The popularity of ETF investing is now sky-high and it took around only 20 years for this to happen. Though the pace of rollout slackened a bit in 2016 as we saw close to 240 launches compared with approximately 300 seen in 2015, the issuances gathered steam again in 2017. As many as 271 ETFs were launched till Dec 28 (read: Why ETFs Are Thriving in 2017). 

The last three years have been particularly eventful compared with about 180 ETF initiations in 2014, 150 in 2013 and 170 rollouts in 2012. All these have taken the tally to 2,113 ETFs so far. Not only this, a considerable number of ETFs are in the pipeline, pointing to growing investor interest for exchange-traded products in this market (read: Too Many ETFs Flying in the Market?).

The credit goes mainly to a wide range of innovative and fresh-themed products in the space that suit changing macroeconomic dynamics and which hold investors’ attention despite the peaks and troughs of the market.

Below are seven ETFs launched in 2017 that have amassed a decent asset base.

iShares Core MSCI Intl Dev Mkts ETF (IDEV – Free Report)

Since its inception in March, the fund has amassed about $927.2 million in assets. The underlying MSCI World ex USA Investable Market Index gives exposure to multi-cap stocks from over 20 developed market countries. The 1283-stock fund charges 7 bps in fees. Japan holds the top spot (22.84%) in the fund while financials is the top sector.

Principal US Mega-Cap Multi-Factor ETF (USMC – Free Report)

Having entered the market in October, the fund has hoarded about $796.1 million in assets. The underlying index of the fund looks to provide investment results of the Nasdaq U.S. Mega Cap Select Leaders Index. The fund charges 12 bps in fees. The index uses a quantitative model designed to recognize equity securities of companies with the largest market cap in the Nasdaq US 500 Large Cap Index, with higher weights attached to securities that are less volatile.