The Traderszone Network

Indexuniverse.com is reporting that exchange-traded funds assets globally will top $1 trillion within two years. ETF’s attracted over $176 billion in 2008 and U.S. ETF assets already top the $500 billion level.

As of late 2008, over 1600 ETFs around the world had $658 billion in assets with more than 600 planned to launch in the U.S. and Europe during the next year. Additionally, another 274 related exchange-traded products are coming to market worldwide with an estimated $59.5 billion in initial assets.

At the end of 2008 most ETF products showed strong postive money inflows, although the first month of 2009 has showed some serious slippage. This indicates a number of major ETF sponsors have suffered slowdowns in key areas raising concern that the 18-month economic meltdown may be catching up with the industry.

However, during the last year, the money invested in ETFs surpassed 30% of the total volume of equities transacted in the U.S. And 70% of ETF use come in the form of replacements for stocks rather than substitutions of actively managed mutual funds. In addition, ETF assets are skewing more towards retail channels. Individual investors now represent at least half, and possibly as much as 60%, of the total ETF marketplace suggesting a deepening and broadening of the retail ETF market.