ASX and CBOE exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are now worth more than $200 billion as investors increasingly choose to buy baskets of stocks rather than individual shares, according to ETF provider Betashares.
The co-founder of Betashares, Ilan Israelstam, said:
The Australian ETF industry ended the financial year on another record high, reaching the $200 billion mark in total assets under management after recording robust growth for the half year.
The ETF industry continues to go from strength to strength, as investors increasingly adopt ETFs to build their portfolios.
Israelstam said that as a group, ETFs trading on either the ASX or CBOE exchanges increased in size by 15.7%, or $27.8 billion, over the first half of CY24.
As of 30 June, these ETFs represented $205.3 billion in assets under management, which was a new industry record.
Over the six months to 30 June, a net $11 billion was invested in ETFs. That's more than double the net $4.8 billion invested in the first half of 2023, demonstrating their rising popularity.
In the meantime, unlisted managed funds continue to see increased outflows as investors favour the exchange-traded alternative, which was introduced to the Australian share market in 2001.
ETFs providing exposure to international shares received the highest inflow of funds in 1H CY24 at $5.6 billion. ETFs holding Australian shares were the second most popular, with $3.3 billion of inflows.
There are now 50 issuers of ETFs in Australia. Betashares ETFs recorded the largest net inflows for 1H CY24 at approximately $3 billion. Betashares, Vanguard and iShares received just under 80% of all inflows.
4 top-performing ASX ETFs of 2024 so far
Here are the top four ETFs based on performance in 1H CY24, according to Betashares.
| Rank | ETFs | Performance |
| 1 | Global X Semiconductor ETF (ASX: SEMI) | 38.8% |
| 2 | Global X Ultra Long Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (ASX: LNAS) | 33.7% |
| 3 | Global X FANG+ ETF (ASX: FANG) | 32.5% |
| 4 | Betashares Geared US Equity Fund Currency Hedged (ASX: GGUS) | 29.4% |
4 largest ETFs of 2024 so far
Betashares also published a list of the largest ETFs by market capitalisation in 1H CY24.
| Rank | ETFs | Market cap |
| 1 | Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS) | $15,316,737,407 |
| 2 | iShares S&P 500 AUD ETF (ASX: IVV) | $8,320,129,249 |
| 3 | Vanguard Msci Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS) | $8,136,003,527 |
| 4 | VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL) | $6,230,183,585 |
We recently revealed the Australian shares ETFs that delivered the best three-year returns, as well as the global shares ETFs that delivered 50% to 70% returns last year.
