It comes at no surprise that I’m a big believer in ETF’s. There are a ton of different reasons why, which I describe in great details on the website but the biggest one comes down to one simple word: “Costs”. ETF’s are much cheaper than alternatives for most investors and over longer term periods, it ends up making a ton of difference.
Do Not Generalize
That being said, it would be dangerous to simply assume that all ETF’s are cheap just like saying all mutual funds are too expensive. The fact is that there are some (although it’s still a small minority) mutual funds that have reasonable costs. In the same way, some ETF’s are much more expensive than you might imagine. Today, I took a look at all US and Canadian ETF’s to find out the most expensive ones in terms of MER. Here are the results:
Most Expensive US ETF’s
ETF Name Market Cap Price Return YTD Fees
AGLS Accuvest Global Long Short ETF 15147999.76 21.64 5.05 3.11
HDGE Active Bear ETF/The 278572631.8 24.49 -2.12 3.07
PSP PowerShares Global Listed Private Equity Portfolio 266066986.1 8.46 5.88 2.55
ACCU Accuvest Global Opportunities ETF 13194499.97 23.99 N/A 1.78
GIVE AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF 14993999.48 49.98 N/A 1.7
TVIX VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short Term ETN 430409240.7 8.17 -74.3 1.65
USLV VelocityShares 3x Long Silver ETN linked to the S&P GSCI Silver Index 67947387.7 26.16 -4.66 1.65
UGAZ VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN 6848060.608 15.36 N/A 1.65
DGAZ VelocityShares 3x Inverse Natural Gas ETN 7234350.204 85.11 N/A 1.65
DSLV VelocityShares 3x Inverse Silver ETN linked to S&P GSCI Silver Inverse Index 6885950.565 39.2 -35.87 1.65
TVIZ VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Medium Term ETN 6316500.187 42.11 -29.99 1.65
PCEF PowerShares CEF Income Composite Portfolio 297265167.2 24.1679 6.15 1.56
CRUD Teucrium Crude Oil Fund 1880075.097 37.6 -15.66 1.54
SOYB Teucrium Soybean Fund 4585999.966 22.93 3.94 1.53
WEAT Teucrium Wheat Fund 4522580.624 20.1 -10.27 1.53
CANE Teucrium Sugar Fund 2872576.475 19.15 -16.48 1.53
NAGS Teucrium Natural Gas Fund 3171042.204 10.57 -23.85 1.5
SSAM Rockledge SectorSAM ETF 2575999.975 25.76 N/A 1.5
CORN Teucrium Corn Fund 49910144.81 35.65 -15.08 1.49
DENT Dent Tactical ETF 6626287.46 17.6701 -5.73 1.49
Most Expensive Canadian ETF’s
ETF Name Market Cap Price Return YTD Fees
FIE/A iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income Fund 120452819.8 6.05 2.71 1.84
HAW Horizons North American Growth ETF 13000000 13 9.52 1.74
HAG Horizons Gartman ETF 8372979.164 7.61 -1.55 1.69
HAP Horizons Income Plus ETF 11694471.36 9.21 0.77 1.47
VEF Vanguard MSCI EAFE Index ETF CAD-Hedged 22923500.06 24.13 0.17 1.44
VEE Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF 57335998.54 23.89 1.75 1.43
TXF First Asset Tech Giants Covered Call ETF 1939999.938 9.7 4.82 1.39
HGU Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bull Plus ETF 145942489.6 9.14 -21.26 1.37
HFD Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Capped Financials Bear Plus ETF 19619800.57 7.46 -7.33 1.37
HFU Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Capped Financials Bull Plus ETF 18374399.19 10.44 3.16 1.37
HGD Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bear Plus ETF 25778751.37 10.07 5.67 1.36
HEU Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Capped Energy Bull Plus ETF 23055000.31 4.35 -26.27 1.36
HIX Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 Inverse ETF 84782249.45 11.535 1.29 1.35
HMD Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Bear Plus ETF 10819725.04 7.77 14.43 1.35
HMU Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Bull Plus ETF 5613549.709 7.22 -23.11 1.35
HJU Horizons BetaPro MSCI Emerging Markets Bull Plus ETF 5501999.855 9.17 -1.61 1.35
HOU Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bull Plus ETF 199200500.5 4.062 -35.93 1.34
HBD Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold Bullion Bear Plus ETF 5171249.39 13.79 -10.4 1.34
HBU Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold Bullion Bull Plus ETF 53090797.42 19.81 3.5 1.33
HED Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Capped Energy Bear Plus ETF 8343999.863 5.6 23.08 1.33
I think it’s fair to say that while some of these ETF’s might make a lot of sense for you and be good purchases, saying that they are cheap because they are ETF’s would be making a big mistake.