SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) - If you're overwhelmed by the number of new exchange-traded funds (ETFs), join the club.

Financial analysts and individual investors are struggling to keep pace with the flood of new funds.

 

Today, a new round of 17 ETFs were introduced by First Trust Advisors on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). The launch includes nine industry sector funds, three large cap funds, two multi-cap funds, one mid-cap and a small-cap fund.

 

The new offerings are known as AlphaDEX funds and are designed to provide enhanced performance by selecting stocks based upon fundamental factors such as book value, price to sales, and return on assets. The funds are rebalanced quarterly and all will carry expense ratios of 0.70 percent.

 

First Trust is also planning to launch three more ETFs on May 11th.

 

The First Trust ISE Water Index Fund (NYSE Arca: FIW), First Trust ISE Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (NYSE Arca: FCG), and the First Trust ISE Chindia Index Fund (NYSE Arca: FNI) are expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

 

In related news, Barclays Global Investors has launched 3 exchange-traded notes (ETNs) designed to track the British Pound, Euro, and Japanese Yen. The currency notes are the iPath EUR/USD Exchange Rate ETN (NYSE: ERO), iPath GBP/USD Exchange Rate ETN (NYSE: GBB), and the iPath JPY/USD Exchange Rate ETN (NYSE: JYN).

 

Unlike traditional ETFs, ETNs are debt securities registered under the Securities Act of 1933. Investors that opt to keep their ETNs to maturity receive a cash payment calculated from the trade date to the ending period, or maturity date.

 

Last week Barclays unveiled 5 REIT focused ETFs that track FTSE NAREIT indexes.

 

Van Eck Global has added the Russia ETF (NYSE: RSX) which is based on a basket of 30 Russian equities along with the Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSE: GEX) to its lineup.

 

The Russia ETF is the first single country fund to exclusively track Russian stocks and the expense ratio is 0.69 percent.