ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 11/27/25; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
Gratitude: The ETF Industry’s Highest Return Habit by Cinthia Murphy
“ETFs are built in public — there’s transparency in IP, transparency in portfolio management, transparency in holdings. It’s all out in the open.”
Rapid growth of US tax-minimising ETFs draws scrutiny by Steve Johnson
“Everybody is looking at this creatively, which is great, but it then also makes you wonder sometimes how far is too far.”
State Street Roasts JPMorgan’s Biggest ETF, Then Backtracks by Katie Greifeld
“The note was striking for its pugnacious approach and marked a notable departure from the norm, exposing how an ETF market long defined by quiet competition is shifting into a rougher contest for growth, fees and attention.”
How Advisors Are Tapping ETFs in Model Portfolios by Jeff Benjamin
“Model portfolios don’t replace advisor judgment, they amplify it by providing a repeatable, high-quality baseline that advisors can tailor to each client.”
Vanguard files to launch 10 bond-ladder ETFs — managed by its crack in-house bond team — and ahead of possible window closing to lock in high rates before they could fall by Brooke Southall
“Vanguard will underprice rivals – at least BlackRock and Invesco.”
F/m Investments Preps First Mutual Fund Shares of ETFs by Emile Hallez
“The thing that might save the mutual fund, believe it or not, is the ETF.”
Crypto Treasuries Are Fading—And Staking ETFs Will ‘Eat Their Lunch’: SOL Strategies CEO by Logan Hitchcock
“Now we have ETFs that provide the same level of exposure, but ETFs are far more regulated and have a very known framework and protections around that.”
Post-XRP ETF launch, Franklin Templeton sees diversified crypto portfolios as the next big thing by RT Watson
“There’s going to be a bunch of ETF availability and diversified portfolios.”
ETF Post of the Week
Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas points out that 27 “ESG” ETFs have closed so far this year, on top of 37 closures last year. Color me the least surprised person in the room. Back in January 2022, I laid out exactly why this was coming:
“This might be the boldest prediction I’ve ever made given that one of the most prevalent 2022 industry predictions is a boom in ESG ETFs. No other segment of the ETF market generates more media hype. I’ll take the other side of that bet. The ESG ETF space is already oversaturated, with too many products and not nearly enough organic investor demand. My prediction is that ESG ETF launches will peak and rollover this year, with an accelerating number of product closures. Why? Many of the same reasons I noted when predicting in 2017 that ESG ETFs would continue garnering more media attention than assets.
The bottom line is that many ESG ETFs don’t look meaningfully different than their non-ESG benchmarks. While costs have continued declining, these products are still more expensive than plain-vanilla ETFs. Even for products that do materially differ from benchmarks, there’s no “one-size fits-all” approach in ESG. In other words, ESG is highly personal. There are significant differences in what people (and ESG ratings agencies) believe constitutes ESG. Just ask 10 people whether they think Tesla is “ESG”.
More importantly, my experience is that many investors are highly skeptical ESG-related funds actually have any meaningful impact on society. I visit with investors of all stripes – young and old, male and female, republican and democrat, you name it. The vast majority believe they can have a much greater impact on society by simply using or not using a company’s products and services. They don’t believe owning or not owning a miniscule portion of a company’s outstanding shares moves the needle.”
This all seemed so obvious.
Another 4 ESG ETFs closed in October (18% of all the closures) including ones from JPM, Janus and a Calvert ETF (which just launched two years ago and this is their specialty). YTD 27 ESG ETFs have closed after 37 closed last year. We told everyone four years ago (receipts to… pic.twitter.com/KRZss82ks4
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 24, 2025
ETF Chart of the Week
Over 1,000 ETFs have launched so far this year, and nearly 30% of them use some form of leverage. As Strategas’ Todd Sohn notes, over the past six months we’ve seen roughly as many leveraged ETF launches as straightforward equity ETFs. Be careful out there!
Source: Strategas’ Todd Sohn
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured JD Gardner, Founder of Aptus Capital Advisors, going inside the decision to launch the lowest-cost buffer ETFs and the outsized role investor behavior plays in long-term returns. Stacey Morris, Head of Energy Research at VettaFi, spotlighted the latest leaders and laggards in energy ETFs and what could drive the sector in the months ahead.
