Some alternative index, smart-beta ETFs also made it on the top 10 list of fastest growing ETFs. The Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (NYSEArca: RSP), which equally weights S&P 500 stock components, and the PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000 Portfolio (NYSEArca: PRF), which tracks a Research Affiliates index that selects stocks based on book value, cash flow, sales and dividends, have both quickly accumulated assets over the years as investors jumped on the long-term outperformance. For instance, PRF has outpaced the S&P 500 index since it started on Dec. 19, 2005, returning 120% compared to the 103% from the S&P 500. RSP has increased an average annualized 9.3% over the past 10-years while the S&P 500 returned 7.9%. [The Growing Smart-Beta ETF Space]
Investors have also been chasing performance in the healthcare space. The Vanguard Health Care ETF (NYSEArca: VHT) and iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (NasdaqGS: IBB) where among fastest growing ETFs as the funds outpeformed the broader markets, rising average 28.9% and 43.7% over the past three years, respectively.
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Max Chen contributed to this article.