Exchange-traded funds have been around for more than three decades, but if new fund launches are any clue, growth in the category is still strong. A record 1,490 exchange-traded products opened from the start of 2025 through April 2026 — bumping up the total of listed ETFs in the U.S. today to more than 5,100.
And investors are piling in. More than 15 of the newly minted ETFs each have more than $1 billion in assets already. “For a new fund to get even close to $1 billion in assets in its first year is rare,” says Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at TMX VettaFi, a data research firm that focuses on ETFs. Another 25 new ETFs are well on their way to that mark, with more than $600 million in assets each.
For that reason, we’re taking a closer look at several of the new ETFs that have gathered the most interest and what their launches might portend. To be clear, this story is meant to update you on trends in the ETF industry rather than to supply specific investment recommendations. The short track record of these new funds precludes us from making a call, at least for now. That said, a few show some promise, while others seem unlikely to become Kiplinger favorites. Returns and data are through April 30 unless otherwise noted.
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Old strategies, new ETF wrappers.
Mutual-fund-to-ETF conversions are not new. But most have come from big fund firms, including Dimensional Fund Advisors, Fidelity and JPMorgan. Now boutique investment firms are choosing to go down this path. The trend points to the wider acceptance of ETFs as investors’ vehicle of choice.
The growth-stock mutual fund Akre Focus, for instance, fully converted to an ETF in October 2025 and now trades under the symbol AKRE. The mutual fund iteration was once a member of the Kiplinger 25, the list of our favorite actively managed no-load funds. In recent years, its rankings have slipped, and in step with other actively managed mutual funds, Akre Focus has seen a steady march of assets exit the fund.
The conversion was made to offer existing and prospective shareholders all of the benefits that come with an ETF structure: lower capital gains distributions, lower expense ratios and greater transparency. Instead of the mutual fund’s 1.32% expense ratio, for instance, the ETF charges 0.98%. And generally speaking, ETFs tend to be more tax-efficient than mutual funds because of the way ETF sponsors create and redeem shares, exchanging baskets of securities with specialized market makers instead of selling shares for cash. That means, relative to mutual funds, ETFs tend to generate fewer capital gains distributions to existing shareholders. (You still owe taxes on any gains you’ve made in the ETF when you sell your shares.)
Now comes news that venerated asset manager Primecap Management is finally embracing ETFs. The investment firm, which runs six mutual funds (three under the Primecap Odyssey banner and three with Vanguard), filed plans with regulators in early April to launch its first ETF, Primecap Odyssey Discovery. “If there was any doubt about where the puck is headed, consider it settled: Even Primecap is entering the ETF arena,” says Jeff DeMaso, editor of the newsletter The Independent Vanguard Adviser.
The new ETF will invest primarily in midsize-company stocks, according to the filing. The move acknowledges both that investors are shifting to ETFs, says DeMaso, and that “Primecap’s mutual funds have been throwing off capital gains as investors have been pulling their money from the funds. The ETF wrapper solves both problems.” We are awaiting key details about the ETF, including its symbol, expense ratio and who will be managing it.
Meanwhile, Primecap has just applied to regulators to issue ETF share classes of its existing Odyssey-branded mutual funds. We’re big Primecap fans. One of its mutual funds, Primecap Odyssey Growth, is a member of the Kiplinger 25. So we’ll be watching closely.
Primecap’s foray into ETFs comes after Dimensional Fund Advisors received the regulatory okay for DFA U.S. Micro Cap Portfolio ETF Class (DFMC), which was listed in March. It’s the firm’s first ETF share class of an existing mutual fund, in this case the 44-year-old, $7.3 billion mutual fund DFA U.S. Micro Cap Portfolio (DFSCX).
Tapping into money markets.
Better interest rates have attracted yield-starved investors to money market funds lately. It’s little surprise, then, that money market ETFs have recently materialized.
Eight exchange-traded money market funds have launched since February 2025. Among them are iShares Prime Money Market (PMMF), Schwab Government Money Market ETF (SGVT) and State Street Prime Money Market (MMK). These ETFs and their peers charge lower annual expense ratios — 0.21%, on average — than their mutual fund counterparts, which charge an average of 0.53%. And the ETFs yield more, too: 3.5%, on average, compared with 3.2% for the typical government money market mutual fund, according to Morningstar.
So far, demand for these ETFs has been driven by money managers and advisers, especially those that offer ETF-only portfolios, says TMX VettaFi’s Rosenbluth. “I think money market ETFs will gain in popularity,” he says, “but money market mutual funds are highly entrenched.” In other words, the mutual funds are unlikely to shed much in assets over the near term.
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What explains, then, the billions of dollars already sitting in two particular new money market ETFs? ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF (IQMM) has more than $22 billion in assets, and Simplify Government Money Market ETF (SBIL) holds $4.8 billion.
In both cases, the bulk of the assets represents cash positions of other funds run internally at each firm. Roughly 90% of the money in Simplify’s money market, for instance, is the cash sitting in Simplify’s 39 other ETFs. Similarly, the cash positions in ProShares’ 160-odd other ETFs make up a large chunk of the assets in ProShares’ money market ETF. “Instead of each fund managing its own cash holdings, that exposure is centralized in a single, conservative strategy,” says Mo Haghbin, the managing director of strategic products at ProShares.
But individual investors are starting to trickle in to the money market ETFs, too. For example, roughly 10% of the Simplify fund’s assets belong to individual investors, says James England, a Simplify portfolio manager and fixed-income strategist. The draw: a 3.6% yield and a low, 0.15% annual expense ratio. The ProShares money market ETF also charges 0.15% in fees, and it yields 3.5%.
You might be wondering about the “GENIUS” in the ProShares money market ETF name. The ETF is a typical government money market fund, in that it holds high-quality short-term U.S. Treasuries — hence its appeal to some individual investors. But it’s also designed for firms, such as Tether, Circle and Paxos, that issue and manage stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to a more stable asset, such as the dollar.
Stablecoin issuers must meet certain thresholds for cash in reserve, as detailed in the 2025 GENIUS Act, and this ETF helps stablecoin issuers in that regard. “It’s the first money market ETF built for that purpose and is now the largest money market ETF in the world,” says Haghbin.
A hedge fund for everyone.
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The slam-dunk success of a new hedge-fund ETF may point to a new chapter in opening up strategies once reserved for the wealthy to mom-and-pop investors.
State Street Bridgewater All Weather ETF (ALLW) marries State Street’s ETF trading prowess with the asset manager Bridgewater’s “all-weather” investment approach, designed to perform reasonably well in any economic environment.
Bridgewater makes the portfolio-allocation calls, deciding how much to devote to U.S. and foreign stocks, bonds and commodities, and State Street executes them. Over the past 12 months, the fund’s 24% total return outpaced 61% of its tactical-allocation fund peers. That’s a promising start; we’ll keep an eye on it until it has more of a track record.
Plenty of investors aren’t waiting; the fund has gathered $1.2 billion in assets since its March 2025 launch, making it the largest tactical-allocation ETF in the U.S. “A lot of advisers are interested in this product because they know Bridgewater. They’re getting access to a strategy they didn’t have access to earlier,” says Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research at CFRA Research.
Another options-linked option.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The fund invests in autocallable yield notes. An autocallable note generates income in a strategy that employs options, typically linked to a market index. The note will pay a high rate of interest (the coupon rate) as long as the market benchmark doesn’t crash. “Think of it like a bond whose income and principal depend on the stock market not falling too far,” says Matt Kaufman, a senior vice president and head of ETFs at Calamos.
But there are conditions. If the stock index plummets below a certain threshold, you’ll lose the monthly coupon payments until the bogey recovers, surpassing the threshold on the way up. If, after a set period, the benchmark outstrips its starting value, the note is “autocalled” and paid off early, with your principal returned.
But in the Calamos fund, multiple notes with varying maturities help smooth out this dynamic; any returned principal is automatically reinvested. The fund invests in a weekly ladder of at least 52 autocallable yield notes, each expiring in five years. “Every week, you’re issuing a new note. The fund’s coupon rate can’t go to zero,” Kaufman says.
In a steeper, prolonged market decline, your principal is at risk, but again, the fund holds multiple notes, and the stock market loss would have to be sizable, says Kaufman — akin to the Global Financial Crisis, when the S&P 500 lost 57% in price from peak to trough.
It’s early days. The Calamos ETF is a compelling income strategy, but it’s a complex one for individual investors. There are six other listed autocallable ETFs, and more are likely to come. We’ll be watching from the sidelines for now.
A basket of crypto.
Finally, for those with a speculative streak and a sky-high tolerance for risk: Instead of pinning your star toa fund that holds just a single cryptocurrency, you can buy an ETF of multiple cryptocurrencies and thus potentially lower the risk that comes with investing in just one of these notoriously volatile digital assets.
“These multi-coin ETFs represent the natural evolution of the crypto-ETF universe,” says CFRA’s Ullal, and offer investors the opportunity to move beyond bitcoin and ethereum.
