The shortened week after the launch of the first-ever spot bitcoin ETFs saw almost as many closures announced as there were launches. Both launches of new ETFs and closures of existing ones have been quite strong so far in 2024.
Among the firms launching funds this week were CCM, First Trust in Partnership with Raymond James, Roundhill, YieldMax, Brinsmere, F/m, and Calamos. However, iShares was also among the issuers rolling out new ETFs.
The iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI World ex USA ETF (PABD), which is focused on developed markets, is a sister fund to the $1.5 billion iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF (PABU) which was among the largest launches of 2022. Finnish insurer Ilmarinen seeded the launch of PABU. However, it is not clear if it has done the same for PABD.
The fund’s index methodology incorporates the goals of the Paris Agreement around the transition to a low-carbon economy when evaluating companies for inclusion. It also implements other ESG-related standards to select companies. PABD lists on the Nasdaq stock exchange with an expense ratio of 0.12%.
Closures
The industry saw the announcement of seven ETF closures during the week. The VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF) will see its last day of trading on February 6. The fund tracks the performance of bitcoin futures and launched in November 2021, but it has not gathered significant assets.
BNY Mellon will also close its three sustainability-focused ETFs, with their last day of trading set for February 14. Those funds are as follows:
- BNY Mellon Sustainable Global Emerging Markets ETF (BKES)
- BNY Mellon Sustainable International Equity ETF (BKIS)
- BNY Mellon Sustainable US Equity ETF (BKUS)
Two ETFs trading under the QRAFT brand will have their last day of trading on February 14. They include the QRAFT AI-Pilot U.S. Large Cap Dynamic Beta and Income ETF (AIDB) and the QRAFT AI-Enhanced U.S. Next Value ETF (NVQ).
Pacer will close its Pacer Metaurus US Large Cap Dividend Multiplier 300 ETF (TRPL), with its shares set to cease trading as of January 31.
Finally, Nationwide will exit the ETF market by closing all but one of its funds. The following ETFs will see their last day of trading on February 22:
- Nationwide Dow Jones Risk-Managed Income ETF (NDJI)
- Nationwide S&P 500 Risk-Managed Income ETF (NSPI)
- Nationwide Russell 2000 Risk-Managed Income ETF (NTKI)
NEOS ETFs will acquire the fourth fund in the Nationwide family. The Nationwide Nasdaq-100 Risk-Managed Income ETF (NUSI) will become the NEOS NASDAQ-100 Hedged Equity Income ETF, with the transition likely to complete in May.
Other Changes
Several other changes either completed during the week or are still pending.
The Strive 500 ETF (STRV) will drop its current index, the Solactive GBS United States 500 Index, to track the Bloomberg US Large Cap Index, with an anticipated execution date of January 26. Shortly after that, on February 1, the DoubleLine Commercial Real Estate ETF (DCMB) will change its ticker to DCRE.
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