2022 Mid-Year ETF Product Trends

While global markets experienced varying degrees of asset class returns in the first half of 2022, ETF managers were active across the board in launching new funds across multiple asset classes. We also saw a fair share of ETF closures with 51 being liquidated to date. An observation of note was that over 15% of ETF closures this year were ESG related, with factor/smart beta ETFs experiencing the second largest percentage of closures that we have seen in several years.

ETF launches have been fast and furious for the past decade now, and as the product continues to mature, many asset managers have been keen to remember that they do not control if an ETF gets delisted from the exchange as the listing is based on volume and assets VS a mutual fund where the board of that fund and proxy votes determine what occurs to mutual funds.

Some observations from the ETFs launches in 2022 thus far:

• As of 7/31/2022 there have been 235 new ETF launches in 2022.
• 141 of the strategies launched were actively managed. This is both a function of continued conversion from fund to ETFs, and new fund launches.
• The top category launches are: 42 launches in the US fixed income category focused on high yield and short- duration, Global Large Cap Equity (many bent toward ESG) with 21 products, 30 products in Trading related (including leveraged, inverse and the recently approved single stock ETFs), and 26 launches across the domestic large cap blend with many employing factors as well. Of note there were 10 digital assets/crypto related launches.
• The top issuers are in a dead heat YTD: DFA in a combination of conversions and launches came to market with 10 issues, AXS who is a newcomer to issuance specializing single name and factor leveraged and inverse ETFs launching 10 ETFS, BondBloxx specializing in single name high yield issuers launched 11 issues, Direxion launched 11 ETFS in their leveraged/inverse wheelhouse, and ETF market share leader IShares/BlackRock launched 11 ETFs main in US fixed income.

All of these ETFs are in MarketPlace and tracked via our 13F holdings among allocators.

For more information on ETF holdings and a library of 13F filing information, we’d love to offer you a free trial of Dakota Marketplace!