"Private Companies Are a Form of the New Small-Cap"
The ETF Zoo crew deconstructs a chaotic start to 2026. This episode explores the massive rotation into emerging markets, the impact of fee wars on active managers, and the structural mechanics behind silver's historic one-day drawdown.
Welcome to ETF Zoo, where we check in on the latest happenings in the wild world of ETFs. In this episode, the group digs into the shocking performance happening in emerging markets and the rapid collapse of silver prices in the largest single day drawdown in modern history. The team also checks in on the ETF fee war and how active fits into the trend, as well as the ongoing "spaghetti cannon" of filings with the SEC.
ETF.com hosts Dave Nadig, President & Director of Research, and Sumit Roy, Senior ETF Analyst, are joined this week by Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence and Elisabeth Kashner, CFA, Director of Global Research Funds at FactSet.
This podcast is available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you prefer to watch the full video recording, you can find that here or on our YouTube channel.
Top Takeaways
- There has been a serious rotation into emerging markets with 70% of emerging market ETFs taking in money, indicating real sentiment.
- Active management is gaining market share, outperforming passive funds but core passive flows continue to grow on low fees, creating dilemmas for active strategies.
- Silver experienced a massive sell-off, with leveraged ETFs likely contributing to the sharp drawdown.
- Small-Cap Value is seeing renewed interest and performance.
- Emerging markets show significant performance disparities, particularly driven by a few stocks.
- The ETF market is experiencing unprecedented growth, leading to a surge in new fund launches. With SEC approval more hit-and-miss of late, what does it mean for issuers and ETFs overall?
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