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12 Days of Trading - Day 7 - Move Over, Cabbage Patch Kids—Active ETFs Are This Year's Must-Have

Written by Mark Montgomery | Dec 16, 2025 3:39:40 PM

Ready for a playful trip down memory lane?

When it comes to nostalgia, I know things ain’t what they used to be, but let’s see what decade you came from by the toys at the top of Santa’s list in each era.

Shrinky Dinks, Stretch Armstrong, Rubik’s Cube, Hungry Hippos, Cabbage Patch Kids, Transformers, Gameboy, Thunderbirds Tracey Island, Furbys….I could go on and can almost feel the envy…I know not many had Thunderbirds Tracey Island under their Christmas tree.

So what is it that everyone wants in 2025? Well that’s an easy one: Active ETFs, of course. It doesn’t matter if you are an issuer, an investor or even an exchange, everyone is getting in on the act. 

So much so that we have some stats for you: 

Net inflows into Active ETFs have grown their AUM by 38% this year.

Average Daily Value Traded is climbing more steeply, doubling from last year.

Compared to 2020, there are three times as many Active issuers this year across eight as many products with plenty more to come.

Demand for traditional passive ETFs remains strong as new thematic products provide choice for investors alongside indexed products and easy exposure to other asset classes in a tradeable equity type wrapper.

Whichever you choose, this year’s favourite has brought healthy competition which means a Happy New Year for ETFs.

If you need to understand the ETF or Equity market landscape better or measure your product against your peers, our platform with its Market Structure Intelligence tools could be just what you need.

Please contact us here to find out more.