Active ETFs are a tiny fraction of the overall U.S. ETF business, which controlled $1.47 trillion at the end of March, according to Morningstar.
“What you see is that the majority of ETFs are index-tracking funds,” said Deborah Fuhr, partner and co-founder of research firm ETFGI, in a recent Pensions & Investments report. “There aren’t a lot of active ETFs out there — less than 1% of all ETF assets are in actively managed ETFs. To be fair, PIMCO is one of the few big firms with success in active ETFs. Others who offer them don’t have the global recognition with a long track record in active funds.”
At the end of March, PIMCO’s seven actively managed ETFs accounted for 60.7% of the active ETF market.
WisdomTree Investments (NasdaqGM: WETF) was next with 13 active ETFs and 25.9% market share, followed by AdvisorShares with 18 funds and 5.6% share.
BlackRock, the largest ETF manager, recently launched some active funds. [iShares Enters the Actively Managed ETF Arena]
