It appears the first active exchange traded funds (ETFs) will resemble the funds already in existence, as two regulatory filings suggest. AER Advisors and XShares Advisors will capture some of the pizazz of active funds without being actively managed. Despite years of trying, no provider has been able to create an actively managed ETF that is acceptable to the SEC. The aforementioned funds are "semi-active" or "enhanced" index funds that follow indexes, but their benchmarks are little-known or proprietary, according to Ian Salisbury for The Wall Street Journal. The biggest obstacle in creating an active fund has been to design a fund that reveals what stocks will be held. AER and XShares have found similar ways to run an active ETF, and their ideas may extend into the first actively managed ETF to get the SEC’s approval.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.