Open Access

Maximilian Lehmann

• For a couple of years, the comparison of active and passive investing has been a big topic in the financial world. For this reason, an abundance of literature on this topic exists and multiple studies have been carried out. The COVID-19 crisis came fast and only little is known about the impact on ETFs and active funds. This scientific paper critically examines both investment strategies during the COVID-19 crisis. The goal is to identify important factors and indicators for investors and whether ETFs or active funds are crisis-proof. To answer these questions a qualitative analysis was conducted. A sample of five experts regarding ETFs and active funds were interviewed with the same questions. The combination of the literature and the qualitative analysis shows that there is no crisis-proof strategy. Nevertheless, a broad and global diversified portfolio and a balanced asset allocation are important factors to make a fund more resistant against a crisis. In addition, the Sharpe ratio was identified as an important indicator for investors. The purpose of this paper is to add value for private investors and enable them to make rational decisions when choosing a fund based on the given indicators.