Small Cap Fund Falls Off Biggest ETF List

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM | A-88) last month fell off the list of the 10 biggest ETFs, displaced by the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD | A-100), which ended April the 10^th-biggest exchange-traded fund.

There isn't too much to read into the shifts, both of which occurred at a time when the U.S. economy is continuing to recover slowly from the biggest crisis in markets since the Great Depression. That has meant that GLD has steadily dropped from being the biggest ETF in the world for two days in August 2011 to fighting for a place on the top 10 list.

More broadly, it's worth the reminder that these 10 biggest ETFs make up about a quarter of total U.S.-listed ETF assets—a reflection of a top-heaviness in the 23-year-old U.S. ETF industry. Another example of this is the fact that the three biggest ETF sponsors—BlackRock's iShares, Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors—control more than three-quarters of the $2.148 trillion in total U.S.-listed assets.

Below are the Top 10 tables for both April and March 2015. IWM, which does not appear in the April table below, ended the month with assets of $26.78 billion, according to data compiled by ETF.com.