ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 10/15/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
ETFs on Track to Outnumber Mutual Funds Early Next Year by Mallika Mitra
“With roughly 5,718 ETFs and 6,202 mutual funds currently, the number of ETFs is expected to overtake the number of mutual funds for the first time in February 2027.”
Perpetual Futures and ETFs? Maybe? by Dave Nadig
“I get that this sounds bad and weird, but there’s a certain logic to it.”
Novel ETFs: New Milestones for Crypto, Leverage & Sports by Roxanna Islam
“As ETF issuers continue to push the boundaries of product innovation, recent developments in leveraged and sports-related products demonstrate how regulatory structures could potentially bring newer strategies into the market.”
Goldman’s $2.3 Billion Deal Puts Tax-Smart ETFs Under Scrutiny by Lu Wang and Justina Lee
“A fund paying regular distributions to its investors delivered a better tax outcome than a fund that’s only required to pay dividend income.”
351 exchanges still viable after IRS ruling, says Baird planning leader by Leo Almazora
“If you’re going to promote a product that has tax advantages, you need to understand the disadvantages too.”
AI-powered stock funds bet bots can pick stocks faster and better than humans by Suzanne McGee
“Until now you’ve had two choices: be a passive investor and own an index, or be an active investor. I want to offer a third option: where it’s AI that is doing it all for you.”
Your ‘Cheap’ ETF Costs More Than You Think by Jason Zweig
“There remains a squishy middle of ETFs that are getting away with a higher expense ratio than might be justified.”
ETF Post of the Week
ETF fees are the theme of the week, between Jason Zweig’s article above, this post from Corgi’s Jeff Weniger, and the three charts I’ve included below. Corgi, which is now up to 222(!) ETFs in less than a year, just rolled out seven fixed income ETFs with expense ratios of 0.02%. I know I’m a broken record, but I still don’t think people fully appreciate that Corgi isn’t messing around. They’re here to compete, and the fees on these seven launches should make that clear. Will this strategy work? That remains to be seen, given the importance of distribution in the ETF space. But launching core products at just 2 basis points will certainly help.
The 7 Corgi ETFs at 0.02% cover: Aggregate Bonds, Treasury Bonds of various maturities, corporate bonds across the yield curve, and TIPS. Our index partner for fixed income is FTSE Russell. We’re going after fee-sensitive investors.
— Jeff Weniger (@JeffWeniger) October 16, 2026
ETF Chart(s) of the Week
Speaking of ETF fees, I thought this was an interesting breakdown of the revenue generated by the nearly 5,800 US-listed ETFs. ETF.com’s Dave Nadig:
“This is its own K-shaped economy. The top 47 funds earning over $100mm a year are taking 44% of the entire pool of industry revenue. Meanwhile, the median ETF collects about $500k a year. There are 1,470 ETFs—about a quarter of the industry—that are earning under $100k (far less than it costs to keep the lights on). And, of the 1,140 funds launched so far in the U.S. this year, the median fund has an implied annual revenue of just $30k.”
I’ve also included a recent chart courtesy of JPM showing ETF assets by fee band. While the asset-weighted average ETF fee has crept higher in recent years, driven by pricier new launches and investor demand for more expensive “hot sauce” strategies, the broader trend remains clear: investors continue to gravitate toward the lowest-cost products overall.
The takeaway? Once again, Dave Nadig:
“Eric Balachunas over at Bloomberg calls the ETF market the ‘Terrordome’ because fee competition is so brutal. He’s right, of course. It’s very difficult to make money in this business.”
Which is why the average lifespan of ETFs is quickly decreasing, as shown in the third chart below.
Source: ETF.com’s Dave Nadig
Source: J.P. Morgan Guide to ETFs
Source: Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Brian Daly, Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, who provided an update on novel ETFs following the agency’s request for public comment earlier this year. I was also joined by Paul Baiocchi, Head of Fund Sales & Strategy at SS&C ALPS Advisors, who examined key market themes investors should watch for the remainder of the year, and Johnny Wu, Founder & CEO of xETFs, who discussed the firm’s entry into the ETF space and highlighted several products, including its recently launched xETFs AI Bottlenecks ETF (NECK).
CNBC ETF Edge
I had the pleasure of joining CNBC’s Dominic Chu and Andrew Beer, Co-Founder of DBi, on last week’s ETF Edge to discuss the role of bonds in a portfolio, today’s challenging fixed income environment, and how alternative strategies like managed futures ETFs can fit into an investor’s toolkit.
I also joined CNBC’s Halftime Report for a quick discussion on bond ETF inflows and the growing role of alternative ETFs (you can watch that here).
