ETF Stats for September 2011: Assets Slip Below $1 Trillion

Product launch activity picked up in September following a sluggish summer.  New exchange-traded product listings totaled 37 during the month, consisting of 20 ETFs and 17 ETNs.  There were three closings (two ETFs and one ETN), producing a net-increase of 34.  The quantity of listed products totaled 1,335 at the end of September with 1,149 ETFs and 186 ETNs.  Actively-managed ETFs held their numbers steady at 40.

Assets under management slipped below the $1 trillion mark for the first time since crossing above that magic threshold in December 2010.  Negative market action is to blame for the dip, as year-to-date net inflows are in excess of $75 billion.  Total assets stood at $973 billion at the end of September.

Trading activity tapered off from the abnormally high August levels, although total monthly dollar volume across all ETPs remained above $2.0 trillion and averaged more than $97 billion per day.

The number of ETFs averaging more than $1 billion in daily trading activity (the Billion Dollar Club) held steady at twenty and accounted for more than 73% of all ETP dollars traded.  SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) was single handedly responsible for 35.5% of all ETP trading activity.

Products averaging more than $100 million of trading per day declined from 100 to 86 and accounted for 92.6% of dollar volume.  Products averaging more than $10 million of trading per day slid from 289 to 248, yet grabbed 98.5% of all ETP dollars traded.  The last 1.5% of dollar volume was spread thinly across the remaining 1,087 products.

Data sources:  AUM from National Stock Exchange, daily prices and volume of individual ETPs from Norgate Premium Data, fund counts and all other information compiled by Invest With An Edge.

New products launched in September (in chronological order), along with links to my initial analysis of each:

1. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Momentum Fund (MOM) [New Long/Short QuantShares: Long On Expenses, Short On Expectations]
2. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Size Fund (SIZ)
3. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Quality Fund (QLT)
4. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Momentum Fund (NOMO)
5. UBS ETRACS 1-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXAA) [New ETRACS VIX ETNs With 5.35% Annual Expenses]
6. UBS ETRACS 2-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXBB)
7. UBS ETRACS 3-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXCC)
8. UBS ETRACS 4-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXDD)
9. UBS ETRACS 5-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXEE)
10. UBS ETRACS 6-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXFF)
11. UBS ETRACS Daily Short 1-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (AAVX)
12. UBS ETRACS Daily Short 2-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (BBVX)
13. UBS ETRACS Daily Short 3-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (CCVX)
14. UBS ETRACS Daily Short 4-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (DDVX)
15. UBS ETRACS Daily Short 5-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (EEVX)
16. UBS ETRACS Daily Short 6-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN (FFVX)
17. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Value Fund (CHEP) [New Long/Short QuantShares: Long On Expenses, Short On Expectations]
18. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Beta Fund (BTAH)
19. QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund (BTAL)
20. PowerShares Fundamental Investment Grade Corporate Bond Portfolio (PFIG) [PowerShares Fundamental Investment Grade Bond ETF Launched]
21. RBS Oil Trendpilot ETN (TWTI) [Timing Oil Futures With TWTI]
22. UBS ETRACS ISE Solid State Drive Index ETN (SSDD) [UBS Attempts Solid State Drive ETN Offering]
23. UBS ETRACS Monthly 2xLeveraged ISE Solid State Drive Index ETN (SSDL)
24. iPath Inverse S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN II (IVOP) [IVO Terminates and IVOP Fills the Void]
25. Teucrium Soybean Fund (SOYB) [Teurcium Launches Three Single Ag Product ETFs]
26. Teucrium Sugar Fund (CANE)
27. Teucrium Wheat Fund (WEAT)
28. Credit Suisse Market Neutral Global Equity ETN (CSMN) [CSMN: Market Neutral ETN from Credit Suisse]
29. FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index Fund (GUNR) [Northern Trust Launches FlexShares]
30. FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt Index Fund (TILT)
31. FlexShares iBoxx 3-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund (TDTT)
32. FlexShares iBoxx 5-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund (TDTF)
33. Guggenheim Yuan Bond ETF (RMB) [RMB vs DSUM: Comparing the New Dim Sum Bond ETFs]
34. PowerShares Chinese Yuan Dim Sum Bond Portfolio (DSUM)
35. SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) [State Street Adds Three ETFs to SPDR Select Industry Lineup]
36. SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF (XHS)
37. SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW)

Product closures/delistings in September:

1. FaithShares Christian Values (FOC) was delisted prior to the opening on 9/1/2011, and its last day of trading was 8/31/2011 [Last FaithShares ETF Closes].
2. iPath Inverse S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (IVO) triggered an early termination on September 12 and had its last day of trading on 9/16/2011 [IVO Terminates and IVOP Fills the Void].
3. JETS Contrarian Opportunities Index Fund (JCO) had its last day of trading 9/29/2011 and will be liquidated in early October [Javelin Shutters Last JETS ETF].

Product changes in September:

1. CurrencyShares Russian Ruble Trust changed its ticker symbol from XRU to FXRU effective 9/12/2011.

Announced Product Changes for Coming Months:

1. PowerShares Active AlphaQ (PQY) and PowerShares Active Alpha Multi-Cap (PQZ) will close in October.  Their last day of trading was 9/30/2011.
2. Direxion Airline Shares (FLYX) will have its last day of trading on 10/10/2011 and then be delisted and liquidated [Direxion Airline Shares Take Off Into Turbulence].
3. ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ) will undergo a 2-for-1 split effective 10/13/2011.
4. Five SPDR ETFs based on KBW indexes will change to S&P Select Industry indexes on or around the end of October.  The new fund names are SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE), SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE), SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE), SPDR S&P Mortgage Finance ETF (KME), and SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE).
5. Direxion plans to reverse split six ETFs effective 11/9/2011.  The affected funds are DRV, EDC, FAS, and TMV at 1-for-5 and RUSL at 1-for-3.  Press release (pdf). 
6. All Direxion Shares 2x Bull and Bear ETFs will convert to 3x on 12/1/2011.
7. Van Eck Global and Merrill Lynch announced (pdf) an agreement to seek SEC and shareholder approval for a fourth quarter 2011 exchange of six HOLDRS products into similar to-be-released Market Vector ETFs under the same ticker symbols.  The new funds will be Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (OIH), Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH), Market Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF (PPH), Market Vectors Biotech ETF (BBH), Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH), and Market Vectors Bank and Brokerage ETF (RKH).

Previous monthly ETF statistics reports are available here.

Disclosure covering writer, editor, publisher, and affiliates: No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.  No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.