With $257 million in AUM -- and counting -- Pimco's [profile] Total Return ETF is on pace to be the biggest ETF launch ever. So why did Pimco's Bill Gross agree to change the ticker just four weeks after its launch? Reuters' Jessica Toonkel reports that "TRXT" was never Pimco's first choice for the fund.

When Pimco initially asked for "BOND" to be the ticker for the ETF, it was told the ticker was taken. Reuters failed to uncover the identity of the BOND ticker holder, but, more importantly for Pimco, the unnamed ticker holder agreed to give up the name when it was approached by officials at the NYSE.

Bill Gross told Bloomberg that: "There was no hesitation at all in changing the name to BOND once we knew it was available. We want to be a household name and this seems like a great ticker to be able to do that."

The change from TRXT to BOND will take place next week on April 4.

So far, the less glamorous TRXT has worked perfectly well. After starting with $100 million of seed money, the fund has pulled in $157 million of net flows in just four weeks.

Still, that amount is a rounding error compared to the $252 billion Total Return Fund on which the ETF is based.

Many of those mutual fund shareholders may be wishing they had instead invested in the ETF. So far, the ETF is up 162 basis points. That is nearly ten times the 17 basis point return in Total Return since March 1. 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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