2020 ETF Inflows Hit Record $509B

Senior ETF Analyst

Dec 18, 2020

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

A crescendo of buying in financial markets pushed annual ETF inflows to records for the first time since 2017. On net, investors added $53.4 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Dec. 17.

Though some of the inflows could be due to tax-related heartbeat trades, they were enough to push 2020's year-to-date inflows up to a whopping $509.4 billion, blowing past 2017's record of $476.1 billion. For comparison, year-to-date inflows stood at $342.2 billion at this same time a year ago.

To be sure, 2020's record isn't "official" until year end; a sudden bout of outflows in the last two weeks of the year could push the annual figure down. On the other hand, the number could swell further.

Equities Surpass Fixed Income

While U.S. fixed income ETFs led the way for flows throughout much of the year, U.S. equity ETF flows finally surpassed them as stocks pushed to record highs this week. The S&P 500 briefly topped 3,725 on Thursday, pushing its returns for the year to more than 17%.

U.S. stocks have been on a tear since bottoming out in March, and investors have added $187.4 billion to U.S. equity ETFs so far this year. That compares to inflows of $177.8 billion for U.S. fixed income ETFs.

In contrast to the gains in stocks, Treasuries have largely been selling off in recent weeks, albeit slowly and with the support of the Federal Reserve limiting their downside. The 10-year Treasury yield, which moves inversely to the bond price, hit a high of 0.95% this week, close to its highest levels since March.

Meanwhile, international equity ETFs have pulled in $62.1 billion of new money so far this while, while commodities registered $39.5 billion of inflows in the same period.

'VTI' Leads The Way

In terms of individual ETFs, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) leads the way, with year-to-date inflows of $32.1 billion; followed by the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) with $21.7 billion; and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) with $16.6 billion.

On the outflows side, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) has seen redemptions of $33.6 billion; the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) has seen redemptions of $11.8 billion; and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) has seen redemptions of $4.6 billion.

For a full list of the latest inflows and outflows, see the tables below:

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
VXF	Vanguard Extended Market ETF	5,124.73	18,838.49	27.20%
IVW	iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF	3,511.45	35,419.73	9.91%
XLY	Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund	2,873.51	21,126.42	13.60%
VB	Vanguard Small-Cap ETF	2,420.95	39,072.23	6.20%
VO	Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF	2,085.66	43,490.18	4.80%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	2,003.82	176,376.51	1.14%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	1,847.20	199,120.22	0.93%
SPYV	SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value ETF	1,432.50	8,813.83	16.25%
IEMG	iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF	1,419.05	66,203.48	2.14%
XBI	SPDR S&P Biotech ETF	1,261.59	8,554.06	14.75%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	-6,929.61	316,358.92	-2.19%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	-2,979.60	236,449.45	-1.26%
HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-1,213.11	24,741.64	-4.90%
GLD	SPDR Gold Trust	-709.07	69,521.94	-1.02%
BBEU	JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF	-357.54	4,117.01	-8.68%
LQD	iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	-301.51	55,152.44	-0.55%
JNK	SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF	-281.17	12,299.14	-2.29%
IEF	iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF	-276.26	15,401.73	-1.79%
DIA	SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust	-196.74	25,566.74	-0.77%
SHV	iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF	-174.62	18,391.35	-0.95%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	39,014.18	3,089,165.75	1.26%
International Equity	10,374.59	1,035,860.86	1.00%
U.S. Fixed Income	2,722.33	961,926.24	0.28%
International Fixed Income	1,544.04	122,264.47	1.26%
Commodities	-453.12	140,479.68	-0.32%
Currency	24.72	1,891.42	1.31%
Leveraged	-10.45	44,955.86	-0.02%
Inverse	12.55	11,412.21	0.11%
Asset Allocation	96.75	13,262.96	0.73%
Alternatives	43.64	5,262.06	0.83%
Total:	53,369.23	5,426,481.52	0.98%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	187,356.94	3,089,165.75	6.06%
International Equity	62,059.20	1,035,860.86	5.99%
U.S. Fixed Income	177,789.77	961,926.24	18.48%
International Fixed Income	24,036.25	122,264.47	19.66%
Commodities	39,507.90	140,479.68	28.12%
Currency	540.06	1,891.42	28.55%
Leveraged	1,279.33	44,955.86	2.85%
Inverse	13,684.66	11,412.21	119.91%
Asset Allocation	2,871.74	13,262.96	21.65%
Alternatives	305.14	5,262.06	5.80%
Total:	509,430.97	5,426,481.52	9.39%

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
DWCR	Arrow DWA Tactical International ETF	12.72%	3,413	12.48
TAN	Invesco Solar ETF	9.93%	7,052,913	3,190.80
SILJ	ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF	8.48%	4,372,341	537.12
URNM	North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF	7.89%	300,352	35.67
CNRG	SPDR S&P Kensho Clean Power ETF	7.67%	167,666	226.21
CTEC	Global X CleanTech ETF	7.41%	249,456	37.69
BLOK	Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF	7.34%	1,303,494	264.78
SLVP	iShares MSCI Global Silver and Metals Miners ETF	6.56%	525,290	218.79
ICLN	iShares Global Clean Energy ETF	6.18%	18,035,517	3,662.95
SLV	iShares Silver Trust	6.11%	86,025,092	13,924.90

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
ARKG	ARK Genomic Revolution ETF	185.32%	-2.65%	6,022.99
TAN	Invesco Solar ETF	179.35%	9.93%	3,190.80
PBW	Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF	162.00%	5.86%	1,842.66
ARKW	ARK Next Generation Internet ETF	150.77%	1.25%	4,984.85
QCLN	First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund	149.12%	5.21%	1,688.51
ARKK	ARK Innovation ETF	148.25%	0.06%	16,422.94
IBUY	Amplify Online Retail ETF	112.22%	4.95%	1,332.69
PBD	Invesco Global Clean Energy ETF	112.10%	5.75%	250.14
IPO	Renaissance IPO ETF	110.43%	-0.50%	695.76
ACES	ALPS Clean Energy ETF	108.95%	4.34%	668.29

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.

Sumit Roy

| Contact: [email protected]

Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com, where he has worked for 13 years. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including news articles, analysis pieces, videos and podcasts.

Before joining etf.com, Sumit was the managing editor and commodities analyst for Hard Assets Investor. In those roles, he was responsible for most of the operations of HAI, a website dedicated to education about commodities investing.

Though he still closely follows the commodities beat, Sumit covers a much broader assortment of topics for etf.com, with a particular focus on stock and bond exchange-traded funds.

He is the host of etf.com’s Talk ETFs, a popular video series that features weekly interviews with thought leaders in the ETF industry. Sumit is also co-host of Exchange Traded Fridays, etf.com’s weekly podcast series.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys climbing the city’s steep hills, playing chess and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe.

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2020 ETF Inflows Hit Record $509B

2020 ETF Inflows Hit Record $509B

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