The Biggest ETF Trends of 2023 (and What’s Coming in 2024)
CFRA’s Ullal discusses the most important ETF trends for this year and next.
What are the biggest trends of 2023 for exchange traded funds? Defined-outcome ETFs and the politicization of ETFs are two of them, according to Aniket Ullal, head of ETF data and analytics for CFRA.
In this episode of "Exchange Traded Fridays," Ullal sits down with etf.com senior analyst Sumit Roy and etf.com wealth management editor Jeff Benjamin to discuss these topics and more.
According to Ullal, inflows for defined-outcome ETFs—also known as buffer ETFs—have been just as strong in 2023 as they were in 2022 despite starkly different market environments.
"The open question was [whether last year’s strong inflows for defined-outcome ETFs] would continue this year. Was it just a one-year phenomenon given last year’s economic environment or was it a longer-term trend?" Ullal remarked.
"Last year we saw about $10 billion go into these products in aggregate. This year, we’ve already passed $10 billion," numbers that, according to Ullal, suggests that the growth of defined-outcome ETFs is a sustainable trend.
Another trend that Ullal believes will persist is the politicization of ETFs. He says that the initialism "ESG" may continue to fall out of favor, while fund managers may delegate more voting authority to individual shareholders.
Ullal is head of ETF data and analytics for CFRA, one of the world's leading independent investment research firms. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of First Bridge Data, which was acquired by CFRA in August 2019.
