We model how ETFs compete and set fees. We show that ETF secondary market liquidity plays a key role in determining fees and leads to liquidity clienteles. More liquid ETFs charge higher fees in equilibrium and attract shorter horizon investors that are more sensitive to liquidity than to fees....

Market liquidity is expected to facilitate arbitrage, which in turn should affect the liquidity of the assets traded by arbitrageurs. We study this relationship using a unique dataset of equity and bond ETFs compiled from big trade-level data. We find that liquidity is an important determinant...

This paper provides novel evidence of information asymmetry in Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) markets, focusing on the informativeness of ETF flows. By decomposing daily ETF flows into three components, we find that certain ETF shares are created or redeemed in anticipation of forthcoming news,...

I investigate the relation between exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows and their underlying securities' returns using a unique fund-level database covering U.S. equity ETFs, adjusted for the flow reporting bias. I document price pressure and price reversal patterns in ETF flow-return relation in...

We propose that investor beliefs frequently “cross” in the sense that an investor may like company A, but dislike company B, while another investor may like company B, but dislike company A. Belief-crossing makes it almost impossible to construct a portfolio that is comprised solely of every...

Using a comprehensive sample of 164 domestic equity Smart Beta (SB) ETFs during 2003-2014 period, I analyze whether these funds beat their benchmarks by tilting their portfolios to well-known factors such as size, value, momentum, quality, beta and volatility. I then test if Smart Beta funds...

We conduct an analysis of Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs), Index and Equity mutual funds and their respective benchmark during the 2010-2015 period for the Portuguese fund industry. For the period 2010-2017 we test ETFs for price inefficiency (existence of deviations between prices and the Net...

Some exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are specifically designed for harvesting factor premiums, such as the size, value, momentum, and low-volatility effects. Other ETFs, however, may implicitly go against these factors. This paper analyzes the factor exposures of U.S. equity ETFs and finds that,...

For the DAX index market, this paper analyses the development of return differences between exchange traded funds (ETFs) and the DAX index from the perspective of long-term investors. The newly introduced methodology provides the opportunity to continuously identify long-term costs of passively...