ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 5/14/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
2026 ETF Inflows Top $700B: Where’s the Money Going? by Nick Wodeshick
“Despite only being halfway through May, this number puts 2026 at the fourth highest year for ETF flows.”
Fidelity to Tack Service Fees on 100 More ETFs. Boutique Issuers May Be Hit Hardest by Mallika Mitra
“They disadvantage smaller accounts, which might otherwise benefit if our strategy is a good fit for their objectives.”
Retail Euphoria Turns Six-Week Fund Into Record-Busting AI Trade by Isabelle Lee and Sidhartha Shukla
“By some measures, no ETF in history has grown faster.”
After DRAM, Investors Want a Photonics ETF by Sumit Roy
“Three other ETFs have been filed that target the space, each with a different take on what it means to be a photonics ETF.”
Institutional Asset Owners Boost ETF Use by Shanny Basar
“Nearly half expect to increase their ETF allocations over the next 24 months.”
SEC delay on prediction markets ETFs echoes a long-fought bitcoin fund battle by Krysta Escobar
“With any kind of novel exposure in the ETF, there will always be some last minute hiccups.”
Crypto ETFs: Blockchain Equities Reemerge by Roxanna Islam
“Many of these broader blockchain ETFs have recently outperformed spot bitcoin ETFs.”
First-ever Hyperliquid ETF launches, posts ‘very solid’ first day of trading: analyst by RT Watson
“Hyperliquid is the largest onchain perps DEX.”
ETF Post of the Week
Vanguard continues to methodically close the gap with BlackRock in the race for the ETF industry’s asset crown. So far in 2026, Vanguard has vacuumed-up over $200 billion in new investor inflows, while BlackRock has brought in roughly $140 billion. According to Ben Johnson at Morningstar, Vanguard now trails the current ETF leader by only about $70 billion in assets. If both firms maintain their current pace through the rest of the year, the ETF industry could see a changing of the (Van)guard (sorry).
#1 BlackRock/iShares' lead over #2 Vanguard on the U.S. ETF AUM league table has narrowed in recent years.
— Ben Johnson, CFA (@MstarBenJohnson) May 13, 2026
At the end of April it stood at $67.4 billion.
Will Vanguard take the #1 spot? pic.twitter.com/bpg4LClAtl
ETF Chart of the Week
About a month ago, I highlighted the early success of the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) as it surpassed $1 billion in assets. Little did I know that this ETF was just getting started. DRAM has now become the fastest ETF ever to reach $10 billion in assets, hitting the milestone in just 30 trading days. I didn’t think the record set by the iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) could ever be topped. Congrats to the Roundhill team!
Source: Bloomberg’s Isabelle Lee and Sidhartha Shukla
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Andrew Chanin, CEO of ProcureAM, and Paul Baiocchi, Head of Fund Sales and Strategy at SS&C ALPS Advisors. Andrew discussed skyrocketing investor demand for the Procure Space ETF (UFO), the highly anticipated SpaceX IPO, the government’s recent release of UFO files, and growing competition within the space-themed ETF category (nice summary here). Paul explained how the AI capex boom is driving opportunities across traditional sectors like utilities, materials, energy, and industrials – and highlighted ETFs positioned to benefit from the trend (another nice summary here).
