Direct indexing is one of the fastest growing market segments and investors surveys confirm that customization is king of the modern landscape. Curulli Associates forecasts that direct indexing will grow faster than ETFs and mutual funds. Custom indexing has a legg up on traditional ETFs when it comes to volatility because investors can harvest losses as the market takes dips. With traditional ETFs investors have to just eat the losses as they slow the long run growth of the fund, but micro dips can be maximized by taking advantage for tax purposes, say industry quants.

Finsum: It's clear that direct indexing has advantages over traditional ETFs, but even when compared with their fees the tax savings is worth it for direct indexing strategies.