Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become quite the popular investment vehicle these days. ETFs currently hold more than $500 billion in assets. According to Morgan Stanley, this number is expected to quadruple in five years to $2 trillion, says Jonathan Bernstein for ETFZone.
Barclays has the largest share of the ETF market with more than $311 billion in assets and at least 139 ETFs. Coming in second is State Street. PowerShares and Rydex have benefited from offering ETFs as well. ETF players more narrowly focused on ETFs tend to be privately held, such as Claymore and WisdomTree, which has seen a large appreciation since launching its family of dividend-based ETFs.






