New ETF From BlackRock And Edelman

The world's largest issuer of exchange traded funds, BlackRock, Inc. BLK, has teamed up with Ric Edelman and Edelman Financial Services, one of the largest registered investment advisory firms, to launch the iShares Exponential Technologies ETF XT.

The ETF began trading Tuesday with about $10 million in assets; however, with both BlackRock and Edelman Financial powerhouses in their respective industries, XT will likely be able to gain more traction going forward.

Ric Edelman is known for his "exponential technology" strategy for investing, which comes from his belief that investing a part of your portfolio into radically new technology around the world is crucial, as technology is becoming more and more important in everyday life.

Related Link: 2 New ETFs Going After Hedge Funds

A Closer Look

XT is designed to provide investors with exposure to companies in sectors such as nanotechnology, bioinformatics, healthcare and financial services, among others. The niche sectors have been identified as innovators within their respective industries and "have the potential to profoundly transform society and may offer substantial investment growth opportunities," according to a BlackRock Statement.

XT Specifics

The new ETF is distributed across 13 countries and 10 sectors, with the United States at 67 percent and the United Kingdom at 5 percent being the most heavily weighted countries. Information technology at 32 percent and healthcare at 29 percent are the most weighted sectors.

The ETF is made up of 198 holdings, with the top companies being:

• Pharmacyclics, Inc. PCYC making up 0.90 percent of the ETF
• First Solar, Inc. FSLR at 0.69 percent

Other notable holdings include:

• Netflix, Inc. NFLX
• Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN
• Apple Inc. AAPL
• Boeing Co BA

The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.47 percent.