“Smart beta,” the buzzword for non-traditional indexation that the industry refuses to leave behind, has grown at a blistering 39% per year over the past five, according to new data from ETFGI. That’s more than double the 18.6% compound annual growth rate for assets in traditional market-capitalization-based ETFs.

Globally (on all exchanges worldwide), market-cap weighted indexes, such as the $180 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), account for $1.8 trillion, versus $399 billion for "smart beta." So plain-vanilla still rules the day.