2018 may be on track to post another record year for exchange traded funds in terms of the number of funds launching, and the number that are shutting down, writes ETF.com.
In 2017, an all-time record of 138 funds shut down, but so far this year, there have been 97, outpacing last year’s number during the same time frame. Of course, more than half of this year’s number comes from the “highly unusual” closing of 50 Barclays iPath ETNs in April, writes ETF.com’s Heather Bell. “When you factor out those 50 closures, though, the year is actually trailing 2017.”
ETFs haven’t seen a record year in terms of launches since 2011, when there were more than 300 new funds launched. Yet here too 2018 is on pace to topple that record. As of July, there have been 143 new funds launched, compared to 127 during the same time period last year. If it keeps up, the industry will easily top 2011 in terms of new products brought to market. Whether the flood of options is a benefit to consumers is another matter.
The biggest roll-out of the year, Bell writes, is the now $1.8 billion JP Morgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF (BBJP). In second place is the Barclays ETN+ FI Enhanced Global High Yield ETN Series B (FIYY), with $1.6 billion, which is a custom-made fund used by Ken Fisher’s Fisher Investments to mirror its own in-house strategies.
The third-place fund, with $746 million so far, is also a Fisher custom fund, the Barclays ETN+ FI Enhanced Europe 50 ETN Series C (FFEU).
