Small-Caps have impressed lately in terms of performance, with benchmark ETF IWM (iShares Russell 2000, Expense Ratio 0.28%) trading at fresh all-time highs this morning, and rising nearly 10% from trough to peak from its intraday low of $107.27 in early February.
Despite the vault in performance lately, the fund has still seen a slow bleed of assets year to date (-$1.1 billion) and most of the options flow in the name has consisted of either put spread strategies or outright put buying.
The fund still holds a substantial $26.8 billion in overall assets under management which is not a number to take lightly making it the ninth largest ETF in all of the U.S. listed ETP landscape currently in terms of AUM.
In the Small-Cap (including Internationally based funds) space there are several larger funds outside of IWM now in terms of AUM levels that are actively trading now amid strength there including IJR (iShares Core S&P Small Cap, Expense Ratio 0.16%, $13.9 billion in AUM), VB (Vanguard Small Cap, Expense Ratio 0.10%, $8.5 billion in AUM), IWO (iShares Russell 2000 Growth, Expense Ratio 0.25%, $6.4 billion in AUM), IWN (iShares Russell 2000 Value, Expense Ratio 0.25%, $5.7 billion in AUM), VBR (Vanguard Small-Cap Value, Expense Ratio 0.21%, $3.9 billion in AUM), VBK (Vanguard Small Cap Growth, Expense Ratio 0.10%, $3.8 billion in AUM), SCZ (iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap, Expense Ratio 0.40%, $3.6 billion in AUM), IJS (iShares S&P Small Cap 600 Value, Expense Ratio 0.25%, $3 billion in AUM), and IJT (iShares S&P Small Cap 600 Growth, Expense Ratio 0.25%, $2.8 billion in AUM) just to name the top tier in terms of AUM levels.
In fact, in addition to the aforementioned funds, there are six other ETFs that have over $1 billion in AUM, and the list goes quite deep with smaller and in some cases more esoteric Small Cap products that are offered that have healthy overall asset levels.
In short, there is a ton of retail and institutional interest in Small Cap equity products and the wide variety of index strategies that have evolved in this space and nothing but growing potential.