ETF Launches Poised for Record Year
Product innovation and launches have been at an all-time high, with around 50 ETF launches just in the past three weeks.
“Even with all the market turbulence, the tariff uncertainty, and the headlines changing on a dime, there’s just no stopping each engine of ETF creation,” Chang said. “There have been about 288 new ETFs this year. That compares to roughly 120 by the same time last year.”
Right now, the industry is averaging more than 75 new ETFs coming to market a month in 2025. This means the industry could be headed for 1,000 new launches this year, which would handily break last year’s record of about 750.
Of the new ETFs, equities have dominated the scene, making up around 70% of all launches, Chang said.
Notably, about 200 of those new equity ETFs have been actively managed. “They’ve also been about 30% of all the volume. We just recently hit that $1 trillion mark on active ETF assets. That’s now 10% of the total ETF pie,” she highlighted.
Chang also noted the proliferation of derivatives-based and leveraged products. Sixty-three leveraged ETFs have launched this year already compared to 71 launched in 2024. Furthermore, single-stock ETFs in particular have really blown up. Direxion alone applied for 71 leveraged ETFs, she said
Notable ETF Launches to Highlight
Unlimited HFGM Global Macro ETF (HFGM)
HFGM fund offers an actively managed, global macro hedge fund approach to investing across a range of asset classes.
“Bob Elliott … is bringing top-tier market expertise to the table and offering an array of hedge fund strategies in an ETF wrapper at a disruptively lower price,” Chang said. “This one uses a proprietary algorithm to invest in a number of ETF and futures contracts widely held by global macro hedge funds, and it really just changes based on the market.”
Unlimited is trying to replicate this hedge fund strategy with a slightly amplified risk/return profile since it operates with roughly twice the volatility of a given sector, according to Chang.
“This is actually the first of many ETFs Unlimited is planning to roll out in an ETF wrapper,” Chang added.
See more: Unlimited Brings Global Macro Hedge Fund Strategy to ETFs
Cambria Endowment Style ETF (ENDW)
The Cambria Endowment Style ETF offers a diversified, global investment strategy that seeks income and capital appreciation. This ETF provides exposure to major global asset classes and seeks to use an endowment style investment approach. The fund is designed to pursue returns across various market conditions while maintaining an aggressive risk profile.
The fund launched with $98 million, funded by individual advisors and investors who swapped to the ETF format from a separately managed account through a 351 Exchange, according to Chang.
“It’s an active global asset allocation strategy inspired by endowment-style investing, which was obviously done very well,” she added.
iShares S&P 500 3% Capped ETF (TOPC)
TOPC offers distinct capped exposure to the equities within the S&P 500. Following a fee waiver, the fund has a net expense ratio of just 9 basis points.
“It caps holdings so that no company has a weight of over 3%,” Chang noted. “It rebalances quarterly, and then, as I understand it, any excess weights are redistributed to the remaining holdings based on their market caps.”
Invesco’s RSP will be the fund’s chief competitor, according to Chang. RSP provides greater exposure down the cap spectrum; however, TOPC is more competitively priced.
“[TOPC is] almost reminiscent of a mutual fund strategy in that you have a cap on individual stock weightings,” she said. “To some, equal weight might just be too extreme a dilution.”
“I think [TOPC] gives you a good balance between the two. It’s kind of an in-between product for extreme dilution and the typical large-cap, heavy-weight, top-weighted, S&P 500,” Chang added.
See more: New BlackRock S&P 500 ETF Caps Companies at 3% Weight
Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF (ILS)
ILS is the first U.S.-listed ETF dedicated exclusively to catastrophic bonds.
“It has zero correlation with the market. It’s tied purely to unexpected natural disasters,” Chang explained. “Even if the U.S. goes into a recession or geopolitics kind of rears up again, it’s insulated from that.”
She thinks the fund is difficult to pull off because there are questions of how to price it correctly and whether holdings offer enough diversification.
“I think it’ll start off with a sophisticated investor looking for a major diversifier,” Chang said.
See more: Brookmont Unveils First U.S.-Listed CAT Bond ETF
Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF (XXRP)
Teucrium launched the first U.S.-based XRP ETF earlier this month.
Notably, the ETF itself saw over $5 million in trading volume on its debut, according to Chang.
“Obviously, there is strong institutional interest there,” she said. “This launch coincided with a nearly 40% increase in XRP overall trading volume itself, reaching approximately $9 billion.”
While many investors have questions as to why a leveraged futures-based product was approved before a spot ETF, Chang said it comes down to regulation.
“It’s a derivatives-based futures market. It’s tightly regulated; it’s tightly monitored. Regulators feel they have a better grasp,” she explained. “Cash can obviously be manipulated, whereas futures are much tougher to manipulate. So that’s why we saw sort of clearance of futures with bitcoin before the spot product itself.”
ETF Share Class: Updates on the Regulatory Front
The rise in adoption of active ETFs is fueling the interest around the share class structure. There have been over 50 applicants who have filed, with many more asset managers on the sidelines looking to jump in, Slavin said.
“Certainly, what we are hearing is almost universal interest across our asset manager client base,” he added.
“We think the time frame does seem to be accelerating,” Slavin noted. “But, I think there’s a difference between the ability to actually do it and then the readiness for the managers and the platforms to be able to support all this.”
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