ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the evolutions of the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market and the perception of its associated risks, from its inception in Europe in 2000 through to 2013. It explores the sources of the risks they present and the way they were revealed. The chapter describes the trading of index funds and ETFs and shows the way they have evolved since their introduction in Europe. It also explores risks in ETFs according to their source, inherent or additional. The chapter then explains how the revelation of this risk was made possible. It shows that most of the risks are inherent to the ETF structure per se. The industry managed to hide even those risks and the complexity of further evolutions of ETFs through the control of information and social discipline.
