By the end of 1999 only 33 exchange traded funds existed in the world with assets of $39.6 billion. At the end of 2009 there were a total of 1,939 ETFs worldwide with assets totaling over $1.03 trillion according to research from Black Rock. Due to the recovery of the market it surged to a 45% increase in 2009.

Money poured into the ETFs as the market made a huge comeback from the damaging financial crisis. In 2008 the S&P 500 was up 23% in 2009 after falling 38.5% in 2008. The Nasdaq, made a heroic recovery of 43.5% in 2009 after dropping 40.5% in 2008. ETFs assets appear to be on path to reach $1.2 trillion by the end of 2010, according to Deutsche Bank.

In Europe the number of ETFs grew from 6 to 815 during 2000 to 2009. In the U.S. by the end of 2009 the number of ETFs reached 772. Domestic ETF assets grew dramatically between 1999 and 2009 from $33 billion to over $705 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal ETF assets could pass that of hedge funds. ETFs have grown faster because investors can gain such quick access to liquidity. Hedge fund assets hit $1.53 billion by the third quarter of 2009 according to Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research of Chicago.

According to Cerulli Associates ETFs already have a great dollar amount of assets than to separately managed accounts which were at $527 billion by the end of third quarter 2009. Another source of quickly growing funds is commodity funds. Separately managed funds grew from $100 million in 2002 to $22.2 billion by year end 2009.

In 2008 when the market condition weakened, investors began looking for other investment options and found ETFs to be among the best. As investors searched out alternative investments they found ETFs offered less risk, more price transparency, liquidity, better product structure, holdings transparency and less cost issues. ETFs have become among the most attractive of investment options.

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