ETF Buzz

ETF Inflows & Outflows

Performance Leaders & Laggards

_{Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 3/12/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products}

Weekly ETF Reads

How to Pick an S&P 500 Fund by Brendan McCann

“None of the four S&P 500 ETFs have paid out capital gains in the past 10 years.”

ETF Use by RIAs Keeps Climbing by Emile Hallez

“In the US, 98% of investors said they plan to hike their use of ETFs.”

ETF Share Classes Off to the Races, But Operational Reality Will Slow Progress by John Crabb

“Wealth management platforms still need to figure out how to support an ETF and a mutual fund within the same wrapper.”

The ETF Tax Loophole That Wall Street Is Exploiting by Larry Swedroe

“The authors assembled a dataset of 39 US ETFs launched between 2021 and 2025, with about $8.7 billion of individual investor seed assets, to show that this is no longer a niche technique.”

‘Buffer’ ETFs Prove a Decent Bond Alternative in War-Hit Markets by Katie Greifeld

“The pitch boils down to the idea that bonds have recently had a mixed record in offsetting equity declines.”

Income ETFs move beyond simple covered calls as issuers ‘overlay everything’ says Tidal’s Aga Kuplinska by Steve Randall

“Traditional covered-call ETFs simply sold options to generate yield. The new generation of income ETFs engineers outcomes.”

Why Active ETFs Are Gaining Momentum as Investors Seek New Solutions by Goldman Sachs

“When you follow the ETF story, you see how this technology has changed the market structure in a variety of asset classes.”

Surging Oil ETFs Get Extra Boost From Backwardation by Sumit Roy

“Even if oil prices remain flat, investors in these ETFs could benefit from positive roll yield.”

BlackRock debuts staked ether ETF as demand grows for yield in crypto funds by Helene Braun

“We’re still in the early days of digital asset ETF adoption.”

JPMorgan says bitcoin and gold ETFs show sharp flow divergence since Iran war by Yogita Khatri

“The growing use of options on IBIT may signal an evolution in bitcoin’s market structure as investors move beyond simple directional bets toward more advanced hedging strategies.”

Exchange!

I look forward to seeing everyone at Exchange this week! Reach out if you’re interested in connecting. Otherwise, you can catch me at the following sessions and events:

Sunday, March 15^th at 4:20pm (Agave Hall): ETF Study Hall – Due Diligence with Kirsten Chang, Senior Industry Analyst at TMX VettaFi and Todd Sohn, Chief ETF Strategist at Strategas Asset Management

Monday, March 16^th at 4:05pm (Primose Hall): How Should Advisors Think About Crypto? I’ll moderate an outstanding panel featuring Bill Birmingham, Managing Director at Osprey Funds; Krista Lynch, Head of ETF Capital Markets at Grayscale; Adam Morgan McCarthy, Product Specialist at Kaiko Indices

Tuesday, March 17^th at 11am (Podcasting Stage): ETF Prime Live! Guests will include Wes Crill, Senior Client Solutions Director at Dimensional; Cinthia Murphy, Investment Strategist at VettaFi; Ben Johnson, Head of Client Solutions at Morningstar

ETF Post of the Week

Bloomberg’s James Seyffart provides a nice snapshot of four major spot crypto ETF categories. One particularly notable detail is the large amount of solana assets held by 13F filers, which include investment advisors and hedge fund managers.

Here's a breakdown of the 4 groups of ETFs i'm tracking. SOL & XRP are by far the newest but XRP ETFs are heavily driven by retail demand.

All of these charts and tables and much more available here from @FrancisSharoon and I: https://t.co/Gwgcs4CM14 pic.twitter.com/ZfqXjkrXop

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) March 10, 2026

ETF Chart of the Week

Since the Iran war began in late February, the United States Oil ETF (USO) has surged nearly 50%. The fund is now up roughly 75% year-to-date. Bloomberg reports that USO pulled in $330 million of inflows last Thursday – its largest one-day haul since August 2020 – bringing total inflows for the year to nearly $1 billion.

With USO back in the spotlight, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel this past week on oil, gold, and silver that included John Love, President and CEO of USCF Investments, the firm behind the ETF. You can watch the discussion here.

ETF Prime Podcast

Last week’s ETF Prime featured Rob Arnott, Founder and Chairman of Research Affiliates, discussing current stock market valuations, AI’s potential impact on markets, the systematic and fundamental methodology behind RAFI indices, and the firm’s RACWI US ETF (ticker RAUS).

Last Week’s ETF Buzz