Amplify ETFs has announced its flagship fund, the Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY US), has reached $500m in assets under management since its launch in April 2016.

Christian Magoon, founder and CEO of Amplify ETFs.

The milestone was reached due to a combination of investor demand and strong performance.

The fund has returned 44.8% in the past year and generated a cumulative return of 115.5% since inception.

Christian Magoon, founder and CEO of Amplify ETFs, said, “We knew when we launched IBUY in April 2016 it had potential to be disruptive. Now with more than $500 million in assets and positive performance we feel investors have affirmed IBUY’s position as a bellwether ETF for the evolving retail sector.”

IBUY tracks the EQM Online Retail Index, a rules-based index which tracks a globally diverse basket of companies that fall into three online retail categories – marketplace, travel and merchants – all of which must generate 70% of revenue from online or virtual sales. The index has 39 constituents (as at 30 June 2018) and is most heavily exposed to the US (77%), followed by the UK (6%), China (5%) and Japan (4%).

IBUY has an expense ratio of 65 bps and is listed on Nasdaq.

ProShares recently launched a comparable ETF, the ProShares Online Retail ETF (ONLN US). This fund also enables investors to participate in the continued upside potential of the online retail theme in a single trade. It tracks the ProShares Online Retail Index, which consists of both US and non-US companies listed on a US stock exchange. ONLN is slightly cheaper than IBUY with an expense ratio of 58 bps.