September 2024 was a successful month for the US ETF industry, with 126 new listings, according to CFRA's FUNDynamix ETF Database.

Fixed income ETFs accounted for 62 of these listings and are often issued simultaneously by issuers as a product family. An example of this was State Street's launch of 14 target-maturity corporate and municipal bond ETFs, which hold bonds that mature in specific calendar years. The target maturity bond ETF space is large, with $54 billion in assets as of September 30, 2024.

The space is dominated by two issuers: Invesco (with its Bulletshares brand, which it acquired when it bought Guggenheim's ETF business in 2017) and Blackrock (with its iBonds brand). The target-maturity bond ETF category received almost $13 billion in net inflows through the first three quarters of 2024. State Street will compete for a piece of that growing pie by differentiating its products as managed in active mode.

Another issuer that launched a 'family' of fixed income ETFs was Stone Ridge, a new entrant to the ETF industry. It launched a series of 28 ETFs that hold government securities and are designed to pay monthly distributions by a specific date.

ETFs that use derivatives or adopt quantitative strategies are also growing in number. 14 leveraged/inverse ETFs launched per month from AXS, GraniteShares and REX Shares. Ten fixed-income (buffer) ETFs were also launched during the month.

The full list of September US ETF launches is provided below: