Precious metals ETFs account for the largest subcategory of alts ETF strategies. For instance, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSEArca: GLD), with $67 billion in assets, makes up almost half the $140 billion in alternative ETF assets. Other popular alts ETFs provide exposure to the CBOE Volatility Index, or “VIX,” and foreign currencies.
However, alternative ETF strategies have not developed far enough for use in the mainsream.
“Alternative ETFs have a long way to go before they have funds equivalent to some mutual fund strategies,” Nadia Papagiannis, director of alternative fund research at Morningstar, said in the article. “It will be a while before we get a good market-neutral or managed-futures ETF, so for those strategies where it is more difficult, the advisers will be using mutual funds that invest in alternative ETFs.”
For more information on various asset classes, visit our asset class ETFs category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.