At first blush, a record $100 billion flood into actively managed exchange-traded funds this year raises a tantalizing prospect: A revival of stockpicking even as only Big Tech names outperform the market. Yet, a look under the hood of popular ETFs shows the boom is almost entirely taking place in passive-looking trades.
Active strategies have attracted nearly 25% of the $423 billion that’s flowed to US ETFs so far in 2023 — a record share. Meanwhile, active ETFs are launching at a record pace, making up 96% of October’s new debuts as issuers race to stake claim to a quickly growing corner of the $7.5 trillion industry, Bloomberg Intelligence data showBloomberg Terminal.
