Volatile markets and a hawkish Federal Reserve took their toll on exchange-traded funds last year, as investors added 32% less to ETFs than they did the year before.
ETFs brought in $614 billion in 2022 compared with the record $900 billion the year prior, according to ETF.com data. Soaring interest rates, inflation at 40-year highs and geopolitical turmoil battered investor sentiment and pulled markets down.
The S&P 500 notched a nearly 20% annual loss—its worst since 2008—while the Nasdaq tumbled 33%. Meanwhile, bonds endured their worst year in history.
Still, the $614 billion was the second-best year of inflows to date for ETFs, as gyrating markets caused investors to flock to passively managed vehicles. Comparatively, mutual funds, through mid-December, shed over $950 billion, according to Bloomberg data, trumping the $13 billion that exited last year and marking the greatest outflow on record. Some of that money has moved to ETFs.
Fixed income funds emerged as a bright spot for the year, as the asset class’ inflows rose 8% from the previous year to $189 billion as investors wagered fixed income would be a safer haven over equities.
Funds pulling in big sums of investor money included the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), which collectively posted $29 billion in gains last year.
Equity funds totals dropped 38%, falling to almost $285 billion from 2021’s $461 billion. Funds bringing in the most money included the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), which collectively brought in nearly $88 billion, according to ETF.com data.
On the other side of the ledger, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the largest U.S.-listed ETF, shed $12 billion last year, according to ETF.com data.
For a full list of the year’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top Gainers (Year-to-Date)
| Ticker | Name | Issuer | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($M) | % of AUM | December 2022 Net Flows($,M) |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | Vanguard | 39,961.97 | 258,366.62 | 15.47% | 941.58 |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | Vanguard | 25,916.47 | 256,768.07 | 10.09% | 2,344.55 |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | Blackrock | 21,549.64 | 285,473.83 | 7.55% | -2,985.82 |
| SCHD | Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF | Charles Schwab | 15,400.79 | 44,191.00 | 34.85% | 1,571.73 |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | Blackrock | 15,272.40 | 26,672.92 | 57.26% | 290.05 |
| BND | Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | Vanguard | 14,195.39 | 84,734.89 | 16.75% | 2,151.21 |
| BIL | SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | State Street Global Advisors | 12,815.42 | 26,391.20 | 48.56% | 288.00 |
| JEPI | JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF | JPMorgan Chase | 12,762.74 | 17,388.69 | 73.40% | 1,347.90 |
| TQQQ | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | ProShares | 12,075.95 | 9,856.45 | 122.52% | 1,540.07 |
| VTV | Vanguard Value ETF | Vanguard | 11,083.70 | 98,394.86 | 11.26% | 1,452.13 |
Biggest Losers (Year-to-Date)
| Ticker | Name | Issuer | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($M) | % of AUM | December 2022 Net Flows($,M) |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | State Street Global Advisors | -12,445.29 | 353,479.16 | -3.52% | -3,468.25 |
| TIP | iShares TIPS Bond ETF | Blackrock | -9,606.04 | 23,004.62 | -41.76% | -1,510.79 |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | State Street Global Advisors | -7,293.94 | 31,008.86 | -23.52% | -355.42 |
| VLUE | iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | Blackrock | -6,367.50 | 7,468.41 | -85.26% | -182.66 |
| BBEU | JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF | JPMorgan Chase | -4,960.50 | 3,137.25 | -158.12% | -378.80 |
| MINT | PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active ETF | PIMCO | -4,523.41 | 8,811.89 | -51.33% | -843.35 |
| SCHP | Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF | Charles Schwab | -4,200.96 | 13,708.45 | -30.65% | -164.01 |
| PFF | iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | Blackrock | -3,337.02 | 12,895.85 | -25.88% | -381.17 |
| VGK | Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF | Vanguard | -3,029.80 | 15,053.07 | -20.13% | 71.24 |
| FALN | iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF | Blackrock | -2,696.07 | 1,569.69 | -171.76% | 5.22 |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 284,562.84 | 3,789,034.77 | 7.51% |
| International Equity | 99,205.73 | 1,138,106.51 | 8.72% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 189,422.60 | 1,154,134.04 | 16.41% |
| International Fixed Income | 7,817.84 | 137,795.54 | 5.67% |
| Commodities | -3,928.18 | 130,146.36 | -3.02% |
| Currency | 1,436.75 | 3,716.20 | 38.66% |
| Leveraged | 22,541.28 | 43,033.03 | 52.38% |
| Inverse | 9,046.14 | 24,610.11 | 36.76% |
| Asset Allocation | 1,187.04 | 16,730.36 | 7.10% |
| Alternatives | 2,754.38 | 8,850.78 | 31.12% |
| Total: | 614,046.42 | 6,446,157.69 | 9.53% |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
