<\/p>\n
Our ETF \/ ETN database powers \n First, here is a macro view of US ETFs from a net asset \n Second, we multiplied the fees charged for each ETF by its \n For our software we\u2019ve created our database with ETF \n Category<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n # ETFs<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Sector Funds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 180<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n US Stocks<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 172<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Commodities<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 78<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Foreign Developed Markets<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 67<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Bonds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 52<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Shorts<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 41<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Emerging Markets<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 37<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Real Estate<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 27<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Currencies<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 18<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n World Market Stocks<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Lifecycle Funds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n TIPs<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n \n Sector Funds.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>We find it most interesting that the largest ETF <\/span><\/p>\n Healthcare<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 41<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Technology<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 32<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Financial<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 25<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Consumer Discretionary<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Consumer Goods<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Utilities<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Basic Materials<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Communications<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Industrials<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Homebuilders<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Aerospace & Defense<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Social Index<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Transportation<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n Is it my imagination, or are the providers going a little \n US Stocks.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>There are 172 ETF funds that focus on the US \n Commodities.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>Of the 78 Commodity funds, 9 are agricultural \n Foreign Developed \n Bonds.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>Of the 52 funds that have recently been \n Shorts.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>We categorize all funds that bet against a \n Emerging Markets.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>This group now consists of 37 funds, of which \n Real Estate.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>There are now 27 real estate funds \u2013 18 \n Right now, with the 38 funds that collectively focus on Our ETF \/ ETN database powers the software on this website that allows individual investors to build a well diversified portfolio using ETFs. When we update our database we develop … Read more
\nthe software on this website that allows individual investors to build a well diversified portfolio using
\nETFs. <\/span>When we update our database we
\ndevelop some unique insights regarding the growth and current state of the ETF
\nmarket. We share some of these perspectives with interested readers. <\/span>One caveat: <\/span>a few of the newer ETFs are not included, but we have included nearly
\n700 ETFs that today account for at least 99.5 % of all funds invested in US
\nETFs. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nvalue (NAV) perspective. <\/span>With over $600
\nbillion invested in ETFs, 25% is invested in the top 3 ETFs (SPY \u2013 14%, EFA \u2013 7%,
\nand EEM \u2013 4%). <\/span>Forget the 80\/20 rule
\nhere. <\/span>In fact, 50% of all capital
\ninvested in ETFs is in the top 16 ETFs, or the top 2%. <\/span>Only 100 out of 693 ETFs have an NAV of over
\n$1 billion and only 55 ETFs between $500m and $1 billion. <\/span>In fact, half of all ETFs have an NAV under
\n$75 million. <\/span>Lower NAVs imply less
\nvolume and liquidity. <\/span>Thus, all of the discussions
\nthat caution investors about the bid\/ask spread risk of buying ETFs is
\njustified when so many have such limited liquidity and volume.<\/p>\n
\nNAV to see how much the ETF industry as a whole was extracting from investors
\nin fees and the number is\u2026. $2 billion per year, an average of .29% in fees based
\nupon the $600 billion invested for the industry as a whole. <\/span>Ironically, the world\u2019s largest ETF \u2013 SPY
\nonly makes State Street
\n$67 million per year in fees (.08%) while Barclays iShares charges .74% on EEM and
\n.34% on EFA and receives $330 million per year in fees on these two products
\nalone — about 17% of the entire industry. <\/span>No wonder Vanguard is racing ahead with lower fee alternatives in VEA
\n(.12%), VWO (.25%) and VEU (.25%). <\/span><\/p>\n
\nclassifications in 12 groups. <\/span>It gets
\nreally fun when drilling down into these categories and looking at where, in
\naggregate, the ETF providers are offering products and where investors are
\nenjoying more choices. <\/span>Experts could
\ndebate us forever, but we\u2019ve made these decisions so that individual investors
\ncould easily make choices based upon the dizzying array of products that
\ncontinue to be put into the market. <\/span>Here
\nare the ETFs in each of our categories:<\/p>\n\n\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
\ncategory, are sectors with 180 funds. <\/span>The basic sectors include the following ETFs sorted by the number of
\nofferings in each: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
\ncrazy with 41 ways to index the healthcare industry and 32 to index technology? <\/span>I guess it would stand to reason that where
\nthere is high volatility, there are more ETF products. <\/span>Of course there are the usual colors and
\nflavors of sector ETFs. <\/span>You can buy them
\non a global basis, equally weighted or even leveraged. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nStock market. <\/span>The range spans from 11 funds
\nthat index the \u201cTotal Market\u201d to 4 that let you invest in the smallest of small
\nUS Stocks \u2013 the microcaps. <\/span>There are 85
\nLarge Cap, 41 Mid Cap, and 31 Small Cap US Stock ETFs. <\/span>But it gets better. <\/span>US Stock market ETFs offer many ways to
\nindex. <\/span>There are dividend weighted,
\nvalue, growth, blended, leveraged, and even quant strategies for nearly all of
\neach size and style. <\/span>I wonder what one
\ncould possibly dream up for another US Stock ETF!<\/p>\n
\nfocused, 3 give you exposure to the new Cleantech companies, 15 are solely
\nexposed to various metals like gold (GDX, IAU), silver and other precious
\nmetals, 4 are water only and 50% (39 funds) <\/span>index energy in some way. <\/span>Of
\nthese, there are a variety of choices including: <\/span>alternative energy, gas, oil, drilling
\nservices, fully diversified, exploration and production companies. <\/span>There are also various indexing techniques
\nincluding dividend oriented and equal market cap weighted. <\/span>For example, want to build a pair of index
\nexploration \/ production companies and oil services companies? <\/span>IEO \/ IEZ are market cap weighted, while XOP
\n\/ XES are more equally weighted all with basically the same kinds of companies
\n\u2013 your choice. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nMarkets.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>This group now consists
\nof 67 funds, of which 22 index individual countries like Canada (EWC) and Japan
\n(EWJ). <\/span>There are 26 funds that we call
\n\u201cContinents and Regions\u201d where one can get exposure to a specific group of
\ncountries like just Asia or just Europe. Once
\nyou\u2019ve picked your area of choice, you have more choices of how you\u2019d like to
\nindex. <\/span>The rest are generally
\ndiversified but there are flavors. <\/span>Want
\none that focused on dividends, or one that equally weights all the stocks? <\/span>No problem. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nopened for bonds, 14 are muni bond funds and 16 are just US government bonds. <\/span>These funds can be purchased as short,
\nintermediate and long term as well as a blend of time horizons. The remaining
\n22 funds are a smattering of corporate, credit and mortgage and now new
\nemerging and foreign market bond funds.<\/p>\n
\nmarket or a sector in this one classification as individual investors generally
\nthink about these allocations as hedges. <\/span>Of the 41 ETFs that allow you to \u201cbet against\u201d something, 15 are
\nsector-focused, 20 are US stock market oriented (small, mid and large cap), and
\n6 allow you to short foreign markets. <\/span>And of course if just a plain short isn\u2019t good enough, you can get twice
\nthe hedge in one ETF like the SDS. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n18 are individual countries like China (FXI) and Brazil (EWZ), but not to be
\nleft behind, Israel (EIS), Thailand (THD), and Turkey (TUR) now have their own
\nETFs. <\/span>There are 12 funds that we call
\n\u201cContinents and Regions\u201d where you can own an area of the world like Latin
\nAmerica (GML). <\/span>The rest are fully diversified
\nfunds covering all emerging market countries. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nfocused on the US Real Estate market and 9 on International markets. <\/span>These products are so diverse that you can
\nnow invest in just office buildings, apartments buildings and even mortgage
\nREITs. <\/span>There\u2019s now an ETF that allows
\nyou to invest in Chinese Real Estate (TAO). <\/span>You can now invest in real estate everywhere but<\/span><\/em> the US (WPS). <\/span><\/p>\n
\ncurrencies, lifecycle, TIPs and world markets, there\u2019s not as much going on
\nthat\u2019s as interesting as in our other classifications, but you can be assured
\nthat where there are open opportunities, the ETF provides will surely attempt
\nto fill the gaps! <\/span>Stay tuned\u2026. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"