services agreement, the Funds pay OSI a fee at the annual rate of .25% of the average daily net assets as compensation for services. For the year ended December 31, 2013, the Micro-Cap Fund, Emerging Growth Fund, Small-Cap Opportunities Fund, China Opportunities Fund, International Opportunities Fund, and Asia Opportunities Fund incurred distribution fees totaling $61,039, $156,294, $20,035, $368,199, $153,044, and $14,686, respectively.
Affiliated Commissions. For the year ended December 31, 2013, the Micro-Cap Fund, Emerging Growth Fund, Small-Cap Opportunities Fund, China Opportunities Fund, International Opportunities Fund, and Asia Opportunities Fund did not execute any security transactions through OSI and therefore did not pay commissions to OSI.
3. Investment transactions
The cost of securities purchased and proceeds from securities sold during the year ended December 31, 2013, other than options written and money market investments, aggregated $19,928,526 and $16,810,999, respectively, for the Micro-Cap Fund, $43,415,161 and $62,679,802, respectively, for the Emerging Growth Fund, $10,564,534 and $11,777,078, respectively, for the Small-Cap Opportunities Fund, $200,380,603 and $196,462,440, respectively, for the China Opportunities Fund, $210,070,595 and $102,476,774, respectively, for the International Opportunities Fund and $13,394,389 and $14,286,474, respectively, for the Asia Opportunities Fund. The Funds did not hold government securities during the year ended December 31, 2013.
The Funds may write covered call options. The premiums received provide a partial hedge (protection) against declining prices and enables each Fund to generate a higher return during periods when OAM does not expect the underlying security to make any major price moves in the near future but still deems the underlying security to be, over the long term, an attractive investment for each Fund. The Funds write covered call options for which premiums received are recorded as liabilities and are subsequently adjusted to the current value of the options written. Premiums received from writing options that expire are treated as realized gains. Premiums received from writing options, which are either exercised or closed, are offset against the proceeds received or amount paid on the transaction to determine realized gains or losses. Amounts recovered for securities litigation are included in the realized gains of the Fund and are recorded when received. The Funds did not write covered call options for the year ended December 31, 2013.
4. Redemption fee
The Oberweis Funds are designed for long-term investors. To discourage market timers redemptions of shares of the Micro-Cap Fund, the Emerging Growth Fund, and the Small-Cap Opportunities Fund within 90 days of purchase are subject to a 1% redemption fee of the total redemption amount and 2% for the China Opportunities Fund, the International Opportunities Fund, and the Asia Opportunities Fund. The redemption fee is deducted from the redemption proceeds and is retained by the Fund for the expense they incur in connection with shareholder redemptions.