There are four banks which dominate the market for exchange-traded currency instruments. In order of marketshare, they are Rydex, PowerShares, Wisdom Tree, and Barclays. By coincidence- or perhaps not- the leading three use an ETF structure, while Barclays’ products are issued as ETNs. While technically the two forms differ from each other in that ETFs are akin to equity while ETNs function as debt, in practice they are interchangeable. Barclays, itself, has certainly not connected its poor market share with this distinction. Its latest product, a composite of eight Asian currencies, assumes an ETN structure. Furthermore, two additional regional currency ETNs are in the planning stage, focused around Eastern Europe and Latin America, respectively. Seeking Alpha reports:

"If you look at the history of timing on Exchange Traded Product launches…you would likely see a lot of products launching right after run-up and launching right into a decline, so I’d rather launch after a decline and into a run-up."

Read More: The Birth of a Barclays Currency ETN