More actively managed ETFs were launched in October (23) than in any month this year.

This amounts to more than a third of the 61 funds were launched in October. A total of 52 funds were launched in September.

"This is a trend to watch as the SEC has recently approved a plan for non-transparent actively managed ETFs that could lead to many more actively managed ETF in the near future," said James Hohorst, ETF analyst at Markit.

While indexed funds continued to dominate as expected, alternative types of ETFs are on the rise with dividend-focused ETFs also a trend in October. Seven new funds were added that focused on high-dividend paying equities.

Canada accounted for the majority of October's newly-launched funds. This was in large part due to nine Canadian focused funds launched by First Trust, who added 11 in total. Other issuers such as Horizons, Purpose Investments, Royal Bank of Canada and UBS AG all launched funds with an investment exposure to Canada.

Despite a strong October for ETF launches, funds launched in September have struggled to rein in considerable assets. Out of the 52 funds launched, the ETFs only gained $767m in assets since their inception.

European ETFs launched in September gained the most money from investors compared to the other regions. In total, the 25 ETFs gained $400m in assets. Lyxor ETF JPX NIKKEI 400 Part A, which provides exposure to Japan, saw $205m in inflows since its launch, the largest out of all ETFs launched in September.

The Americas were dethroned as leader from Markit's previous monthly report. Across all asset classes, the US funds launched in September saw $324m in inflows. The fund that collected the most assets is ETF Series Solutions Deep Value ETF with $172.6m in inflows since its inception.

The three ETFs launched out of the Apac region gained $43m in assets over the last few months. The largest being KODEX China H Leverage (H) with the lion's share ($30.4m) of inflows.