ETF Stats for April 2011: 1,216 and Counting

A barrage of product introductions in April resulted in 23 new ETFs and 20 new ETNs coming to market.  The number of launches matches the 43 in June 2008 while falling short of the record, 50 in January 2007.  The month-end quantity now stands at 1,216 (consisting of 1,053 ETFs and 163 ETNs).  Actively-managed ETF listings remained unchanged at 34.

April became the fourth month in a row without any closures.  However, the streak ends there as BXDD, Barclays' 3x no-reset inverse S&P 500 ETN, becomes the first casualty of 2011 later this week.  The four-month stretch of no closures is the longest since 2007.

Trading activity plummeted in April, with total ETP dollar volume declining 30% to less than $1.3 trillion.  There were only 13% fewer trading days than March, so daily trading activity was down as well.

The number of ETFs in the Billion Dollar Club, those averaging more than one billion dollars in daily trading activity, dropped from eleven to just seven.  However, those seven funds accounted for more than 56% of all ETP dollars traded.  New to the list this month was iShares Silver Trust (SLV), which saw unprecedented trading activity of $67 billion due to the strong rally in silver.  SLV was the third most active ETF behind SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) at $374 billion and iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) at $84 billion.

Products averaging more than $100 million of trading per day numbered 67, a decrease of eight from March.  Those 67 funds, just 5.5% of all ETPs, accounted for 89% of all dollars traded.

Assets under management were $1.14 trillion at the end of April, up +5.5% for the month and +12.7% year-to-date.

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 April (in chronological order):

1. Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap ETF (GERJ) (Market Vectors Unveils First Germany Small Cap ETF)
2. ProShares UltraShort 3-7 Year Treasury (TBZ) (ProShares Introduces Additional Inverse Treasury ETFs)
3. ProShares Short 7-10 Year Treasury (TBX)
4. SPDR Barclays Capital Issuer Scored Corporate Bond ETF (CBND) (Fundamental Indexing Comes To Investment Grade Bond ETFs)
5. Global X Waste Management ETF (WSTE) (Global X Waste Management ETF Launches)
6. ProShares Ultra High Yield (UJB) (ProShares Juices Up Junk and Investment Grade Bonds)
7. ProShares Ultra Investment Grade Corporate (IGU)
8. Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap ETF (RSXJ) (Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap ETF Now Trading)
9. SPDR Nuveen S&P High Yield Municipal Bond ETF (HYMB) (Buying HYMB Requires a Leap Of Faith)
10. First Trust Asia Pacific Ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund (FPA) (First Trust Adds 13 AlphaDEX ETFs to Lineup)
11. First Trust Brazil AlphaDEX Fund (FBZ)
12. First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA)
13. First Trust Developed Markets Ex-US AlphaDEX Fund (FDT)
14. First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Fund (FEM)
15. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (FEP)
16. First Trust Japan AlphaDEX Fund (FJP)
17. First Trust Latin America AlphaDEX Fund (FLN)
18. First Trust South Korea AlphaDEX Fund (FKO)
19. First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY)
20. First Trust Mid Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund (FNK)
21. First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FYC)
22. First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund (FYT)
23. iPath Pure Beta Agriculture ETN (DIRT) (Barclays Offers New Variation of 19 Existing Commodity ETNs)
24. iPath Pure Beta Aluminum ETN (FOIL)
25. iPath Pure Beta Broad Commodity ETN (BCM)
26. iPath Pure Beta Cocoa ETN (CHOC)
27. iPath Pure Beta Coffee ETN (CAFE)
28. iPath Pure Beta Copper ETN (CUPM)
29. iPath Pure Beta Cotton ETN (CTNN)
30. iPath Pure Beta Crude Oil ETN (OLEM)
31. iPath Pure Beta Energy ETN (ONG)
32. iPath Pure Beta Grains ETN (WEET)
33. iPath Pure Beta Industrial Metals ETN (HEVY)
34. iPath Pure Beta Lead ETN (LEDD)
35. iPath Pure Beta Livestock ETN (LSTK)
36. iPath Pure Beta Nickel ETN (NINI)
37. iPath Pure Beta Precious Metals ETN (BLNG)
38. iPath Pure Beta S&P GSCI-Weighted ETN (SBV)
39. iPath Pure Beta Softs ETN (GRWN)
40. iPath Pure Beta Sugar ETN (SGAR)
41. iPath Seasonal Natural Gas ETN (DCNG)
42. Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF (FLTR) (Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF)
43. UBS E-TRACS Wells Fargo Business Development Company ETN (BDCS) (Exposure To Business Development Companies Now Available Via ETN)

Product closures/delistings in April:

none

Product changes in April:

1. Global X FTSE Colombia 20 ETF (GXG) underwent a 2-for-1 split effective April 11.
2. One Fund ETF (ONEF) was renamed Russell Equity ETF (ONEF) effective 4/15/11.
3. iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Capped Index Fund changed its ticker symbol from FIO to FNIO effective 4/28/11.

Announced Product Changes for Coming Months:

1. Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value (GVT) becomes Columbia Concentrated Large Cap Value Strategy Fund (GVT) effective 5/2/11.  Columbia bought Grail and will replace Grail as the manager of this actively-managed ETF.
2. SPDR DJ Global Titans ETF (DGT) changes its name to SPDR Global Dow ETF (DGT) and will follow a new index effective 5/2/11.
3. Barclays ETN+ Short D Leveraged Exchange Traded Notes Linked to the Inverse Performance of the S&P 500 Total Return Index (BXDD) have been called for redemption with 5/4/11 being the last day of trading.
4. PowerShares will change the underlying indexes for its suite of 10 style-box ETFs from Intellidex Dynamic to FTSE RAFI Fundamental Pure Style Indexes effective 6/16/11.  The fund names and ticker symbols will also change.  Additional information is available in the prospectus supplement (pdf).

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.