ETF Inflows & Outflows
Performance Leaders & Laggards
Source: ETF Action; flows and performance data as of 11/05/26; performance data excludes leveraged and inverse products
Weekly ETF Reads
The Nasdaq-100 ETF Fee War: Why There’s Room for 4 by Todd Rosenbluth
“The intense competition among core equity index ETFs is no longer confined to the S&P 500.”
The Chip Stock Bloodbath Is a Case Study in the Risks of Leveraged ETFs by Paul R. La Monica
“But the trend of single-stock ETFs isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon.”
There’s an ETF for That? AI Bonds by Tony Dong
“Historically, sector-specific bond ETFs haven’t attracted nearly the same attention as their equity counterparts. Now, some issuers are attempting to change that with thematic fixed-income ETFs focused specifically on financing the AI buildout.”
Anthropic ETFs: Private Markets, Perpetual Futures & More by Roxanna Islam
“Regulatory developments suggest that perpetual futures could eventually become more widely available in the United States, which means we may potentially see these directly held by ETFs.”
(Note: VettaFi’s Roxanna Islam joined me on last week’s ETF Prime to take an in-depth look at Anthropic exposure in ETFs. You can watch that conversation further down in this blog.)
Understanding “Tokenized ETFs” Without Losing Sight of the Fundamentals by Sal Esposito
“Tokenization could make parts of the ETF ecosystem faster, less expensive, and more accessible, and improvements to the infrastructure supporting financial markets can ultimately benefit investors.”
ETF Post of the Week
Bloomberg’s James Seyffart calculates that ETFs could surpass mutual funds in total assets sometime within the next two or three years. With the industry posting $2.2 trillion in inflows over the past 12 months with seemingly relative ease, I think James’s prediction looks pretty good.
NEW: ETFs are likely going to surpass mutual funds in AUM within the next 2-3 years. Their growth is only accelerating. If we stay on the same trend we’ve been on since the summer it will happen in ~two years. https://t.co/AEEopRrnTG
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) November 5, 2026
ETF Chart of the Week
A record $74 billion flowed into fixed income ETFs in October, bringing year-to-date inflows to nearly $550 billion, also a record. State Street’s Matt Bartolini:
“Following their worst monthly return in over four years, broad core bonds had their best monthly return in over three years, rallying by more than 2.4% in October. Right as this reversal occurred, bond ETFs amassed the most flows ever for a month, taking in a record $74 billion. This was also a record sixth consecutive month with more than $50 billion of inflows (prior to this year, there had never been a single month with more than $50 billion). The strong October haul, along with that trend of $50 billion-plus months, pushed fixed income ETF inflows to over $542 billion year to date with flows headed for $660 billion by the end of the year (based on my projections).”
Bartolini goes on to say:
“The magnitude, depth, and breadth of bond flows are the key reasons why bond ETFs are one of the secular growth engines of the ETF industry. Moreover, outside of October’s bounce-back rally, recent bond returns haven’t been that strong. So, it’s not as if investors are chasing a ‘hot dot,’ but rather turning to the ETF structure to express a wide array of fixed income views.”
Matt’s last point is an important one. Bonds have had a challenging year overall, with a broad bond ETF such as the State Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF (SPAB) posting a negative total return. Plenty of other bond categories are also in the red.
But importantly, the growing supply of fixed income ETFs lets investors express nearly any view on the markets, allowing the category to post record inflows despite a lackluster year.
Source: State Street’s Matt Bartolini
ETF Prime Podcast
Last week’s ETF Prime featured Roxanna Islam, Head of Sector & Industry Research at VettaFi, and Todd Mathias, Head of U.S. ETF Product Strategy & Development at Franklin Templeton. Roxanna discussed the upcoming Anthropic IPO and how investors can gain exposure today through ETFs, including those using swaps tied to perpetual futures contracts. Todd went inside the firm’s expanding ETF lineup, from its recently launched Bitcoin DRIP ETFs to its active fixed income offerings.
Crypto Prime Podcast
Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart joined me on last week’s Crypto Prime to discuss their new book, Both Sides of the Coin, revisiting the journey behind the spot bitcoin ETF saga and sharing what they’ve learned along the way about bitcoin and crypto.
