[adam_arthur]

I can open an actively managed ETF tomorrow where I manually trade my portfolio such that it matches a passive index exactly. In fact I don't even have to tell anybody that that's my strategy or approach.

If that passive index outperforms the S&P500, then my actively managed ETF also outperformed the market.

Looking at the 500 largest(ish) companies in general is an arbitrary rules based strategy anyway. There's nothing inherent in the number 500 that dictates it will outperform vs other rules based strategies.