ETF Stats for May 2011: 1,010 ETFs Fighting For Scraps

A steady onslaught of new product introductions continued in May along with the first closure of the year.  Sponsors rolled out 36 new ETFs and three ETNs while retiring one ETN.  The net addition of 38 brings the quantity of listed ETPs to 1,254 consisting of 1,089 ETFs and 165 ETNs.  Currently, ETNs account for 13.2% of ETP listings, but only 1.5% of assets and 1.4% of trading activity.  The quantity of actively-managed ETFs remained unchanged at just 34.

The four-month streak of no closures ended in early May when Barclays called its 3x no-reset inverse S&P 500 ETN (BXDD) for redemption.  With 156 new product introductions already in 2011, it is easy to envision a time when closures eventually ramp up again.

Trading activity jumped in April, with total ETP dollar volume increasing 23% to $1.55 trillion.  The increase primarily benefited the products already in the upper tiers of trading activity, but a handful of newer offerings also saw large increases.

At the upper tier, the number of ETFs averaging more than $1 billion in daily trading activity (the Billion Dollar Club) jumped from seven to eleven while accounting for more than 61% of all ETP dollars traded.

One of the new names in the Billion Dollar Club this month is Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO).  It recently surpassed iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM) for assets under management and is now making great strides as a trading vehicle.

Products averaging more than $100 million of trading per day held steady and accounted for 89% of all dollars traded.  Products averaging more than $10 million of trading per day increased from 230 to 244 and grabbed more than 98% of ETP dollars traded.  The remaining 1,010 funds had to fight for the leftover scraps, totaling less than 2%.

Assets under management were $1.11 trillion at the end of May, which is off -2.0% for the month, although they are +10.4% 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 May (in chronological order), along with links to my initial analysis of each:

1. Global X Food ETF (EATX) (Profits From New Global X Food ETF Will Help Fight Hunger)
2. Global X Fishing Industry ETF (FISN) (Global X Goes Fishing)
3. Global X Mexico Small-Cap ETF (MEXS) (Second Mexico ETF Arrives 15 Years After First)
4. IQ Global Oil Small Cap ETF (IOIL) (New IQ Global Oil Small Cap ETF Is A Viable Alternative)
5. PowerShares S&P 500 High Beta Portfolio (SPHB) (Analysis of New High Beta and Low Volatility ETFs from PowerShares)
6. PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (SPLV)
7. First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund (CARZ) (Second Automotive Fund Now Available)
8. First Trust Mega Cap AlphaDEX Fund (FMK) (A Mega Cap ETF Joins the First Trust AlphaDEX Lineup)
9. Market Vectors LatAm Aggregate Bond ETF (BONO) (New BONO ETF Has Undocumented Foreign Currency Exposure)
10. IQ Hong Kong Small Cap ETF (HKK) (HKK: Small Cap Muscle for Hong Kong)
11. Global X Auto ETF (VROM) (VROM: And Then There Were Three Automotive Funds)
12. Russell Aggressive Growth ETF (AGRG) (Russell Launches Suite of Investment Discipline Index ETFs)
13. Russell Consistent Growth ETF (CONG)
14. Russell Growth at a Reasonable Price ETF (GRPC)
15. Russell Contrarian ETF (CNTR)
16. Russell Equity Income ETF (EQIN)
17. Russell Low P/E ETF (LWPE)
18. iShares Global Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (GTIP) (iShares Adds Global and International TIPs ETFs to Menu)
19. iShares International Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (ITIP)
20. PowerShares DB 3x Long US Dollar Index Futures ETN (UUPT) (PowerShares 3x Dollar ETNs Arrive)
21. PowerShares DB 3x Short US Dollar Index Futures ETN (UDNT)
22. Direxion Daily Agribusiness Bull 3x Shares (COWL) (Direxion Unveils +/- 3x Versions of Market Vectors Agribusiness and Russia ETFs)
23. Direxion Daily Agribusiness Bear 3x Shares (COWS)
24. Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (RUSL)
25. Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3x Shares (RUSS)
26. Global X Canada Preferred ETF (CNPF) (Canadian Preferred for U.S. Consumption)
27. UBS ETRACS 2x Leveraged Long Wells Fargo Business Development Company ETN (BDCL) (Leveraged BDC ETN With 14.6% Yield Launched)
28. PowerShares Convertible Securities Portfolio (CVRT) (PowerShares Adds Convertibles ETF to Lineup)
29. Global X Fertilizers/Potash ETF (SOIL) (Global X Wants to Fertilize Your Portfolio)
30. Russell 1000 Low Beta ETF (LBTA) (Second Wave of Russell ETFs Comes Ashore)
31. Russell 1000 High Beta ETF (HBTA)
32. Russell 1000 Low Volatility ETF (LVOL)
33. Russell 1000 High Volatility ETF (HVOL)
34. Russell 1000 High Momentum ETF (HMTM)
35. Russell 2000 Low Beta ETF (SLBT)
36. Russell 2000 High Beta ETF (SHBT)
37. Russell 2000 Low Volatility ETF (SLVY)
38. Russell 2000 High Volatility ETF (SHVY)
39. Russell 2000 High Momentum ETF (SHMO)

Product closures/delistings in May:

1. Barclays ETN+ Short D Leveraged Exchange Traded Notes Linked to the Inverse Performance of the S&P 500 Total Return Index (BXDD) (BXDD Bites The Dust)

Product changes in May:

1. SPDR DJ Global Titans ETF (DGT) changed its index and name to SPDR Global Dow ETF (DGT) effective 5/2/11.
2. Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value (GVT) became Columbia Concentrated Large Cap Value Strategy Fund (GVT) effective 5/2/11.
3. Columbia changed the name of the other four funds acquired from Grail effective 5/23/11: 
   • Grail RP Growth ETF (RPX) became Columbia Growth Equity Strategy Fund (RPX)
   • Grail Focused Large Cap Growth ETF (RWG) became Columbia Large-Cap Growth Equity Fund (RWG)
   • Grail McDonnell Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF (GMMB) became Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond Strategy Fund (GMMB)
   • Grail McDonnell Core Taxable Bond ETF (GMMB) became Columbia Core Bond Strategy Fund (GMTB).
4. Direxion changed the ticker symbols for Direxion Daily Natural Gas Related Bull 2x Shares from FCGL to GASL and Direxion Daily Natural Gas Related Bearl 2x Shares from FCGS to GASX effective 5/24/11. 

Announced Product Changes for Coming Months:

1. Guggenheim executed extreme-makeovers on two Claymore ETFs effective 6/1/11 changing the names, tickers, and management styles.  Claymore U.S. Capital Markets Bond ETF (UBD) changed to Guggenheim Enhanced Core Bond ETF (GIY) and Claymore U.S. Capital Markets Micro-Term Fixed Income ETF (ULQ) became Guggenheim Enhanced Ultra-Short Bond (GSY).  The new incarnations will remain on ETF Deathwatch.
2. PowerShares will change the name, indexes, and ticker symbols for its suite of 10 Dynamic Style Box ETFs to FTSE RAFI Fundamental Pure Style Box ETFs effective 6/16/11.  Additional information is available in the prospectus supplement(pdf).
3. WisdomTree plans to make the following name and ticker changes effective 6/17/11:
   • WisdomTree Pacific ex-Japan Total Dividend Fund (DND) to become WisdomTree Asia-Pacific ex-Japan Fund (AXJL)
   • WisdomTree Pacific ex-Japan Equity Income Fund (DNH) to become WisdomTree Australia Dividend Fund (AUSE)
   • WisdomTree International Basic Materials Sector Fund (DBN) to become WisdomTree Commodity Country Equity Fund (CCXE)
   • WisdomTree International Energy Sector Fund (DKA) to become WisdomTree Global Natural Resources Fund (GNAT)
   • WisdomTree International Utilities Sector Fund (DBU) to become WisdomTree Global ex-US Utility Fund (DBU)
   • WisdomTree International Real Estate Fund (DRW) to become WisdomTree Global ex-US Real Estate Fund (DRW)

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.