ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 8/14/25; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
Mutual Funds Are About to Get the ETF Treatment. Here’s What It Means for Investors by Charles Sizemore
“There are very real differences in the ways that ETFs and mutual funds are taxed.”
(Note: VettaFi’s Todd Rosenbluth will join me on next week’s ETF Prime to go in-depth on the multi share class structure and what it means for investors.)
State Street Brings Sales of $317 Billion SPDR Lineup In-House by Emily Graffeo
“State Street is just the latest legacy ETF firm making moves to potentially unlock more revenue from its popular products.”
Leveraged ETFs: The Hidden Costs That Eat Your Returns by Sumit Roy
“Volatility decay, after years of education, is now widely understood as a potential source of drag in leveraged ETFs. Financing costs, however, are far less appreciated.”
ETF Rush Sees Filings Land Even Before Debut of Underlying Stock by Isabelle Lee
“Since June, at least six issuers have rushed to file for ETFs tied to a company before or just after it goes public.”
VOO Becomes First ETF to Top $700 Billion in Assets by Griffin Kelly
“Just months after dethroning State Street’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) as the largest ETF in the world.”
Wall Street’s Dividend Tax Dodge Arrives in Fixed-Income ETFs by Katie Greifeld
“We talk to our investors all the time, and we found that many of them like the yield we produce, they just hate the distribution.”
Crypto ETFs: Regulation, Returns & Rise of Innovation Pt. II by Roxanna Islam
“Over half of advisors said they’re either slightly more or significantly more interested in allocating to bitcoin in a more regulatory-friendly environment.”
Crypto captures half of top 20 spots in ETFs launched since 2024 by Ezra Reguerra
“The rise of crypto-linked ETFs reflects investor appetite for regulated, exchange-traded exposure to digital assets.”
ETF Post of the Week
The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has taken in a staggering $5.5 billion over the past week, including several record daily inflows (notably, there was a nearly $3 billion inflow the day after the below post from Sumit). These massive flows have pushed ARKK’s assets back above $10 billion for the first time since early 2022, although still far below its February 2021 peak of nearly $30 billion.
So, what’s driving this surge of investor interest?
A big part of the story is performance. Since the broader stock market bottomed on April 8th, ARKK has rallied more than 90%. Year-to-date, it’s returned 36%, easily outpacing the S&P 500’s 11% gain. As the saying goes in ETF circles: flows follow performance.
But there’s more to the picture. Market sentiment has clearly shifted toward risk-on. As ETF.com’s Sumit Roy puts it:
“The timing of ARK’s rebound coincides with another wave of retail enthusiasm for meme stocks, “cult” stocks, and other high-volatility trades. The setup has shades of the pandemic-era boom that first propelled ARK to prominence.”
Party like it’s late 2020, early 2021?
MONSTER inflows for Cathie Wood's $ARKK and $ARKW this week. Even bigger than the 2021 heyday for ARK! pic.twitter.com/iZIp0VWHkW
— Sumit Roy (@sumitroy2) August 13, 2025
ETF Chart of the Week
Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas seems to occupy a permanent spot in either the “ETF Post of the Week” or “ETF Chart of the Week.” But what can I say? My job is to provide you with the best ETF content – and he’s delivering it.
This week, Eric highlights that out of the top 100 asset managers offering both ETFs and mutual funds, 92% are seeing inflows into their ETFs, while only 31% are seeing new money flow into their mutual funds.
This is exactly what the slow death of an outdated investment vehicle looks like.
Source: Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Rob Thummel, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Tortoise Capital, joining the show to discuss the firm’s lineup of energy-focused ETFs, including the newly launched Tortoise AI Infrastructure ETF (TCAI). Stacey Morris, Head of Energy Research at VettaFi, shared insights on the key factors driving energy ETFs and provided her outlook on future trends in oil and natural gas prices.
Crypto Prime Podcast
Is bitcoin the ultimate treasury reserve asset? Ben Werkman, Chief Investment Officer at Swan, joined me on last week’s Crypto Prime to make the case for bitcoin as a strategic long-term investment and explain how companies are integrating it into their treasury strategies.
CNBC ETF Edge
I had the pleasure of joining CNBC’s Leslie Picker and Matt Kennedy from Renaissance Capital to discuss the IPO market, crypto ETFs, and this year’s record pace of ETF inflows. Enjoy!
