ETFs
As of November 2012, the ETF marketplace was valued at $1.3 trillion (vs. $10 trillion invested in mutual funds). iShares (BlackRock) remains the largest player with 41% of the marketplace, down from 60% in 2007. Next to BlackRock, the next two largest ETF sponsors are State Street (25% market share) and Vanguard (18% market share). There are over 1,500 ETFs, and almost all of them are passively managed. Vanguard recently introduced an index ETF that mimics the iShares Barclays 0–5 Year TIPS ETF; the Vanguard offering has an annual expense ratio of just 0.1%. On January 2013, SPDR S&P 500 ($120 billion) will celebrate its 20th anniversary as the first ETF. Today, this ETF represents 9% of all EFT assets.
ETF Statistics [November 2012]
|
Biggest stock ETF (SPY) |
SPDR S&P 500 ($120 billion) |
|
Biggest bond ETF |
iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corp. ($25 billion) |
|
Total stock assets |
$900 billion |
|
Total bond assets |
$237 billion |
|
Largest 1-day redemption |
June 23, 2008 (92 million shares of SPY) |
|
Most positions (2,953) |
Vanguard Russell 3000 (VTHR) |
|
Biggest commodity ETF |
GLD (SPDR Gold Shares) $75 billion |
|
Actively managed ETFs |
55 |
|
Cheapest ETF |
0.04% (SCHX) Schwab U.S. Large Cap |
|
Sponsors |
49 |
|
Total countries represented |
97 |
|
Most countries represented |
50 (ACWX) iShares MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. |
Average Bid-Ask ETF Spreads [September 2012]
|
U.S. Fixed Income |
0.22% |
|
U.S. Equity |
0.25% |
|
Foreign Equity |
0.61% |
|
Alternatives |
0.65% |
|
Commodities |
0.79% |
|
Asset Allocation |
0.84% |
|
Foreign Fixed Income |
0.85% |
|
Currency |
1.06% |
|
Inverse |
1.65% |
|
Leveraged |
2.31% |
|
Average of all categories |
0.92% |
source: Index Universe
Annualized Cost for ETF Investors
[September 2012]
|
Category |
1-Year |
5-Year |
|
Expense ratio |
0.55% |
0.55% |
|
Bid-ask spread |
0.02% |
0.02% |
|
Commission to buy + sell |
0.14% |
0.03% |
|
Total (annualized) |
0.71% |
0.58% |