What buyers ought to learn about investing in thematic ETFs

Traders should not underestimate the scope of thematic exchange-traded funds, says International X’s Jay Jacobs.

With greater than a 3rd of thematic ETFs available on the market having launched simply within the final yr and a half, the area is quickly increasing from its technology-focused roots, the agency’s senior vice chairman and head of analysis and technique instructed CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.

“I feel the error that some buyers is likely to be making is pondering of thematic investing as solely taking a look at expertise,” Jacobs mentioned within the Monday interview.

International X’s two fastest-growing ETFs this yr, U.S. Infrastructure Improvement (PAVE) and Lithium & Battery Tech (LIT), do not have a lot tech publicity in any respect, Jacobs added.

“Wanting outdoors of tech within the thematic area I feel has been key for buyers to seek out that diversification,” he mentioned.

Many prime thematic ETFs are down yr to this point, so buyers must also come to phrases with the potential dangers earlier than shopping for in, ETF Motion founding associate Alex Shepard mentioned in the identical interview.

“The truth that there will be elevated volatility and there will be elevated threat, that’s what you are chasing if you’re searching for above-average returns outdoors of those passive, broad-based indexes,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, new investing types may assist mitigate that threat like by no means earlier than, Shepard mentioned.

“Simply because nearly all of merchandise on the market within the market are deemed passive, it doesn’t suggest that they are not being utilized in an energetic means round a core place,” he mentioned.

Solely roughly $300 billion in belongings follows energetic methods, Shepard mentioned.

“Ten, 20 years in the past, buyers and advisors alike did not have the power to get inventive,” he mentioned. “Now you are taking a look at practically 2,800 U.S.-listed ETFs. They now have the instruments to tilt a portfolio a method or one other primarily based on their dangers, their goals, and that hasn’t been there traditionally.”