ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 6/26/25; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
Easier said than done: Dual ETF, mutual fund share classes by Tobias Salinger
“The last thing you want to do is have a mutual fund you really like rush out a mutual fund-ETF share class.”
Higher Market Volatility Shines a Light on Buffer ETFs by David Bodamer
“The funds have grown from $5 billion in assets at the end of 2020 to $50 billion by 2025.”
Wall Street Pitches Sci-Fi ETFs for Robots, UFOs, Quantum Bets by Vildana Hajric
“ETF issuers are always looking for the next frontier.”
First ETF tracking ‘autocallable’ structured products launched in US by Steve Johnson
“ETFs are taking market share not just from traditional funds but from all forms of financial products.”
Everything Is an ETF Now by Matt Levine
“There are lots of trades that retail investors want to do, and/or that someone wants to market to them, and ETFs exist to package those trades into convenient formats.”
The Hidden Risks in New ETFs by Daniel Sotiroff
“All this points to one of the unsung advantages of broadly diversified ETFs.”
These Funds Are Yield Magicians. How Do They Do It? by Jason Zweig
“As if by magic, nearly a dozen exchange-traded funds were offering payouts of at least 100% this week.”
US spot Ethereum ETFs surpass $4 billion in cumulative net inflows as first anniversary approaches by James Hunt
“In comparison, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had reached $34.7 billion in cumulative net inflows in their first 11 months after launch.”
ETF Post of the Week
Morningstar held its annual investment conference this past week, though sadly I was unable to attend. But I love these three takeaways from Morningstar’s Bryan Armour on private assets in ETFs. For better or worse, some ETF issuers are doing whatever they can to package illiquid private assets to the masses. This isn’t going away. So what should investors and advisors be thinking about?
Some issuers will do this the right way (think robust processes to continually mark assets) and some won’t.
Some (all?) private assets simply aren’t suitable for the ETF wrapper – it can be worthwhile to consider other vehicles such as interval or closed-end funds.
The one thing we know an ETF can do is assist with price discovery. But even the most efficient ETF can’t fully shine a light on an illiquid, opaque market.
Just a few things to consider.
Huge thanks to @galljoa and @DaveNadig for sharing their thoughts on private assets in ETFs.
— Bryan Armour (@MstarArmour) June 26, 2025
Top things I took away:
1. Invest with companies you trust
2. Pair the right strategy with the right wrapper
3. An ETF can add liquidity/price discovery to an asset class..to a point
ETF Chart of the Week
I know there’s some buffer ETF fatigue out there… and I get it. The product proliferation in this category has been prolific and the media can’t seem to get enough (though I highly recommend reading the article from David Bodamer that’s linked above – it’s an excellent look from multiple angles). But if BlackRock is correct, this nearly $70 billion category will only continue to rapidly expand. The world’s largest asset manager expects outcome-oriented ETFs (which they define as funds including income, buffer and accelerated strategies) to triple to $650 billion in assets by 2030.
Speaking of product proliferation, ProShares rolled out “Dynamic Buffer” ETFs last week, which will automatically adjust their downside protection and upside cap on a daily basis. You read that correctly. Daily basis.
“Each of these new Dynamic Buffer ETFs allow investors to capture gains on days the underlying index rises, up to a cap, while targeting protection against the first 1% to as much as 5% of losses on days the index falls. The downside protection—or buffer—that these ETFs seek adjusts automatically to target greater protection as expected volatility rises and less protection when expected volatility falls.”
ProShares CEO Michael L. Sapir:
“We feel confident that the dynamic protection afforded by these new funds will allow investors to rest easier at night and make them more likely to include equity exposure in their portfolios, even during market volatility—which is often the worst time to exit.”
That’s what this category is all about. The sleep-at-night factor for some investors.
Source: Bloomberg’s Isabelle Lee
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Todd Rosenbluth, Head of Research at VettaFi, joining me to break down the top ETF stories shaping the first half of 2025 (nice write-up of several of Todd’s top stories here). Plus, Astoria’s Bruce Lavine dove into one of the industry’s hottest topics: 351 Exchanges – what they are and why they matter.
Crypto Prime Podcast
Pascal St-Jean, President & CEO of 3iQ, joined me on last week’s Crypto Prime to share the firm’s innovative approach to crypto investing, including the launch of its groundbreaking XRP ETF.
