Twenty years ago, January 22nd, 1993, the Standard & Poors 500 Depository Receipts were “seeded” with capital in preparation for the first day of live trading, which would ultimately take place a week later. The “SPDRs” became the first Exchange Traded Fund listed on a US stock exchange, and, twenty years later, remain the largest ETF with more than $124 billion in AUM. Shares of SPY represent just one of nearly 1,500 exchange traded products in the US today, but also nearly 1 out of every $10 that is held within all US ETFs. Without question, the SPDRs have been a success, and the industry that followed in the wake of the SPY launch 20 years ago represents the most significant evolution within the securities business since the introduction of stock options a generation ago.
If we look at assets in ETFs, they have increased in 18 of the past 20 years, with the headcount of products also continuing to trend higher as well. Today there are nearly 1,500 ETFs in the US, totaling more than $1.4 Trillion in assets. According to Investment Company Institute , assets in US Mutual Funds are roughly 7% above AUM levels from the end of 2007 ($12.9 Trillion currently). ETF assets have grown 142% over the same period.
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