Last year, global exchange traded products hauled in a record $247.3 billion, topping $200 billion for the second consecutive year.
Flows to U.S. ETFs and ETNs dominated at a combined $190.5 billion, but in the first quarter U.S. ETFs brought in just $15 billion. That is to say a lot of ETFs that were previously considered small still are. [A Sluggish First Quarter for ETF Flows]
It is worth remembering that evaluating ETFs on size alone is akin to saying McDonald’s serves the best hamburgers or Starbucks has the best coffee simply because there are so many of those establishments.
Translation: There are plenty of ETFs that offer big things in small packages. Or big returns often come from small ETFs. Here are some fine examples of that theme this year with year-to-date performance and assets under management totals. All ETFs on this list have double-digit gains in 2014.