Smart beta in US and China

As the global stock market has been in low tone in recent years, especially in 2018, Smart beta strategy, combining the advantages of both active and passive investments, is receiving more attention. Smart beta is the kind of strategies obtaining risk exposures of specific factors by following a systematic, rule-based index. Its theoretical basis is factor theory. This article starts with the ETF, compares the market development and product construction methods in US and China, and finds China Smart beta products have a fewer number of issues, less types of strategies, and much lower market share. According to the experience in US and the status quo in China, this paper gives suggestions from the perspectives of benchmark index selection, index compilation and financial indicator selection. In the future, Smart beta strategy will be more widely used in China with the growth of institutional investors and the entry of foreign capital.