The U.S. ETF sector has expanded significantly over recent decades, both in product variety and total volume. According to JPMorgan data, as of late August, there were more than 5,100 ETFs listed in the United States, representing approximately $16.4 trillion in assets under management. "New launches remain robust as providers address new investment themes, offer more granular exposures, expand investment universe coverage, diversify the range of structured outcomes, and continue transferring active management strategies into the ETF wrapper," the firm notes.
Against a backdrop of global growth in exchange-traded funds, JPMorgan highlights four prominent trends currently shaping the global ETF industry:
1. Active ETFs Continue Rapid Expansion
Active products have accounted for more than 60% of new ETF launches in each of the last six years. In the United States, active ETFs now outnumber passive ones, with year-over-year asset growth of around 80%, reaching $1.8 trillion. They are also a key driver for issuers and investors in international markets such as EMEA, where assets under management have roughly doubled year-over-year to $122 billion.
2. Option-Based ETFs Are Booming
Option-based ETFs utilize options contracts (calls and puts) to achieve specific objectives, most commonly income generation (yield) and downside risk mitigation (hedging). Assets in U.S. option-based ETF strategies grew approximately 50% year-over-year to roughly $280 billion (as of mid-May 2026). Covered call funds, which sell call options to generate income, remain the largest segment. However, the fastest growth is occurring in structured outcome ETFs, which aim to deliver payoff profiles similar to structured products.
3. Rise of Leveraged ETFs
Leveraged ETFs, which use debt and financial derivatives to amplify the daily returns of an underlying benchmark index, have also gained popularity. Over the past decade, assets under management (AUM) in U.S.-listed leveraged ETFs have increased nearly sixfold, reaching around $175 billion in equity strategies and over $190 billion across all asset classes (as of mid-May 2026). Growth has been increasingly concentrated in technology-linked exposures, including the Nasdaq, and single-stock leveraged products.
4. Resurgence of Thematic ETFs
Thematic ETFs experienced a major surge early in the pandemic as investor demand grew for exposures tied to innovation and digitalization. Many of these themes subsequently underperformed significantly in late 2021 and throughout 2022 due to market saturation and valuation compression, resulting in a prolonged demand slump. However, they have rebounded over the past year, with themes linked to artificial intelligence development and physical infrastructure buildout attracting substantial capital inflows.
