributions of income from securities lending, are taxable as ordinary income. Distributions reinvested in additional Shares of a Fund through the means of a dividend reinvestment service will be taxable dividends to shareholders acquiring such additional Shares to the same extent as if such dividends had been received in cash. Distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long shareholders have held the Shares. Capital loss realized on the sale or exchange of Shares held for six months or less will be treated as long-term capital loss to the extent of any capital gain dividends received by the shareholder.
 
Dividends declared by a Fund in October, November or December and paid to shareholders of record of such months during the following January may be treated as having been received by such shareholders in the year the distributions were declared.
 

 
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Long-term capital gains of non-corporate taxpayers are generally taxed at a maximum rate of 15% for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2013. Thereafter, without further Congressional action, that rate will return to 20%. In addition, some ordinary dividends declared and paid by a Fund to non-corporate shareholders may qualify for taxation at the lower reduced tax rates applicable to long-term capital gains, provided that holding period and other requirements are met by the Fund and the shareholder. Without further Congressional action, the lower tax rate on qualified dividend income will not apply after December 31, 2012 and all ordinary dividends will be taxed at ordinary income tax rates. Each Fund will report to shareholders annually the amounts of dividends received from ordinary income, the amount of distributions received from capital gains and the portion of dividends which may qualify for the corporate dividends received deduction. In addition, the Fund will report the amount of dividends to individual shareholders eligible for taxation at the lower reduced tax rates applicable to long-term capital gains.
 
If, for any fiscal year, the total distributions made exceed the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess will, for federal income tax purposes, be treated as a tax free return of capital to each shareholder up to the amount of the shareholder’s basis in his or her shares, and thereafter as gain from the sale of shares. The amount treated as a tax free return of capital will reduce the shareholder’s adjusted basis in his or her shares, thereby increasing his or her potential gain or reducing his or her potential loss on the subsequent sale of his or her shares.
 
The sale, exchange or redemption of Shares may give rise to a gain or loss. In general, any gain or loss realized upon a taxable disposition of Shares will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year. Otherwise, the gain or loss on the taxable disposition of Shares will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss. A loss realized on a sale or exchange of Shares of the Fund may be disallowed if other substantially identical Shares are acquired (whether through the automatic reinvestment of dividends or otherwise) within a sixty-one (61) day period beginning thirty (30) days before and ending thirty (30) days after the date that the Shares are disposed of. In such a case, the basis of the Shares acquired must be adjusted to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss upon the sale or exchange of Shares held for six (6) months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent of any capital gain dividends received by the shareholders. Distribution of ordinary income and capital gains may also be subject to state and local taxes.
 
Distributions of ordinary income paid to shareholders who are nonresident aliens or foreign entities that are not effectively connected to the conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax unless a reduced rate of withholding or a withholding exemption is provided under applicable treaty law. However, shareholders who are nonresident aliens or foreign entities will generally not be subject to U.S. withholding or income tax on gains realized on the sale of Shares or on dividends from capital gains unless (i) such gain or capital gain dividend is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the U.S.  or (ii) in the case of an individual shareholder, the shareholder is present in the U.S. for a period or periods aggregating 183 days or more during the year of the sale or capital gain dividend and certain other conditions are met. Gains on the sale of Shares and dividends that are effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. will generally be subject to U.S. federal net income taxation at regular income tax rates. Nonresident shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the applicability of the United States withholding tax and possible applicability of U.S. estate tax.
  
Some shareholders may be subject to a withholding tax on distributions of ordinary income, capital gains and any cash received on redemption of Creation Units (“backup withholding”). Generally, shareholders subject to backup withholding will be those for whom no certified taxpayer identification number is on file with a Fund or who, to the Fund’s knowledge, have furnished an incorrect number. When establishing an account, an investor must certify under penalty of perjury that such number is correct and that such investor is not otherwise subject to backup withholding.

 
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Dividends and interest received by a Fund may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by foreign countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the United States may reduce or eliminate such taxes.
 
The foregoing discussion is a summary only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of Shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such Shares, including under Federal, state, local and other tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date hereof. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.
 
FEDERAL TAX TREATMENT OF FUTURES AND OPTIONS CONTRACTS
 
Each Fund is required for federal income tax purposes to mark to market and recognize as income for each taxable year its net unrealized gains and losses on certain futures contracts as of the end of the year as well as those actually realized during the year. Gain or loss from broad-based index options and futures contracts that are listed on a qualified board or exchange are generally required to be marked to market and will result in 60% long-term and 40% short-term capital gain or loss. Application of this rule may alter the timing and character of distributions to shareholders. Each Fund may be required to defer the recognition of losses on futures contracts, options contracts and swaps to the extent of any unrecognized gains on offsetting positions held by the Fund.
 
In order for a Fund to continue to qualify for federal income tax treatment as a RIC, at least 90% of its gross income for a taxable year must be derived from qualifying income, i.e., dividends, interest, income derived from loans or securities, gains from the sale of securities or of foreign currencies or other income derived with respect to the Fund’s business of investing in securities (including net income derived from an interest in certain “qualified publicly traded partnerships”). It is anticipated that any net gain realized from the closing out of futures or options contracts will be considered gain from the sale of securities or derived with respect to each Fund’s business of investing in securities and therefore will be qualifying income for purposes of the 90% gross income requirement.
 
Each Fund intends to distribute to shareholders at least annually any net capital gains which have been recognized for federal income tax purposes, including unrealized gains at the end of the Fund’s fiscal year on futures or options transactions. Such distributions are combined with distributions of capital gains realized on a Fund’s other investments and shareholders are advised on the nature of the distributions.
 
DETERMINATION OF NAV
 
The following information supplements and should be read in conjunction with the section in the Prospectus entitled “How to Buy and Sell Shares - Pricing Fund Shares.”
 
                The NAV per Share of the Fund is computed by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (i.e., the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of Shares of the Fund outstanding, rounded to the nearest cent. Expenses and fees, including without limitation, the management and administration fees, are accrued daily and taken into account for purposes of determining NAV. The NAV per Share is calculated by the Custodian and determined as of the close of the regular trading session on the NYSE (ordinarily 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that such exchange is open.

 
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In computing each Fund’s NAV, the Fund’s securities holdings traded on a national securities exchange are valued based on their last sale price. Price information on listed securities is taken from the exchange where the security is primarily traded. Securities regularly traded in an over-the-counter market are valued at the latest quoted sale price in such market or in the case of the NASDAQ, at the NASDAQ official closing price. Other portfolio securities and assets for which market quotations are not readily available are valued based on fair value as determined in good faith in accordance with procedures adopted by the Board.
 
DIVIDENDS AND DISTRIBUTIONS
 
The following information supplements and should be read in conjunction with the section in the Prospectus entitled “Distributions.”
 
General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid monthly. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve the status of the Fund as a RIC or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income.
 
Dividends and other distributions on Fund Shares are distributed, as described below, on a pro rata basis to Beneficial Owners of such Shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants to Beneficial Owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.
 
Dividend Reinvestment Service. No reinvestment service is provided by the Trust. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service for use by Beneficial Owners of the Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial Owners should contact their broker to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require Beneficial Owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables.
 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
 
Counsel. Dechert LLP, 1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036-6797, is counsel to the Trust.
 
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. Ernst & Young LLP, 155 North Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606, serves as the Funds’ independent registered public accounting firm. They audit the Funds’ financial statements and perform other audit-related and tax services.
 
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
 
           You may request a copy of the Trust’s Annual Report at no charge by calling 1-800-345-7999 during normal business hours.
 
 
44
 
 
 

 
 
PART C: OTHER INFORMATION
 
ITEM 28. EXHIBITS:
 
   
(a)(1) 
Certificate of Trust.(1) 
(a)(2) 
Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust.(5) 
(b) 
Bylaws of the Trust.(2) 
(c) 
Not applicable. 
(d)(1) 
Investment Advisory Agreement between the Trust and Claymore Advisors, LLC (n/k/a, Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC) (“Investment Adviser”).(8) 
(d)(2) 
Expense Reimbursement Agreement between the Trust and the Investment Adviser.(4)
(d)(3) 
Investment Subadvisory Agreement among the Trust, the Investment Adviser and Guggenheim Partners Asset Management, LLC.(8)
(e)(1) 
Distribution Agreement between the Trust and Claymore Securities, Inc. (n/k/a, Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC).(2) 
(e)(2) 
Form of Participant Agreement (equity ETFs).(9)
(e)(3)  Form of Participant Agreement (fixed income ETFs).(10)
(f) 
Not applicable. 
(g) 
Form of Custody Agreement between the Trust and The Bank of New York.(2)
(h)(1) 
Administration Agreement between the Trust and the Investment Adviser.(2)
(h)(2) 
Form of Transfer Agency Services Agreement between the Trust and The Bank of New York.(2)
(h)(3) 
Form of Fund Accounting Agreement between the Trust and The Bank of New York.(3) 
(h)(4) 
Form of Sub-License Agreement between the Trust and the Investment Adviser.(3)
(i) 
Opinion and consent of Dechert LLP.(12)
(j) 
Consent of independent registered public accounting firm.(12)
(k) 
Not applicable. 
(l) 
Not applicable. 
(m) 
Distribution and Service Plan.(4) 
(n) 
Not applicable. 
(o) 
Not applicable. 
(p) 
Code of Ethics of the Trust and the Investment Adviser.(6) 
(q)(1)
Powers of attorney (Barnes, Nyberg and Toupin).(7) 
(q)(2) Powers of attorney (Friedrich and Karn).(11)
 
 

 
       
(1)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-134551; 811-21906),  filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 26,
2006.
   
(2)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-134551; 811-21906), filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on
 September 15, 2006. 
 
 
(3)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 2 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form  N-1A  (File Nos. 333-134551; 811-21906), filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on
 December 12, 2006. 
   
(4)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 41 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form  N-1A  (File Nos. 333-134551; 811-219061), filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on
 December 31, 2007. 
   
(5)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 74 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form  N-1,  (File Nos 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on May
 21, 2009. 
   
(6)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 47 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form  N-1A,  (File Nos 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on February 7, 2008.
   
       
(7)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 55 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form  N-1A  (File Nos. 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on June
 2, 2008. 
   
(8)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 89 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on March 3, 2010.
   
(9)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 100 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on August 20, 2010.
   
(10)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 101 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on September 1, 2010.
   
(11)
Previously filed as an exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 103 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-134551, 811-21906), filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on September 28, 2010.
   
(12)
Filed herewith.
 
ITEM 29. PERSONS CONTROLLED BY OR UNDER COMMON CONTROL WITH REGISTRANT
 
See the Statement of Additional Information.
 
 
 

 
 
 
ITEM 30. INDEMNIFICATION
 
     Pursuant to Article VI of the Registrant's Agreement and Declaration of Trust, the Trust has agreed to indemnify each person who at any time serves as a Trustee or officer of the Trust (each such person being an "indemnitee") against any liabilities and expenses, including amounts paid in satisfaction of judgments, in compromise or as fines and penalties, and reasonable counsel fees reasonably incurred by such indemnitee in connection with the defense or disposition of any action, suit or other proceeding, whether civil or criminal, before any court or administrative or investigative body in which he may be or may have been involved as a party or otherwise or with which he may be or may have been threatened, while acting in any capacity set forth therein by reason of his having acted in any such capacity, except with respect to any matter as to which he shall not have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that his action was in the best interest of the Trust or, in the case of any criminal proceeding, as to which he shall have had reasonable cause to believe that the conduct was unlawful, provided, however, that no indemnitee shall be indemnified hereunder against any liability to any person or any expense of such indemnitee arising by reason of (i) willful misfeasance, (ii) bad faith, (iii) gross negligence, or (iv) reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his position (the conduct referred to in such clauses (i) through (iv) being sometimes referred to herein as "disabling conduct"). Notwithstanding the foregoing, with respect to any action, suit or other proceeding voluntarily prosecuted by any indemnitee as plaintiff, indemnification shall be mandatory only if the prosecution of such action, suit or other proceeding by such indemnitee (1) was authorized by a majority of the Trustees or (2) was instituted by the indemnitee to enforce his or her rights to indemnification hereunder in a case in which the indemnitee is found to be entitled to such indemnification. The rights to indemnification set forth in the Declaration of Trust shall continue as to a person who has ceased to be a Trustee or officer of the Trust and shall inure to the benefit of his or her heirs, executors and personal and legal representatives. No amendment or restatement of the Declaration of Trust or repeal of any of its provisions shall limit or eliminate any of the benefits provided to any person who at any time is or was a Trustee or officer of the Trust or otherwise entitled to indemnification hereunder in respect of any act or omission that occurred prior to such amendment, restatement or repeal.
 
     Notwithstanding the foregoing, no indemnification shall be made hereunder unless there has been a determination (i) by a final decision on the merits by a court or other body of competent jurisdiction before whom the issue of entitlement to indemnification hereunder was brought that such indemnitee is entitled to indemnification hereunder or, (ii) in the absence of such a decision, by (1) a majority vote of a quorum of those Trustees who are neither "interested persons" of the Trust (as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act) nor parties to the proceeding ("Disinterested Non-Party Trustees"), that the indemnitee is entitled to indemnification hereunder, or (2) if such quorum is not obtainable or even if obtainable, if such majority so directs, independent legal counsel in a written opinion concludes that the indemnitee should be entitled to indemnification hereunder.
 
ITEM 31. BUSINESS AND OTHER CONNECTIONS OF INVESTMENT MANAGER
 
     See "Management" in the Statement of Additional Information. Information as to the directors and officers of the Investment Adviser is included in its Form ADV filed with the SEC and is incorporated herein by reference thereto.
 
ITEM 32. PRINCIPAL UNDERWRITERS
 
(a)   
Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC, is the Trust's principal underwriter.
 
 
 

 

(b)    
The following is a list of the executive officers, directors and partners of Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC:

   
NAME AND PRINCIPAL 
 
BUSINESS ADDRESS (1) 
POSITIONS AND OFFICES WITH UNDERWRITER 
 
David C. Hooten 
Director: Chairman of the Board, Chief 
 
Executive Officer
   
Kevin M. Robinson 
Senior Managing Director, General Counsel 
 
and Corporate Secretary 
   
Michael J. Rigert 
Director: Vice Chairman 
   
Anthony J. DiLeonardi 
Director: Vice Chairman 
   
Bruce R. Albelda 
Director: Chief Financial Officer 
   
Donald Cacciapaglia    President
   
Dominick Cogliandro 
Chief Operating Officer 
 
 
Bruce Saxon Interim Chief Compliance Officer
 
(1)     
The principal business address for all listed persons is 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532.
 
ITEM 33. LOCATION OF ACCOUNTS AND RECORDS
 
     The accounts, books and other documents of the Registrant required to be maintained by Section 31(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules promulgated thereunder, are maintained in part at the office of Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC at 2455 Corporate West Drive, Lisle, Illinois 60532, and in part at the offices of the Transfer Agent at 101 Barclay Street, New York, New York 10286.
 
     
ITEM  34.  MANAGEMENT SERVICES 
 
      Not applicable. 
 
ITEM  35.  UNDERTAKINGS 
 
      Not applicable. 
 
 
 

 
 
SIGNATURES
 
 
     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant certifies that it meets all the requirements for effectiveness under Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Lisle and State of Illinois on the 22nd day of March, 2012.
 
 
CLAYMORE EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND TRUST
 
 
By: /s/ Kevin M. Robinson 
      -------------------------------------
      Kevin M. Robinson
      Chief Executive Officer
 
 
     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated.
 
     
SIGNATURES 
TITLE 
DATE 
             *
       Trustee 
March 22, 2012
Randall C. Barnes 
   
     
                     *                           Trustee 
March 22, 2012
Roman Friedrich III                              
     
                     *                           Trustee 
March 22, 2012
Robert B. Karn III                              
     
             *
       Trustee 
March 22, 2012
Ronald A. Nyberg 
   
     
             *
       Trustee 
March 22, 2012
Ronald E. Toupin, Jr. 
   
 
       Treasurer, Chief 
March 22, 2012
 
       Financial Officer and 
 
/s/ John L. Sullivan
       Chief Accounting Officer 
 
John L. Sullivan
   
     
*/s/ Kevin M. Robinson 
       Chief Legal Officer 
March 22, 2012
Kevin M. Robinson 
       and Chief Executive Officer 
 
Attorney-In-Fact, pursuant to power of attorney