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ETF Research and Analysis Site Upgrades and Expands

June 22, 2010
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ETF Trends, a five-year-old site that provides research and analysis of the exchange-traded fund market, has launched a premium site that will give investors expanded services.

The new site adds three levels to its original, free version—Premium, Ultra and Pro. The first two levels give individual investors the same data available on the free site, plus expanded features like access to model portfolios and the ability to create customized portfolios. They also provide active portfolio alerts and a complete list of holdings in each ETF. The Pro version is available to financial professionals and provides everything the other levels offer, but with the addition of advisor-specific content. The Premium site starts at $14.99 a month, while the Pro version has a $99 monthly fee.

Tom Lydon, president of Global Trends Investments and publisher of ETF Trends, says he wanted to go beyond the analysis and data investors can find on other sites, like Morningstar or Yahoo! Finance. The new version of ETF Trends was in development for about a year before its soft launch last week.

“There’s not one main place to go to get info on ETFs and we wanted to have that one place,” Lydon says. “Investors are taking control of their portfolios and aren’t as trusting to money managers so they’re looking for more information. This is a more dynamic site.”

Lydon says there are more than $1 trillion in ETF assets worldwide, but ETFs still only comprise about 7% of overall mutual fund assets. However, he expects to see continued growth in the space as investors seek increased transparency, increased tax efficiency and continued focus on underlying fees.

“[ETFs] have huge momentum right now,” Lydon says. “This momentum won’t slow down any time soon. As individual investors and clients become more and more concerned with things like liquidity and expenses, advisors will shift assets from mutual funds to ETFs.”

Tom Lydon is editor and publisher of ETF Trends, a website with daily news and commentary about the fast-changing trends in the exchange traded fund (ETF) industry. Mr. Lydon is also president of Global Trends Investments, an investment advisory firm specializing in the creation of customized portfolios for high-net worth individuals. He has been involved in money management for more than 25 years.

Mr. Lydon began his career with Fidelity Investments and was a founding member of Charles Schwab's Institutional Advisory Board. He serves on the Board of Directors for U.S. Global Investors, Inc. and Rydex | SGI; and is also on the Pacific Investment Management Co., LLC (PIMCO) Advisory Board for RIAs.

In early 2010, Mr. Lydon helped create the CNBC Model ETF Portfolios. He is a regular contributor to major print, radio, and television media and is invited to speak to audiences at financial conferences around the world. Mr. Lydon is the author of The ETF Trend Following Playbook, as well as iMoney: Profitable Exchange-Traded Fund Strategies for Every Investor.

Are you moving more client assets into ETFs and away from mutual funds?