Through 22 December, assets have increased by 18 per cent this year from $1.698 trillion to $2.007 trillion based on positive market performance and net new assets, figures show. Year to date, the US listed ETF/ETP industry has gathered a record-setting $232 billion in net new assets beating the prior full year record of $190 billion in 2013.
 
ETFs are typically open-ended, index-based funds, with active ETFs accounting for less than 1 per cent market share. They can be bought and sold like ordinary shares on a stock exchange and offer broad exposure across developed, emerging and frontier markets, equities, fixed income and commodities. Exchange traded products are similar to ETFs in some ways but do not use an open-end fund structure.

The use of other structures including unsecured debt, grantor trusts, partnerships, and commodity pools by ETPs can, in addition to a significantly different risk profile, create different tax and regulatory implications for investors when compared to ETFs, which are funds.