ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 5/15/25; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
4 Fund Fee Trends to Watch in 2025 by Zachary Evens
“In 2024, the average fee Vanguard fund investors paid was just 0.07%, the lowest of any asset manager.”
Buffer ETFs vs. T-Bills: A Total Cost of Ownership Perspective by Elisabeth Kashner
“Would you pay 1.53% in order to net up to 6.87% when you know you could earn 2.60% without any volatility?”
ETF Market Update: Chaos Edition by Dave Nadig
“What is interesting about the trailing month is just how little interest there was in any product charging over 40 basis points.”
Vanguard Poised to Gain the Lead in ETF Assets: Bloomberg by Mallika Mitra
“At Vanguard, it’s not the size of our haystack but what our 50 million investors are getting from the haystack.”
Understanding the complexities of exchange-traded notes (ETNs) by Debbie Carlson
“ETNs may offer investors greater tax efficiency and make it easier to access certain types of trading strategies, such as commodities and volatility exposure.”
Global ETF Survey 2025 Results by Trackinsight
“Ready to see what’s driving the next wave of ETF evolution?”
(Note: Trackinsight’s recently released Global ETF Survey features 50+ pages of excellent charts, data, and industry commentary. As an added bonus, you’ll find 5 ETF predictions from yours truly!)
ETF Post of the Week
While not directly ETF-related, this news is certainly relevant to ETF investors. S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) will replace Discover Financial Services (DFS) in the S&P 500 effective prior to the opening of trading on Monday, May 19th.
Of course, the top three ETFs by assets (out of 4,200 ETFs total) all track the S&P 500 index – the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV). Not to mention ETFs like the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) and the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPLG), which are both top 30 ETFs by assets.
With Coinbase joining the index, investors in all of these ETFs will now gain indirect exposure to crypto through COIN.
Vanguard can’t be pleased with this turn of events.
Coinbase just became the first and only crypto company to join the S&P 500.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 12, 2025
This milestone represents what the true believers, from retail investors to institutional investors to our employees and partners, knew all along.
Crypto is here to stay. https://t.co/MnMRCX8pMg
ETF Chart of the Week
Speaking of crypto, Strategas’ Todd Sohn recently shared an updated comparison of cumulative flows into spot bitcoin ETFs versus physical gold ETFs. While gold ETFs have enjoyed a *20-year* head start, their digital counterparts are quickly catching up.
In terms of total assets under management, spot bitcoin ETFs currently tally nearly $125 billion, while gold ETFs hold close to $170 billion.
Not bad for a category that’s only been around for 16 months!
Source: Strategas’ Todd Sohn
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Alexandra Levis, Founder & CEO of Arro Financial Communications, providing an in-depth look at how ETF issuers should think about approaching marketing. Plus, VettaFi’s Roxanna Islam highlighted some of the year’s top-performing ETFs, from international plays to precious metals.
ETF Pulse
On last week’s ETF Pulse, etf.com Editor-in-Chief Kristin Myers allowed me to take an extended victory lap for my prescient advice regarding the “tariff tantrum”. We also discussed international equity ETF outperformance, new ETF filings from BattleShares, and investor interest in bitcoin and gold ETFs.
Crypto Prime Podcast
Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, joined me on last week’s Crypto Prime to dive into the newly launched VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE), unpack the firm’s crypto ETF strategy, and explore what could drive the next wave of digital asset growth.
