Actively Managed refers to strategies that are implemented and followed at the discretion of a portfolio manager and their firm’s proprietary research. Most ETFs are structured as passively managed funds, which means they are designed to follow an underlying benchmark, like the S&P 500 Index for example, as closely as possible. Actively managed ETFs take a hands-on approach; for starters, their portfolios are usually more concentrated in securities that management deems to be likely to outperform.
Next, actively managed portfolios don’t adhere to a predictable rebalancing strategy likely their index-based counterparts; remember that it’s up to the portfolio manager to keep the active portfolio in-line with its stated objective. Investors seeking out core exposure to an asset class will generally opt for a passive ETF, while those looking to complement existing holdings may look for an actively managed fund that has the potential to actually beat the market.
Put another way, passively managed ETFs offer pure exposure to a designated slice of the market, which is referred to as “beta”; on the other hand, actively managed ETFs try to deliver returns exceeding their reference benchmark, which is known as “alpha”. Because of their potential to outperform and more fine-tuned market exposure that requires research, actively managed ETFs will generally cost more than their passive counterparts, although there is no guarantee for alpha.
Click on the tabs below to see more information on Actively Managed ETFs, including historical performance, dividends, holdings, expense ratios, technical indicators, analysts reports and more. Click on an ETF ticker or name to go to its detail page, for in-depth news, financial data and graphs. By default the list is ordered by descending total market capitalization.
As of 05/23/25
