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ETFs, as an investment vehicle, cover all types of asset classes, and index and active funds are seeing strong adoption across diverse areas. This is especially true as the global ETF industry saw a record-breaking 1,063 new ETF launches in the first seven months, surpassing the previous record of 988 recorded in the same period of 2021, per ETFGI. 

The 1,063 new products span 39 exchanges globally and are managed by 281 different providers. The United States and Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) saw the highest number of launches, reaching 363 and 341 respectively, followed closely by Europe with 171. 

In terms of ETF providers, iShares took charge of launching 56 products, followed by new launches of 41 by Global X and 29 by First Trust. Among the new products, actively managed funds lead with 461 products, followed by 374 equity and 104 fixed-income offerings.

At the end of July, the global ETF/ETP industry had 12,565 ETFs/ETPs, with 25,135 listings from 757 providers on 81 exchanges in 63 countries. Assets invested in the global ETFs industry reached a record of $13.6 trillion. Cryptocurrency ETFs have been the strongest asset pullers in the first seven months of 2024.

This rapid growth is due to unique strategies, creativity, transparency, diversification benefits, enhanced tax competencies, low turnover, and, of course, low costs. Additionally, both existing and new issuers remain active in bringing innovative products to the market, covering a broad range of asset classes, investment strategies and themes.

Below, we highlight five ETFs that have been able to pull in more than $5 billion in AUM since their inception and have a huge potential to dominate the market in the coming months.

BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)

BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust is the most popular new ETF of the first seven months of 2024 having amassed $20.8 billion in AUM since its debut on Jan 5. It seeks to reflect the performance of the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to access Bitcoin within a traditional brokerage account. The fund charges 25 bps in annual fees from investors and trades in a volume of 25 million shares a day on average.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) 

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has gathered $15.7 billion in its asset base since its debut on Jan 11 and trades in an average daily volume of about 4.7 million shares. GBTC enables investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin in the form of security while avoiding the challenges of buying, storing and safekeeping Bitcoin directly. It owns and passively holds actual Bitcoins through the Custodian, Coinbase Custody. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust charges 1.50% in annual fees from investors. 

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC)

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust also offers exposure to the price of bitcoin — without buying bitcoin directly — in brokerage, trust and tax-advantaged accounts. It debuted on Jan 11 and has accumulated around $12 billion in its asset base. It charges 25 bps in annual fees and trades in an average daily volume of 5.5 million shares.

Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE)

Launched on Jul 23, Grayscale Ethereum Trust has accumulated $6.6 million in its asset base within a month. It has a solid trading average volume of more than 8 million shares. It is currently the largest Ethereum fund in the world and seeks to reflect the value of Ether held by the Trust. Grayscale Ethereum Trust’s expense ratio is 2.50%.

ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) 

ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF has amassed $3.2 billion in AUM since its debut on Jan 11. It seeks to track the performance of Bitcoin, as measured by the performance of the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate – New York Variant. It has an expense ratio of 0.21% and trades in a volume of about 2 million shares per day on average.

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