ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 3/19/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
Why ETFs Win the Tax Battle Over Mutual Funds by Sheryl Rowling
“In 2025, roughly 72% of the US equity mutual funds issued capital gains distributions.”
Capital Group: ETFs can help advisors improve practice management, succession planning by James Rogers
“Research released last year by Capital Group also found that active ETFs could serve as a client acquisition magnet for advisors looking to attract Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z clients.”
Dimensional Grafts Vanguard’s Tax-Busting Model Onto Mutual Fund by Katie Greifeld
“In creating an ETF as a share class of an existing mutual fund, the former vehicle’s tax efficiency is effectively being ported over to the latter.”
Box Spread ETFs Face Fee Pressure as New Rival Enters by Sumit Roy
“Some tax experts have argued that the structure of these ETFs represents a form of tax arbitrage and could eventually face scrutiny.”
Slashing Tax Bills for Rich Investors Is a $1 Trillion Business by Justina Lee and Denitsa Tsekova
“Near one end of the spectrum, something like a ‘no-distribution’ ETF simply times stock sales to avoid dividend payouts, reducing the fund’s taxable income.”
Morgan Stanley exec says crypto ETF adoption still ‘very early’ as advisors weigh allocations by Kyle Baird
“Even the distribution of these ETFs, about 80% of what we see on our platform, is coming through the self-directed business.”
T. Rowe Price is ready to put dogecoin, shiba inu among tokens in its new crypto ETF by Helene Braun
“The filing marks another step by the 87-year-old investment firm, which is one of the top 25 asset management firms, toward entering the digital asset market.”
The Newest Wave of ETFs Is Leading to Mini Bubbles by Brian Paoli
“Investors must look beyond the ETF label and evaluate what they are truly buying.”
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on ETFs: ‘We want to work with people on new products’ by Blair Bao
“It’s not our job to say which products are good or bad. It is our job to work with sponsors to make sure that they’re disclosing what those products are, what the risks are [and] what they’re intended to be used for.”
ETF Post of the Week
I greatly enjoyed connecting with many of you at Exchange this past week! If you couldn’t make it, here’s a short clip from a panel I moderated on how advisors should be thinking about crypto.
The lively discussion featured Bill Birmingham (Managing Director at Osprey Funds), Krista Lynch (Head of ETF Capital Markets at Grayscale), and Adam Morgan McCarthy (Product Specialist at Kaiko Indices).
Just another day talking to a room of hundreds of financial advisors about digital assets…
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) March 19, 2026
Grayscale SVP of ETF Capital Markets, Krista Lynch, spoke with @NateGeraci at @exchangeETF about portfolio allocation and how clients are looking at crypto assets beyond Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/6bmWF5GiM6
ETF Chart of the Week
One of the most talked-about themes at Exchange was commodities and natural resource ETFs. I came across this interesting chart showing that commodity ETFs account for less than 3% of total industry assets.
Not investment advice, but given the current market environment – and relatively muted interest over the past several years – this segment appears well positioned for potential growth. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a meaningful increase in commodity-related ETF filings.
Source: Strategas’ Todd Sohn
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime was recorded live at Exchange! I was joined by Dimensional’s Wes Crill, Bloomberg’s James Seyffart, Morningstar’s Ben Johnson, and VettaFi’s Cinthia Murphy to recap the ETF industry’s biggest event of the year and break down its hottest trends (nice recap here).
