The "ETF Apocalypse" Could Lead to Massive Stock Market Losses

The whole idea of passive investing - investors easily tracking the market by owning index funds - has been turned on its head by exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Now, most ETFs are index funds, but the investors who own those funds have become anything but passive. Active ETF trading has become the new passive investing, which makes ETFs potential financial weapons of mass destruction.

I've been warning my readers about the dangers of ETFs for years - namely, that these vehicles can lead to a crash when so-called passive investors turn active, as they have been doing lately.

Barron's front-page story last Monday morning about John C. Bogle, the so-called "father of passive investing" through mutual funds, got me riled up. It's a good summation of some of the problems with index ETFs, as Bogle sees it, but it doesn't go into the nitty gritty at all.

We will, though, right here, because doing that will help give us what we need to protect ourselves from the chaos that could be just around the corner...

[mmpazkzone name="in-story" network="9794" site="307044" id="137008" type="4"]

A Threat 40 Years in the Making

The index fund universe, both mutual funds and ETFs, is gigantic.

Since John Bogle launched the first passive index-tracking mutual fund at Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares (MUTF: VFINX) in 1976, some $7 trillion is now invested in funds that don't have a manager but are constructed to track indexes.

ETF Apocalypse

Index funds account for 43% of all funds, and they are expected to top 50% by 2021.

Investors have sunk, for the time being, $3.4 trillion into ETFs.

ETFs, which trade like stocks, offer far greater liquidity than mutual funds, which are bought and sold based on their closing price or net asset value. Net asset value (NAV) is determined after the close of the market between 4:00 and 6:00 every weekday evening.

NAVs can be calculated all day, and some mutual funds and pricing services offer intraday NAV calculations. However, transactions on mutual funds occur after the close at the then-determined NAV.

DONE WITH STOCKS: There's a whole new way of making money in the markets without having to deal with volatile, expensive shares (but it's going to be much more expensive come Monday). Click here for details...

Generally, fees on mutual funds have been higher than fees on ETFs, though these days many mutual fund families have reduced fees on index funds to compete with ETFs.

Even where fees are comparable, ETFs, because of the ability to buy and sell them all day long, and because many of them offer options contracts, have been overtaking the once-almost-exclusive territory commanded by the likes of Vanguard and others that offer index products.

By their nature, index ETFs are cheap and have tremendous liquidity. Not only do newly minted passive investors prefer them, but ETFs are excellent trading vehicles for traders of all stripes. As hedging products, they're in high demand, because they allow investors to tailor their defensive positioning easily.

And that's the thing: The advantage that index ETFs have over mutual funds also makes them potentially dangerous.

Here's what I mean...

The Big ETFs and Big-Cap Stocks Distort Market Prices

What's increasingly controversial about index ETFs, and also true of index mutual funds, is that most funds have big-capitalization ("big-cap") stocks in them.

Those big-cap stocks, which have a prominent place in their respective indexes, have to be bought in increasing amounts by ETF sponsors and mutual funds to maintain their same relative weighting in derivative products.

ETF Apocalypse

That means their stock prices are better supported, which increases their value, the weight they have in indexes, and all of the derivative products that hold them. This creates a kind of momentum driver that pumps up already giant companies' equity valuations.

For example, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) alone represents 3.2% of the S&P 500. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is 4% of the S&P 500. Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) is 3.1%.

Apple's also in the Dow Jones Industrials Average, where its weighting in that index is 5.19%, and Microsoft's weighting in the Dow is 2.68%. The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is the Dow's weightiest, at 9.79%, versus its 0.84% in the S&P 500.

MIDNIGHT DEADLINE: On Monday at 12 a.m., we're hiking the price of one of our flagship trading research services - but you can learn how to get in right now...

ETF Apocalypse

One side effect of this phenomenon is these big-cap stocks get bigger at the expense of other stocks that aren't in indexes, or don't have nearly as big of a weighting.

In other words, they drive big stocks higher, which lifts the indexes they're in and may distort the actual health of the broad market.

Another controversy over stocks in index funds is that fund sponsors and mutual funds own shares. Individual investors don't get to vote on corporate governance as shareholders. That's because most funds are set up as trusts, and while shareholders of funds are the beneficiaries of appreciation and dividend payments, trustees holding assets get to vote the shares.

Vanguard, State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT), and BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) together control 83% of funds where they get to vote the shares.

The biggest problem with so many assets sitting in so-called passive funds, especially ETFs, is what could happen if passive investors turn active and dump their index funds beyond the already high turnover rate index funds see.

Already, the biggest 100 index ETFs see annual turnover of 785%.

That's mostly the result of short-term traders maneuvering in and out of funds like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE Arca: SPY), a result of hedging and passive investors trying to time the market. In comparison, the largest 100 stocks in the market only see turnover of about 144%, a little more than five times less than the big ETFs.

There's already a ton of trading in most index funds, so what would happen if thousands - even millions - of mostly passive investors decided to activate their sell buttons?

Here's How the "ETF Apocalypse" Would Play Out

First, it would probably start with a general market sell-off.

If that turned into a panic and masses of passive investors (especially in ETF products) started selling, several frightening things could happen - all of which could easily get out of control:

As ETF shareholders sell their index products, the heavily weighted big-cap names are sold in proportionately larger numbers. As they have more influence on the indexes they're in on the way up, they'll have the opposite, negative influence on the way down.

As investors in the big-cap stocks who chased up share prices when momentum buying drove them to (thanks to ETF inflows) suddenly start to see those prices coming down, they'll start selling them. They'll take profits and short them, putting more pressure on those names.

As shareholders sell their ETFs, those sell orders are followed by "authorized participants" - the trading desks that fund sponsors hire to create "units" of ETFs (a creation unit is 50,000 shares) - who unwind them as sellers reduce the need to hold underlying shares in trust.

Those trading desks aren't going to wait for sell orders to come in, knowing they're going to have to liquidate underlying shares in ETF trusts and accumulate potential losses as they have to sell underlying shares when prices continue to fall.

Instead, what they're going to do is short the underlying shares to make a profit on them and later cover their shorts with the shares they buy from liquidating ETF shareholders. Aggressive shorting by authorized participants will push down underlying stocks, hitting the prices of ETF shares, causing more selling by ETF shareholders.

The cascade of these events, occurring on top of each other, each trying to get ahead, motivated by greed and fear, would cause a devastating negative feedback loop.

And there you have it: the "ETF Apocalypse."

It's going to be spectacularly ugly and mighty tough for regular investors to get through it with their wealth intact.

So let's get real: It doesn't matter whether you're a high-net-worth player or a middle-class retiree or saver, as long as your money is tied up in stocks, ETFs, or funds, you will always be at the mercy of Wall Street - and subject to outrageous risks like the ones I've just described.

Stocks... ETFs... they're like D-list celebrities. One minute they're on fire, the next, they're burning out like a Fourth of July sparkler.

So what I have to show you could give you a shot at a much easier way to make money on the markets - week in, week out - far from the grasp of the Wall Street crooks who got us into this mess.

And tomorrow, the price of it is going up - way up. So you don't have much time make a decision: Will you depend on Wall Street to maybe, hopefully make you some money, or will you be your own person?

What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more.

Follow Shah on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Author

Shah Gilani boasts a financial pedigree unlike any other. He ran his first hedge fund in 1982 from his seat on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. When options on the Standard & Poor's 100 began trading on March 11, 1983, Shah worked in "the pit" as a market maker.

The work he did laid the foundation for what would later become the VIX - to this day one of the most widely used indicators worldwide. After leaving Chicago to run the futures and options division of the British banking giant Lloyd's TSB, Shah moved up to Roosevelt & Cross Inc., an old-line New York boutique firm. There he originated and ran a packaged fixed-income trading desk, and established that company's "listed" and OTC trading desks.

Shah founded a second hedge fund in 1999, which he ran until 2003.

Shah's vast network of contacts includes the biggest players on Wall Street and in international finance. These contacts give him the real story - when others only get what the investment banks want them to see.

Today, as editor of Hyperdrive Portfolio, Shah presents his legion of subscribers with massive profit opportunities that result from paradigm shifts in the way we work, play, and live.

Shah is a frequent guest on CNBC, Forbes, and MarketWatch, and you can catch him every week on Fox Business's Varney & Co.

Read full bio