Three fund firms have been chipping away at the ETF wall built by iShares, State Street and Vanguard. The Wall Street Journal's Fund Track today looks at the exchange-trade fund success of Pimco, Charles Schwab and UK-based ETF Securities and how it could effect other money managers.

WSJ reporter Ian Salisbury explains that finding a rare niche, like with ETF security's ETFS Physical Platinum Shares, can help distinguish one fund over another. ETFS manages $1.5 billion in assets with four commodity-based U.S. ETFs.

The column also look at the affect of Schwab's commission-free offering, which "spooked" BlackRock and Vanguard into following suit.

Fund companies like T. Rowe Price, Legg Mason and Goldman Sachs are all hoping to see similar success. But there are history lessons lingering in the industry, such as a Fidelity's one and only ETF and Northern Trust ETF line which liquidated within a year.  

Edited by: Daniel Tovrov


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