ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 10/22/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
‘Disrupter’ exchanges battle for ETFs in challenge to NYSE and Nasdaq by Steve Johnson
“NYSE and Nasdaq’s share of new listings has fallen to 47.7 per cent this year, the lowest figure on record and well below the two-thirds they have seen in recent years.”
Boomers are buying into the promise of monthly income from options ETFs, but there’s a tax catch by Cheryl Winokur Munk
“The fund’s NAV must keep going up to sustain those distributions. It’s not magic. The money has to come from somewhere, and it can’t just come from new investors.”
Options ETFs Are Booming. Beware of the Tradeoffs. by Debbie Carlson
“There’s no free lunch in markets.”
Asset managers are winding down active ETFs at a record rate by Caroline McCarthy
“To be sure, record ETF liquidations are being more than outpaced by the number of new launches.”
IRS, Treasury Cast Doubt on Dividend-Skipping ETFs’ Future by Emile Hallez
“It’s not uncommon for smaller funds to shut down within a year. The thing that’s interesting is the timing.”
What Schwab’s new ETF platform fees mean for clients, advisors by Dan Shaw
“Schwab is charging its rivals for access to the very platform where it competes with them.”
The ETFs That Can Die: Understanding Unit Investment Trusts (UITs) by Tony Dong
“Under its trust agreement, SPY is scheduled to terminate on January 22, 2118, or 20 years after the death of the last survivor among 11 people named in the agreement.”
Grayscale expands in-kind subscriptions to 10 crypto ETFs and trusts by Jason Shubnell
“The available products include its Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF, Ethereum Staking Mini ETF, and ETFs or trusts tied to Avalanche, Chainlink, Dogecoin, Hyperliquid, Solana, Sui, XRP, and Zcash, with minimum investments ranging from about $80,300 to $364,800.”
ETF Post of the Week
With ETFs seemingly setting a new record every other day, it’s easy to take for granted some of the ridiculous numbers the industry continues to post. Take this one from Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas: ETFs have seen inflows in excess of $100 billion for 17 straight months. Year to date, the industry has seen over $1.7 trillion in inflows, already surpassing last year’s record by over $200 billion. This chart is an excellent visual representation of the industry’s acceleration over the past few years. Sometimes, you just have to take a step back and marvel at the success.
ETFs have taken in over $100b for 17(!) straight months now, a period in which they accumulated $2.6T. New level unlocked. All three major metrics (flows volume, launches) are set to break last year’s record by 30% each. I’ve always been bullish but even I’m amazed. Chart @psarofagis
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 21, 2026
ETF Chart(s) of the Week
Speaking of noteworthy ETF stats, I found this one interesting:
“Chicago-based Cboe has secured 561 exchange-traded product launches so far this year according to Morningstar, nearly half of all US launches.”
While I highly recommend reading the full article above, the FT’s Steve Johnson notes that the rise of derivatives-based ETFs has played right into Cboe’s hands, given its history as an options exchange.
While NYSE is still the clear leader in terms of US-listed ETF assets, the competition for ETF listings is growing more cutthroat by the day.
Not to mention… we now have the Texas Stock Exchange joining the party.
Source: FT’s Steve Johnson
ETF Prime Podcast
How should investors navigate the AI trade amid massive hyperscaler capital spending, elevated earnings expectations, and growing concerns around AI infrastructure debt? Last week’s ETF Prime featured Zeno Mercer, Head of Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Research at VettaFi, breaking down the key narratives shaping the space and what they mean for ETF investors. Plus, Howard Chan, Founder & CEO of Kurv Investment Management, explored two potential market scenarios based on the direction of growth and inflation and discussed which Kurv ETFs could stand to benefit in each.
