ETF Investors Piled Into SOXL, Dumped IWM Last Week
Investors added money to ETFs in aggregate amid last week's volatility.
A week that started with a dive in the S&P 500 of as much as 4.3% ended with a strong recovery, leaving the index flat over the five trading sessions through Friday, August 9.
Even during the worst of the sell-off on Monday, exchange-traded fund investors didn’t flinch as they continued to put money to work in ETFs.
The result is the same for the week as a whole: inflows totaled $4.4 billion, with solid flows into U.S. equity and fixed income ETFs. On the other hand, international equity ETFs saw outflows of $3.1 billion.
Year-to-date inflows for all ETFs in aggregate now stand at $532 billion, while U.S.-listed assets under management total $9.41 trillion.
SOXL vs IWM
For ETF investors, last week’s sell-off in tech was a buying opportunity. The Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (SOXL) picked up $1.7 billion of fresh inflows, while the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) had inflows of $1.4 billion.
The inflows into SOXL—a risky, leveraged ETF tied to one of the hottest parts of the stock market—stood in contrast to the strong $1.6 billion worth of inflows for the SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL), an ultra-safe ETF that invests in Treasury bills.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger was the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). After rotating from large stocks into small stocks earlier this month, investors backtracked on the IWM bet when faced with last week’s volatility.
IWM’s $3.7 billion of outflows were the most of any ETF last week. It was followed by outflows of $2 billion for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and $1.5 billion for the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM).
For a full list of last week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change< |
VOO | Vanguard 500 Index Fund | 2,994.77 | 475,332.18 | 0.63 |
SOXL | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares | 1,688.16 | 10,461.82 | 16.14 |
BIL | SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | 1,582.59 | 34,456.88 | 4.59 |
QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | 1,438.25 | 271,085.32 | 0.53 |
SCHR | Schwab Intermediate-Term U.S. Treasury ETF | 1,179.50 | 9,680.32 | 12.18 |
VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1,005.97 | 403,884.08 | 0.25 |
IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 951.99 | 489,255.80 | 0.19 |
IJH | iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | 845.17 | 85,100.76 | 0.99 |
XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | 825.62 | 64,650.30 | 1.28 |
VTIP | Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF | 778.11 | 11,710.38 | 6.64 |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -3,668.78 | 63,981.36 | -5.73 |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -2,019.87 | 537,779.41 | -0.38 |
EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | -1,528.07 | 17,081.74 | -8.95 |
HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -1,493.46 | 15,246.77 | -9.80 |
BKLN | Invesco Senior Loan ETF | -975.10 | 7,199.74 | -13.54 |
XLC | Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund | -892.60 | 17,389.42 | -5.13 |
IAU | iShares Gold Trust | -878.62 | 28,706.82 | -3.06 |
SRLN | SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF | -757.63 | 6,039.84 | -12.54 |
XLV | Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund | -743.67 | 40,009.78 | -1.86 |
SPMO | Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | -630.53 | 1,262.29 | -49.95 |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
Alternatives | -105.30 | 8,053.54 | -1.31% |
Asset Allocation | 60.34 | 18,757.12 | 0.32% |
Commodities | -639.30 | 144,769.65 | -0.44% |
Currency | -305.27 | 63,278.56 | -0.48% |
International Equity | -3,102.86 | 1,470,037.63 | -0.21% |
International Fixed Income | 119.98 | 207,853.97 | 0.06% |
Inverse | 353.75 | 13,359.91 | 2.65% |
Leveraged | 2,377.01 | 94,075.31 | 2.53% |
U.S. Equity | 2,216.12 | 5,719,711.50 | 0.04% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 3,398.89 | 1,487,523.02 | 0.23% |
Total: | 4,373.37 | 9,227,420.22 | 0.05% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
Alternatives | 1,397.41 | 8,177.03 | 17.09% |
Asset Allocation | 1,026.60 | 18,924.87 | 5.42% |
Commodities | -2,282.16 | 145,222.89 | -1.57% |
Currency | 17,582.17 | 71,502.03 | 24.59% |
International Equity | 56,120.37 | 1,509,706.89 | 3.72% |
International Fixed Income | 35,247.62 | 206,592.95 | 17.06% |
Inverse | 258.06 | 12,874.18 | 2.00% |
Leveraged | 1,992.76 | 100,038.72 | 1.99% |
U.S. Equity | 298,340.45 | 5,867,258.92 | 5.08% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 122,318.64 | 1,472,974.63 | 8.30% |
Total: | 532,001.92 | 9,413,273.11 | 5.65% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
NETL | NETLease Corporate Real Estate ETF | 14,379 | 225,689.00 | 1,569.60%% |
LGRO | Level Four Large Cap Growth Active ETF | 5,512 | 82,641.00 | 1,499.18%% |
FISR | SPDR SSGA Fixed Income Sector Rotation ETF | 196,814 | 2,719,965.00 | 1,382.00%% |
TFJL | Innovator 20+ Year Treasury Bond 5 Floor ETF - Quarterly | 26,991 | 343,608.00 | 1,273.03%% |
PJP | Invesco Pharmaceuticals ETF | 13,127 | 166,124.00 | 1,265.48%% |
GSPY | Gotham Enhanced 500 ETF | 23,422 | 278,705.00 | 1,189.94%% |
IBND | SPDR Bloomberg International Corporate Bond ETF | 32,105 | 347,615.00 | 1,082.74%% |
CPLS | AB Core Plus Bond ETF | 10,342 | 111,394.00 | 1,077.06%% |
YDEC | FT Vest International Equity Moderate Buffer ETF - December | 30,540 | 284,659.00 | 932.07%% |
FEUS | FlexShares ESG & Climate US Large Cap Core Index Fund | 2,120 | 17,210.00 | 811.90%% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
FBTC | Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund | 14.01% | 42,248,723 | 10,562.45 |
HODL | VanEck Bitcoin Trust | 13.95% | 2,090,696 | 651.56 |
IBIT | iShares Bitcoin Trust | 13.93% | 213,410,293 | 20,744.90 |
IBIT | iShares Bitcoin Trust | 13.93% | 213,410,293 | 20,744.90 |
BTCW | WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund | 13.93% | 3,497,712 | 208.51 |
BRRR | Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund | 13.93% | 1,658,380 | 529.78 |
EZBC | Franklin Bitcoin ETF | 13.93% | 1,693,570 | 384.22 |
ARKB | ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF | 13.93% | 13,558,069 | 2,745.25 |
BITB | Bitwise Bitcoin ETF | 13.93% | 16,413,883 | 2,273.61 |
DXJ | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 13.65% | 13,420,821 | 4,016.04 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
NVDY | YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF | 75.94% | -0.46% | 881.94 |
GBTC | Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF | 53.63% | 13.53% | 13,888.59 |
ARKC | ARK 21Shares Active On-Chain Bitcoin Strategy ETF | 34.48% | 10.41% | 2.20 |
BITO | ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF | 34.09% | 13.53% | 1,806.63 |
DEFI | Hashdex Bitcoin ETF | 34.07% | 8.81 | |
ARKA | ARK 21Shares Active Bitcoin Futures Strategy ETF | 33.47% | 13.46% | 13.76 |
BITC | Bitwise Bitcoin Strategy Optimum Roll ETF | 32.73% | 11.05 | |
MAXI | Simplify Bitcoin Strategy PLUS Income ETF | 30.22% | 9.72% | 19.68 |
SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 28.62% | 5.41% | 21,017.92 |
SHLD | Global X Defense Tech ETF | 26.81% | 4.20% | 396.22 |
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.