Here there - just answered a question on ZINN yesterday. Here was my response:
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Let's start with ZINN - yes, this was developed in collaboration with ARKK and is intended to track the MSCI ACWI IMI Innovation Index. So in essence, it is an Index fund. The Index features companies in the autonomous technology & industrial, genomic, fin tech, and next generation internet industries.
If you look at their Top 10 holdings, i like the fact that no one company accounts for more than 6% of the portfolio and in essence, it is a who's who of top tech companies (Visa, Mastercard, Amazon, Alibaba, Microsoft, Paypal, Alphabet, ect). Since it is brand new, its unclear how it will perform but seems to a decent way to get exposure to some big growth names. Low volume may just be because it has yet to catch on with investors given that growth has struggled significantly over the past month.
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So, yes - it tracks an Index so is classified as an index fund. Where ARKK differs, is that it is actively managed and the manger (in this case Cathie Woods) is essentially stock picking and buying/selling stocks based on opportunities. Not tracking an index. So very different.
And yes, that would mean that BMO is likely to be less volatile than ARKK but ARKK has greater reward potential (naturally, given the higher risk.)
Mat