Total U.S. ETF Count Hits 4,000 as New Issues Surge

Approximately 4,000 ETFs are trading in the U.S. after more than 1,500 funds launched last year, as equities markets surged and a range of new products like crypto funds began trading. 

The number of exchange-traded funds soared 62% for the year through Jan. 8, according to etf.com data. The tally stood at 2,476 one year ago. The total number may be inexact due, however, to a handful of fund closures. 

New issues, meanwhile, are rolling out in record numbers, following U.S. investors pouring $1.1 trillion into ETFs last year. Investors pulled money from high-yielding money markets and moved it into stock funds, which, as measured by the S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), had their second-straight year of over 26% gains.

“ETFs are the most popular investing format that exists, and the industry is always looking for new strategies,” said Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Asset Council of Financial Professionals and a member of the etf.com advisory board. “The stars are aligned and that’s led to a dramatically high number of launches in 2024 and we’ll continue to see high productivity in 2025."

Spot Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs

Investors were able to choose from a range of new kinds of funds, the most prominent being the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs that were approved last January after years of haggling. Nine spot Ethereum ETFs were approved in June. Also boosting the number were growing instances of mutual funds converting into ETFs to meet customer demand for the lower-priced, more flexible investing format.

ETF issuers also sought to match their products with a range of investing strategies, launching buffered, defined outcome and target ETFs. Among the most popular were the leveraged funds, which became the most actively traded funds in 2024.

The 1,500 or so launches far outpaced the approximately 200 closures in 2024. 

“We’ve just come through the two best years in the stock market history over the past 30 years,” Edelman said. “Investors are highly optimistic 2025 will be successful as well.”