ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 10/9/25; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
U.S. ETF Monthly Summary: September 2025 Results by Jose Paulo Tolentino
“September saw 115 ETF launches, the highest yet for a single month in 2025 and up 55% from August, bringing the year-to-date total to 781.”
Here’s to a Second $1 Trillion Year for ETFs by Todd Rosenbluth
“In total, there were 16 ETFs that had gathered more than $10 billion of new money in 2025.”
Meme-Stock ETF Left for Dead Gets Resurrected for Retail Crowd by Isabelle Lee
“In the years since it closed, gambler spirits have flourished, appetites for long-shot bets deepened, and the regulatory backdrop grown ever-more favorable.”
No Earthly Idea by Jeffrey Ptak
“It stands to reason that investors in the 2x long ETF so badly botched the timing of their buys and sells that they missed out on its gains and caught its losses again and again.”
State Street’s flagship S&P 500 ETF suffers record $32bn outflows by Steve Johnson
“There are cheaper options available.”
Congress Thinks Hiding Fund Fees Is Good for You by Jason Zweig
“The first question on most investors’ minds is usually: How much can I make on this? Instead, their first question should always be: How much will this cost me?”
Investors flock to gold ETFs as metal’s price shatters records by Suzanne McGee and Polina Devitt
“That is a dramatic reversal from recent trends: over the last four years, gold ETFs have seen outflows totaling $23 billion.”
(Note: State Street’s Global Head of Gold Strategy, Aakash Doshi, will join me on next week’s ETF Prime to go in-depth on gold and gold ETFs.)
Grayscale’s milestone ETF staking unlock comes as product flows surge by Ben Strack
“The SEC’s new generic listing standards enable ETP issuers to stake assets within their proof-of-stake based products.”
ETF Post of the Week
The iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) is on track to surpass $100 billion in assets under management – despite yesterday’s crypto selloff. It’s poised to reach the milestone in under 450 days, far outpacing the previous record set by the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which took 2,011 days to get there.
Launched in January 2024, IBIT would join an exclusive club: just 17 ETFs out of more than 4,500 are above the $100 billion threshold.
It’s not just a scale story – it’s a revenue one, too. IBIT is now BlackRock’s highest revenue-generating ETF globally, out of more than 1,000 products.
Bloomberg’s James Seyffart summed it up well:
“The fact that IBIT is now BlackRock’s most profitable product is extremely impressive. We were very bullish on the amount of demand and flows that we thought would come into the bitcoin ETFs, but even these numbers have blown away our most bullish expectations.”
I agree – and I was already among the most bullish on spot bitcoin ETFs. Even so, the scale and speed of IBIT’s growth have been nothing short of staggering.
Here’s the fastest ETFs hit to $100b chart. $VOO current best at 2,011 days. $IBIT at 435 days but w $2b to go. Via @JackiWang17 pic.twitter.com/IrGLgrz2dr
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 6, 2025
ETF Chart of the Week
Strategas’ Todd Sohn notes that over the past six months, one in every four new ETFs coming to market is leveraged. That number could rise quickly: on October 3rd alone, more than 70 leveraged ETFs were filed with the SEC – all targeting 3x exposure to single stocks. Tuttle Capital filed for another 60 triple levered ETFs this past Tuesday.
Bloomberg Intelligence’s Athanasios Psarofagis sees it as part of a broader arms race among issuers:
“This is a natural progression of the ETF market right now — they try to push as far as they can go, one-up each other. Issuer objectives have evolved in recent years. Before, it was undercutting each other on fees. Now, it’s upping on things like income, yield or leverage.”
And it’s not just the issuers driving this trend – investor appetite is clearly there. As Sohn explains:
“Levered ETFs make up roughly 1% of total ETF AUM (roughly $160 Bn) but, on average, account for over 12% of total ETF trading volume.”
That’s a mind-boggling stat and one that underscores how a growing number of traders are approaching ETFs less like traditional investment vehicles and more like high-stakes bets.
ETF DraftKings, if you will.
Source: Strategas’ Todd Sohn
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Amrita Nandakumar, President of Vident Asset Management, explaining the role of an ETF subadvisor and sharing her unique perspective on ETF product development, the forthcoming multi-share class structure, and the potential impact of a “lighter touch” regulatory environment. Roxanna Islam, Head of Sector & Industry Research at VettaFi, also weighed in on the multi-share class structure, and discussed the latest developments in crypto ETFs and the stellar performance of gold and silver miner ETFs.
Grayscale Crypto Connect
I had the pleasure of speaking at Grayscale’s Crypto Connect event in San Francisco this past week – a gathering that truly highlighted how far the conversation around crypto has come.
So, what is Crypto Connect?
“Crypto Connect by Grayscale is a series of exclusive events that Grayscale hosts around the country for financial professionals. These dedicated events offer the most up-to-date intelligence on the crypto asset class from leading experts, and provides financial professionals with the content and resources they need to better leverage crypto in their work with clients.”
My biggest takeaway? The momentum is real. Interest in crypto among financial professionals is no longer just curiosity – it’s serious, thoughtful, and growing fast. The audience was engaged, asked sharp questions, and showed a clear intent to understand how crypto can fit into a well-diversified portfolio.
Oh, and the Bay Area is beautiful!
