ETFs are rising in popularity

ETFs were first created as an alternative to mutual funds, combining the diversification benefits of a mutual fund with the ability to trade throughout the day on a stock exchange.

The pros of exchange-traded funds include ease of access through brokerage apps and retirement savings accounts

One unexpected perk is that ETFs are typically associated with lower capital gains tax requirements. Read this list to learn more about the benefits of investing in ETFs.

BlackRock says investor demand and improvements in underlying fund technology have supercharged ETF availability in 2025

Investors are likely most familiar with ETFs that invest in an index or other grouping of stocks. However, BlackRock breaks down a wide variety of options, including commodity ETFs, currency ETFs, and bond ETFs.

Look inside a retail investor's portfolio

Online investing platform eToro conducted a survey of retail investors in June 2024. It explored what assets they held and what types of stocks they liked to purchase. The most commonly held asset was cash, with 76% of retail investors holding cash in their portfolios. The next most popular asset was domestic stocks, with 49% of investors.

Crypto ETFs are driving cryptocurrency adoption

In 2024, the SEC approved ETFs that track the price of bitcoin called spot bitcoin ETFs. These funds have since significantly increased investment inflows into cryptocurrency markets.

ETFs and mutual funds are both taxed on capital gains and on dividends.

A bond ETF lets someone invest in multiple bonds through one single fund

There are risks, there are also major perks to buying a bond ETF, like the ability to purchase bonds on the stock market.

ETFs and mutual funds both pool money into a basket of investments—but the key difference between them is that mutual funds trade just once per day after the market closes, while ETFs trade like stocks throughout the day at fluctuating prices.

Retail investing by the numbers

When average Americans began pouring into the stock market, Wall Street wasn’t sure if its new guests were there to stay. But at the end of 2023, Public confidently declared that retail investors “weren’t going anywhere” after 30 million new individuals began buying and selling stock. Download the report to learn more here.

There are more than 300 different thematic ETFs

Exchange-traded funds seem to offer something for everyone. As tracked by ETF.com, there are 338 thematic ETFs, offering exposure to “baskets” of stocks covering global infrastructure, genomics, cannabis, and more.

Explore a giant ETF database

Given that there are more than 3,000 ETFs trading in the US, the list of options for individual investors may be overwhelming. VettaFi provides a database that allows potential investors to sort funds by sector, region, strategy, fund issuers, and more. It tracks nearly 100 funds focused on general technology but just one that focuses on copper mining.

About 30% of financial advisors opted for fixed and indexed annuities in 2023

An infographic that shows the most common types of investments used by financial advisors with their clients in 2023 also found that nine in 10 advisors used ETFs, and three-quarters invested in cash and cash equivalents.

Leveraged ETFs made headlines in 2026 as a boom in single-stock leveraged products tied to AI companies drove volatility and record retail demand.

Retail investors can get exposure to commodities via various financial vehicles

While retail investors likely won't go out and purchase a bushel of commodity wheat to trade, they can get exposure to the commodities market via commodity ETFs sold on traditional stock exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq and other financial vehicles. There are benefits to adding commodities to a retail investor portfolio (such as a hedge against inflation and a typically low correlation with more traditional asset prices), experts caution that commodities are usually volatile investments.

The alternative investments industry is expected to grow significantly in the coming years

More specifically, as of 2024, the alternative investments industry was expected to grow to more than $24T in assets in 2028—up from roughly $15T in 2022.

Test your ETF knowledge

A 10-question quiz from the SEC allows investors to test their basic knowledge about exchange-traded funds and their investing counterparts, mutual funds. Here’s a sample question: Is the past performance of a fund a good indicator of future results? (Hint, the answer is no).

See the top 100 ETFs by trading volume

This list grabs the top 100 by trading volume, or the average number of shares that have traded hands over a 3-month period. Top of the list is a semiconductor-focused fund from Direxion, followed by other tech-centric offerings.

Biotech ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to multiple promising companies in the industry

Biotech ETFs offer a diversified alternative to purchasing an individual biotech stock and gambling on whether an individual company’s clinical trial yields the next blockbuster cancer treatment or an absolute flop. This list of the top biotech ETFs in 2025 can help you learn more about them.

The total cost of owning an ETF is the sum of the holding costs and the transaction costs

Holding costs include things like the expense ratio, or the annual fee that a fund issuer charges. Transaction costs include things like brokerage commissions, or the fee that a broker charges to enact a trade. However, in recent years, most brokers have essentially eliminated commissions on ETF trading.

Buffered ETFs are designed to protect investors from market downside while still providing exposure to upside

Investors typically hold them for a defined period before they “reset.” During periods of market volatility, buffered ETFs can seem particularly appealing.

Explore a list of the world’s weirdest and wildest ETFs

Whether you’re leaping straight into the future and looking for stocks picked by AI, a sci-fi aficionado who wants to invest in space travel, or a drama enthusiast looking to make money on stock market volatility, the ETF market’s weird corners have something for you.

Retail investors are getting burned by long/short strategies

In the US, many retail investors lack the SEC-mandated status (a high enough net worth, income, and other factors) to directly invest in hedge funds. The regulator considers hedge funds too risky for the masses. Hedge fund-like strategies have emerged as a workaround, despite potential pitfalls.

Explore a step-by-step guide for getting started as a retail investor

Instead of purchasing individual stocks and bonds, new investors may want to start in funds that track an index—like the S&P 500—or that hold a group of themed stocks.

In early 2021, GameStop's stock surge brought retail investing into the spotlight.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF is one of the most highly traded funds on the market

State Street, a popular ETF issuer, is responsible for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. This fund trades under the SPY ticker, and State Street maintains a web page with key facts and figures on SPY. For instance, its expense ratio is 0.0945%, or $9.45 on an initial $10K investment.

Index funds are typically structured as either mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, but investors can manually recreate an index through 'direct indexing.'

The SEC recently approved bitcoin ETFs in landmark investing decision

In January 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission made history when it decided to allow fund issuers to launch bitcoin ETFs. This new class of exchange-traded fund tracks spot bitcoin prices, essentially allowing investors to hold bitcoin without actually having to buy the crypto.

Alternative investments have become more popular since the 2008 financial crisis

When the traditional markets crashed during the 2008 financial crisis, many people saw the value of their traditional investments plummet and began to look into alternatives as a result.

Many retail investors exited the stock market after 2008, leading to a drop in individual market participation

That changed thanks to GameStop, federal stimulus checks, and strong corporate results in the first quarter of 2021. This chart plots how much retail investors poured into the market each day, reaching records in early 2023.

There are monthly dividend ETFs that pay you to hold them

Traditional dividend stocks and funds pay out quarterly, or four times a year. A select group of stocks and funds pay out monthly, putting cash in investors’ hands 12 times a year. These monthly dividend funds are popular because their regular payouts can help keep budgets on track.

Electronic trading transformed investing, ushering in a new era for retail investors in which average Americans could research stocks online and then use early platforms like StreetSmart and E-Trade to conduct their transactions

In the early 1990s, stock brokerages knew that online trading would be a great equalizer, creating opportunities for more individuals to buy and sell stocks.

Learn how to build a retail investing toolkit

Retail investors may not have the same resources institutional players do, but thanks to the internet, they can access several free tools that provide a leg up. These tools do everything from recommending portfolio allocations to helping investors screen stocks.

An expense ratio represents the cost to own an ETF over the course of the year

For instance, an expense ratio of 0.5% would add a cost of $50 on an investment of $10K. And while expense ratios have on average decreased in recent years, a particularly hefty fee can still eat into total profits.

Retail investors are not professionals—they invest their own money

For retail investors, the stakes may seem higher and more personal. Critics say that this dynamic means that retail investors are more susceptible to behavioral biases that could lead them to make poor decisions when it comes to buying and selling assets. For instance, fear of missing out could cause a retail investor to buy a stock that is popular but not a financially worthy investment.

Contrary to popular belief, random investments can outperform managed funds.

Retail investors cannot directly invest in private credit funds—but other financial vehicles can offer exposure to the industry

For example, as some US regulations have loosened in recent years, retail investors have begun to get exposure to the private credit market via ETFs that invest in publicly traded financial vehicles with private credit exposure, such as BDCs.

People often invest in alternative investments to diversify their portfolios

Because alternatives often have little correlation with traditional investments like stocks and bonds, adding them to a traditional portfolio can reduce its overall risk exposure.

Nearly half of billionaires planned to increase exposure to direct private equity investments in 2026.

Pension funds' allocations to risky, alternative investments increased by 25% between 2001 and 2021

The portion of pension funds' risky investments, including alternative investments such as private equity, increased from 14% in 2001 to 39% in 2021. Analysts say private equity investments have delivered higher returns than traditional assets like stocks and bonds. Increased investment in private equity has also given pensions a way to recover from the 2008 financial crisis without necessarily investing more money.

How COVID-19 brought new investors into the market

With fees removed from the equation and more time at home thanks to pandemic-related lockdowns, Americans who had never bought or sold stocks before started participating in the market. Charles Schwab dubs this cohort “Generation Investor” and notes individuals from all age ranges took part in this phenomenon. Study up here.

Explore a list of the world's largest mutual funds.

Investing in mutual funds can give you access to a wide range of securities, such as stocks and bonds, with just a single investment.

The difference between stocks and bonds

While more people invest in stocks than bonds, experts say owning both can make for a healthier portfolio. Stocks are considered a riskier investment than bonds, but tend to have higher returns. While bonds might be the safer option, they won’t grow your wealth as quickly.

Real estate investment trusts help give portfolios more exposure to real estate

Also known as a REIT, a real estate investment trust is a type of company that invests in a portfolio of real estate, such as apartment buildings or malls. Investors can buy shares of the REIT to participate in its portfolio’s gains and losses.

NFT trading volumes rose 700% in the third quarter of 2021

Non-fungible tokens, digital assets backed by smart contracts, gained mainstream recognition in 2021 as the digital assets’ popularity rose in tandem with investors’ appetite for risk. NFTs are unique and not divisible.

Retail investors are average joes, while institutional investors often move billions of dollars a day

Retail investors often trade 100 shares at a time, while institutional investors trade 10,000 or more. The biggest difference is that, unlike retail investors, institutional investors are professionals who are trading someone else’s money.

Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle created the first index fund, the Vanguard 500, in 1976—but the fund didn't take off until the 1990s.

Some institutional investors are growing wary of private equity, as certain investments underperform traditional market indices

Private equity often attracts investors who can afford to tie up capital for long periods of time in exchange for higher returns than traditional investments. For many years, private equity at least tracked with the S&P 500 in terms of returns to investors, but in 2024 and 2025, it underperformed and posted declining returns.

Mutual funds were first created and sold in the US in 1924.

The 'Big Three' asset managers—Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock—collectively manage more than $30T in assets and are the largest shareholders in roughly 88% of all the companies listed on the S&P 500.