Rampant uncertainty and ongoing market volatility in 2025 have done little to dampen the ETF industry. As fund launches continue, three new ETFs highlight new and developing trends in this year's market and economy. The intersection of robotics and AI, growing investor enthusiasm for private markets, and a policy of deregulation by the current U.S. administration create the backdrop for these recent innovative ETF launches.
Humanoid Robots: A 2025-and-Beyond Market Trend
At the beginning of June, KraneShares announced the launch of the KraneShares Global Humanoid and Embodied Intelligence Index ETF (KOID). The fund is the first U.S. ETF to harness the evolution and adoption of humanoid robotics in the coming years. These robots sit at the intersection of robotics and AI. Designed to function in spaces typically occupied by humans, humanoid robots will be able to sense and interact with the world around them.
The industry has a number of staunch believers and enthusiasts. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, believes the humanoid robot industry will be the next “multitrillion dollar industry.” Morgan Stanley estimates that it could reach a market cap of $5 trillion by 2050, with more than 1 billion humanoid robots in use.
AI enthusiasm is responsible for a significant percentage of market gains in the last two years. Generative AI development, adoption, and roll out buoyed tech stocks ever higher for much of 2024. Humanoid robots could be the next big opportunity for AI enthusiasts, with KOID positioned to capture industry momentum.
Private Market ETF Enthusiasm Grows in 2025
Also launched at the beginning of June, the VanEck Alternative Asset Manager ETF (GPZ) offers a different spin on private market investing. The fund seeks to track the MarketVector Alternative Asset Managers Index. The index is rules-based, modified market-cap weighted and float adjusted.
The strategy is one that invests in the public equities of alternative asset managers such as Blackstone, Brookfield, and Apollo. These managers are firms that invest in alternatives across private markets. This includes private equity, credit, real estate, and infrastructure. The thesis behind the strategy is founded on the capabilities of the managers and their position within the finance ecosystem.
VanEck believes that alts asset managers demonstrate notable fundraising capabilities and are positioned in sectors with strong growth and favorable, long-term tailwinds. In addition, assets within the private market typically differ in their return profiles. They also carry risk profiles unique to the asset class compared to publicly traded assets. This in turn creates the potential for differentiated, elevated returns and performance for alts asset managers.
GPZ also elegantly sidesteps growing liquidity concerns about private market investing via an ETF. Because the strategy focuses on the asset managers instead of the assets, it remains firmly grounded within public markets. The ETF captures the growing appetite by investors for private assets through its investment in the public stocks of alternative asset managers.
Capturing Deregulation Trends
Rounding out notable new-to-market ETFs is The Free Markets ETF (FMKT) launched by Tidal Investments. FMKT is the first of its kind in its approach to capture the companies that benefit from new and impending deregulation policies. It is sub-advised by SYKON Asset Management, Point Bridge Capital, LLC, and Tactical Rotation Management, LLC.
The fund uses an AI screen to scrape company filings, earnings calls, and regulatory databases “to identify firms discussing specific regulatory relief opportunities in real-time” according to the press release. The ability of AI to rapidly scan and sort through massive amounts of data will help to keep data current. In addition to the AI screen, the fund also uses fundamental analysis when constructing the portfolio.
The strategy is one predicated on the perceived financial burden of federal regulation ($2.1 trillion annually according to Tidal estimates). As these regulations unwind, the firm believes this strategy will capitalize on unleashed money and productivity previously locked behind the regulatory wall. Companies from sectors with high sensitivity to regulatory costs, such as energy, financials, and health care, could benefit most from deregulation trends.
FMKT uses a high conviction approach to investing in this trend, with a portfolio of approximately 30 companies. It seeks to capture current as well as future deregulation trends across administrations.
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