ETF providers are enjoying the increased demand for their products as investors funneled $335 billion into ETFs so far this year after investing $390 billion for all 2016, a record year.
Related: 5 Most Popular ETFs of 2017
ETFs currently make up nearly a quarter of U.S. stock-market trading volume, compared to 76% for individual stocks, whereas three years ago, ETFs made up 20% of volume, MarketWatch reports. Furthermore, the percentage of equity-fund assets has surged in the wake of the financial downturn, rising to 37% in 2017, compared to 19% in 2009.
“Investors have increasingly shifted to passive investments: Clients have been net buyers of over $160 billion in ETFs versus net sellers of over $200 billion in single stocks since 2009,” Subramanian said, citing Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s equity client flow data.
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