ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 2/26/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
Beyond Passive: The 3 Tailwinds Fueling the Next Wave of ETF Growth by Mike Akins
“This is definitively not your father’s ETF market.”
DFA finally hits $1-trillion in AUM after a reality check trumped ‘financial science’ and the venerable factor fund shop embraced ETFs, lower fees and a broader market by Oisín Breen
“Though DFA was slow to convert to ETFs, how it executed was masterful and becoming of its cerebral branding and reputation.”
Treasury Takes Aim at Booming ETF Move That’s Slashing Tax Bills by Denitsa Tsekova, Justina Lee, and Vildana Hajric
“An exchange-traded fund is seeded with the securities, and then makes use of a famous ETF industry loophole to swap them out for fresh assets.”
Lessons From a Private Markets Bust: Why This ETF’s Investors Missed Out on SpaceX Gains and An ETF Faces a Liquidity Crunch of Its Own Making by Jeffrey Ptak
“The line between manageable and unmanageable is very thin when you’re stuffing hard-to-trade assets into daily-liquidity vehicles like ETFs.”
(Note: Additional perspective on this unique situation from the Financial Times’ Robin Wigglesworth is available here. ERShares has also released a set of FAQs addressing the ETF.)
The Exotic Makeover of the Once-Boring ETF Market by Jack Pitcher
“You’ve got people coming in and doing things with the ETF wrapper that were probably not foreseen in any way.”
Leveraged ETFs ride retail trading boom as single-stock bets redefine market stress playbook by Steve Randall
“Roughly 5.5% of overall US equity trading activity came from active retail traders, yet about 90% of leveraged fund turnover was driven by that same cohort.”
(Note: On last week’s ETF Prime, I spoke with Matt Markiewicz, Head of Product and Capital Markets at Tradr ETFs, about how retail traders are using leveraged ETFs – and how well they understand them. You can listen to that episode below.)
Gold ETFs Explained: What Investors Should Know About GLD, GLDM, IAU, and IUAM by Lara Crigger
“It’s hard to overstate just how much easier the ETF structure has made owning physical gold for investors of all sizes.”
Your Investing Strategy Is Great, So Long as You Don’t Actually Trade Anything by Jason Zweig
“The equal-weight index beat the conventional index, but the equal-weight index fund didn’t.”
Ritholtz Wealth Files for First ETF by Griffin Kelly
“It takes courage because you’re putting your holdings, strategies and performance out there for everybody to see.”
Coinbase adds stock, ETF trading as it expands beyond crypto by Helene Braun
“Trading runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, with no commission. Customers can fund trades with U.S. dollars or USDC and buy fractional shares starting at $1.”
Bitcoin price shows ‘absurd strength’ as ETF investors continue to hold the asset, analysts say by Pedro Solimano
“ETF investors are clearly in it for the long haul.”
Upcoming ETF Webinar
On behalf of the The ETF Institute and NYSE, I’ll be moderating a webinar on Tuesday, March 10th, exploring the macro forces driving gold, silver, and oil prices – and how those dynamics are influencing commodity ETF pricing and flows.
I’ll be joined by an outstanding panel that includes: Joseph Cavatoni, Head of Public Policy at World Gold Council; John Love, President and CEO of USCF Investments; and Christian Magoon, Founder and CEO of Amplify ETFs.
You can register for free here!
ETF Post of the Week
I highlighted the blistering pace of ETF flows last week, and there are still no signs of a slowdown. According to Morningstar’s Ben Johnson, flows are running 64% ahead of 2025’s record-breaking pace.
As of this morning, total inflows have now surpassed $350 billion!
On this week’s episode of “Life After Mutual Funds”, ETF flows have gone to plaid!!!
— Ben Johnson, CFA (@MstarBenJohnson) February 27, 2026
February isn’t even over yet, and investors have already put $328 billion in new money to work in the ETF wrapper this year.
That is about $128 billion (64%) ahead of last year’s… pic.twitter.com/foJ2avCjO7
ETF Chart of the Week
Here’s a stat that may surprise some ETF investors: Since Inauguration Day on January 20th, 2025, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF ranks 36th out of 46 country-specific ETFs. What’s even more notable? It’s still up 16% over that period.
The takeaway? Global equities have been on fire!
Source: Bespoke Investment Group
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Matt Markiewicz, Head of Product and Capital Markets at Tradr ETFs, and Christian Magoon, Founder and CEO of Amplify ETFs. Matt highlighted the company’s leveraged single-stock ETF lineup and innovative monthly and quarterly reset products, while offering insight into the growing sophistication of retail investors navigating leveraged and inverse ETFs. Christian discussed Amplify’s rapid ascent past $20 billion in assets, driven by strong demand for its YieldSmart ETFs and thematic offerings.
Crypto Prime Podcast
Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale, joined me on last week’s Crypto Prime to unpack the recent crypto downturn, outline the longer-term value proposition of bitcoin and digital assets, and highlight several of the firm’s ETFs – including the recently launched Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF (GLNK).
