Replacements For Disappearing ETFs

No one can argue just how far the ETF industry has come since the debut of the first ever exchange-traded fund in 1993. The investment landscape now boasts a lineup of nearly 1,500 offerings, allowing investors to gain cheap and easy access to nearly every corner of the investable universe. From the plain-vanilla funds to the more complex products, issuers continue to raise the bar, providing innovative tools to all walks of investors. However, the ever-evolving product roster has also led to waves of ETF closures as issuers struggle to attract enough interest from investors. Although some might view this as a sign of weakness for the space as a whole, it is important to remember that the industry is still relatively young and that closures are just a natural part of the industry's life cycle . In the past two months, investors said goodbye to a slew of products from issuers IndexIQ, FocusShares, and Direxion. But of course with more than 1,400 options, there are plenty of alternatives investors can pick to replace these disappearing ETFs:

Replacing IndexIQ's South Korea Small Cap ETF (SKOR)

IndexIQ, the issuer best known for itsHedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (QAI), closed itsIQ South Korea Small Cap ETF (SKOR) on August 17th of this year. Despite being the only fund to offer targeted exposure to the small capitalization sector of the South Korean equity market, SKOR failed to attract significant assets and interest from niche investors. For those looking to capture this particular corner of the market, the options are a bit limited :

• MSCI South Korea Index Fund (EWY): With nearly $2.7 billion in total assets and an average daily trading volume of over 1.6 million shares, this ETF is by far the largest and most liquid fund to offer exposure to the performance of the South Korean equity market. EWY's portfolio of over 100 individual securities are, however, dominated by giant and large cap stocks.
• South Korea AlphaDEX Fund (FKO): Another South Korean ETF primarily comprised of large cap stocks, FKO utilizes the unique AlphaDEX methodology to provide exposure to this corner of the market. The strategy involves aquant-based screening techniques that attempts to identify the stocks poised to generate excess returns relative to broader benchmarks.
• MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index Fund (AXJS ): Although not a pure play on the South Korean equity market, this fund does provide exposure to small cap stocks from Asian markets (excluding Japan). Currently, South Korean small cap equities make up nearly 17.5% of the fund's total assets.
• MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index Fund (EEMS): This ETF focuses on the small capitalization segment of emerging market equities. With over 660 individual securities in its portfolio, EEMS dedicates over 16% of its assets towards small cap stocks from South Korea.

Alternatives For FocusShares' ETFs

FocusShares, which made its debut in April of 2011, shuttered its lineup of 15 ETFs last month. Although many of the funds were among the cheapest ETFs in their respectiveETFdb Categoriesand all were eligible forcommission-free trading in Scottrade accounts, the products were not able to accumulate significant and sustainable assets over their short year-long span. Thankfully for those investors looking for alternatives to the now closed FocusShares' ETFs, there are plenty of options :

Ticker	Closed ETF	ETFdb Category	Alternative ETFs
FMU	US Market Index ETF	All Cap Equities	VTI
FLG	Large Cap Index ETF	Large Cap Blend Equities	SPY,IVV,VV,IWB
FMM	Mid Cap Index ETF	Mid Cap Blend Equities	MDY,IJH,EWRM
FOS	Small Cap IndexETF	Small Cap Blend Equities	IWM,IJR,VB,SCHA,IWC
FBM	Basic Materials IndexETF	Materials	XLB, VAW,RTM
FCQ	Communication Services IndexETF	Communications Equities	VOX, IYZ, XTL
FCL	Consumer Cyclical Index ETF	Consumer Discretionary Equities	XLY,VCR, FXD,RCD
FCD	Consumer Defensive Index ETF	Consumer Staples Equities	XLP, VDC,KXI,RHS
FEG	Energy Index ETF	Energy Equities	XLE, VDE, IYE
FFL	Financial Services Index ETF	Financials Equities	XLF,VFH,IYF
FHC	Health Care IndexETF	Health & Biotech Equities	XLV,IBB,VHT,XBI
FIL	IndustrialsIndex ETF	Industrials Equities	XLI,IYJ,VIS
FRL	Real EstateIndex ETF	Real Estate	VNQ,IYR,ICF,RWR
FTQ	TechnologyIndex ETF	Technology Equities	XLK,VGT,IYW
FUI	UtilitiesIndex ETF	Utilities Equities	XLU,VPU,IDU

Swap Out Closed Direxion ETFs With These Picks

Direxion is by far one of the largest issuers of leveraged exchange-traded funds with lineup of nearly 50 Bear & Bull products. Earlier this month, however, the issuer closed nine of its 3x leveraged funds. Unfortunately, four of these ETFs do not have any leveraged alternatives: Daily Agribusiness Bull 3X Shares (COWL), Daily Agribusiness Bear 3X Shares (COWS), Daily India Bear 3X Shares (INDZ) and Daily Retail Bear 3X Shares (RETS). For the other five funds, investors have multiple ETF options to swap out the closed Direxion offerings :

Ticker	Closed ETF	ETFdb Category	Alternative ETFs
MATS	Daily Basic Materials Bear 3X Shares	Leveraged Equities	SMN
SICK	Daily Healthcare Bear 3X Shares	Leveraged Equities	RXD
LHB	Direxion Daily Latin America Bear 3X Shares	Leveraged Equities	BZQ, SMK
BRIL	Direxion Daily BRIC Bull 3X Shares	Leveraged Equities	UBR,RUSL,INDL,YINN,XPP
BRIS	Direxion Daily BRIC Bear 3X Shares	Leveraged Equities	BZQ,RUSS,FXP,YANG

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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.