Here's a somewhat surprising trend from 2012: Exchange-traded funds, seen by some as the wave of the future in investing vehicles, have been closing down at a surprising pace. Over the course of the year, 95 ETFs or exchange-traded notes have shut down. That's more than the number of ETFs that closed in 2010 and 2011 combined. It's the most ETFs that have shut down in a single year for the entire 19-year history of ETFs.
And it's not the case that the market had been flooded with new issues this year. Through the end of November, 145 new ETFs had gone on sale this year, the fewest since 2009. Altogether, there are still more than 1400 ETFs available to investors.
It may just be that the industry is reaching maturity, and ETFs are now forced to sink or swim on their own, rather than drawing in assets just because they're hot. From here on out, ETFs will have to prove their worth.
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