ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 2/20/25; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
Vanguard triumphs over State Street to take largest ETF crown by Steve Johnson
“VOO turned on the flows afterburners last year and caught up to SPY much quicker than expected.”
Wall Street Is Selling ETFs That Mimic the Private Equity Boom by Vildana Hajric
“The outcomes these funds produce will often be materially different from those delivered by direct investment in a particular corner of private markets.”
Exchange-Traded Absurdity by Tony Dong
“ETFs are a business, with their own financials, oversight, and expenses. And like any business, not all are viable.”
What to Do When Your ETF Closes by Kim Clark
“About one-third of all ETFs ever started have shut down.”
Active ETFs Shine Amid US Funds’ Slow Start in 2025 by Adam Sabban and Ryan Jackson
“Investors piled a record $43 billion into actively managed ETFs in January.”
Managing Cash With Money Market Funds vs. ETFs by Cinthia Murphy
“While transacting in a money market fund may not be the ultimate goal, with an ETF you can.”
Are Solana ETF Approvals ‘In the Bag’? Experts Weigh In by André Beganski
“The SEC’s change of tune is really something. It’s really been a 180.”
Will XRP, Solana, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Cardano ETFs Leave Investors Out in the Cold? by Steven Ehrlich
“For the most part, the interest in everything else just doesn’t seem to be as strong.”
Trust in a Black Hat World by Dave Nadig
“For 30-odd years, ‘ETF’ implied white hat. Those days are sadly long gone.”
(Note: ETF expert and long-time industry veteran Dave Nadig will join me on next week’s ETF Prime).
ETF Post of the Week
If you have followed me for a while now, you know I appreciate important ETF milestones. Last week, the industry witnessed an enormous one. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) overtook the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) as the world’s largest ETF. SPY, the first US-listed ETF, had a stranglehold on the ETF crown for over 30 years. VOO came at the king and didn’t miss. Or did it? SPY actually retook the crown as of yesterday. I’m calling this the “ETF Game of Thrones”…
ITS OVER, NEW KING CROWNED: $VOO officially passed $SPY in assets. End of an era. All hail. But respect to the GOAT $SPY whose reign began a lifetime ago in Jan 1993 when Bill Clinton had just been inaugurated, Whitney Houston had #1 album, A Few Good Men was #1 movie, the… pic.twitter.com/13UHM8ZQ5R
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 18, 2025
ETF Chart of the Week
Like I said, I appreciate ETF milestones. If VOO retakes the crown and maintains it (I think it will), this will be in contention for 2025’s ETF chart of the year…
Source: Bloomberg’s Katie Greifeld
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Newfound Research’s Corey Hoffstein and Quantify Funds’ David Dziekanski discussing the challenge of combating ETF copycats who repackage unique ideas as their own. VettaFi’s Stacey Morris also provided an update on the energy sector and ETFs following President Trump’s arrival in the White House.
ETF Pulse
I’m excited to partner with etf.com on a new “vodcast” called ETF Pulse. If you’ve ever seen ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, I would call this the ETF version of that. On our pilot episode, we discussed VOO taking the ETF crown from SPY (obviously), TLT as an investor widowmaker, Charles Schwab rolling out 24/5 ETF trading, and memecoin ETFs. Enjoy!
Crypto Prime Podcast
Beth Haddock, Founder & Managing Partner of Warburton Advisers, joined me on last week’s Crypto Prime to provide an overview of stablecoin basics and share her insights on the evolving regulatory landscape.
