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The number of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) worldwide grew markedly during the period from 2003 to 2024. There were * ETFs globally in 2024, compared to *** in 2003. As of 2022, ETFs worldwide managed assets up to over ** trillion U.S. dollars. 

What are ETFs?

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been available on the financial markets since the early 1990s. They are one of the main types of investment funds, alongside mutual funds, insurance funds, pension funds, real estate funds, hedge funds or private equity funds. The main feature that distinguishes exchange-traded funds from other investment funds is that they are always traded on a stock exchange (like common stock), and their price is determined through purchase and sale transactions.

Tracking stock indices

The main purpose of ETFs is to replicate the performance of an index or a given financial instrument rather than outperform it. For instance, an investor wishing to achieve the same performance as the Dow Jones Industrial Average index could invest in the DJIA ETF. Some ETFs also allow tracking the opposite of index performance—if an investor thinks that the price of silver will drop, he can purchase the shares of a reverse silver ETF to earn money on falling silver prices.