2020 ETF Inflows Now Second Largest Ever

Sep 18, 2020

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

Another week of losses in U.S. stock markets didn't stem the flow of funds into ETFs. A mammoth $36.5 billion entered U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Sept. 17, according to the latest data from FactSet. That's the largest weekly inflow since late last year and may have been fueled by tax-related heartbeat trades (notice all the Vanguard ETFs on this week's top inflows list)—or maybe not—we'll know for sure next week.

In either case, inflows are inflows, and this week's spoils pushed year-to-date inflows up to $332.5 billion, well ahead of the $197 billion seen at this time a year ago.

In fact, 2020's ETF inflows have now surpassed 2019's total inflows of $326 billion, which was the second-largest annual haul ever. Now only $144 billion stands between 2020 and 2017's record $476.1 billion haul. There are more than three months to close that gap, ample time to make this year one for the record books.

Fixed Income Leads Equities

U.S. equity ETFs had the bulk of the inflows this week, but on a year-to-date basis, U.S. fixed income ETFs still lead, with creations of $141 billion versus $104 billion. A big chunk of this year's U.S. equity ETF inflows have gone into the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)—$12.2 billion—though the fund registered outflows of nearly $2 billion in the past week as tech stocks continued to pull back from their all-time highs.

For equity ETFs, only the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) have gathered more assets than QQQ this year, $23.5 billion and $17.7 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, for fixed income, the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCIT), the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) and the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) led the way, each with inflows of more than $10 billion for the year.

Finally, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) has been far and away the most popular commodity fund of the year, and the second most popular of all ETFs, with inflows of $19.6 billion for 2020. GLD's total assets under management stand at $78.6 billion currently.

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	4,139.31	217,163.60	1.91%
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	2,395.16	302,870.07	0.79%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	2,383.45	164,524.88	1.45%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	1,752.90	162,920.25	1.08%
SCHG	Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF	1,528.91	13,571.29	11.27%
VB	Vanguard Small-Cap ETF	1,429.03	30,214.88	4.73%
VUG	Vanguard Growth ETF	1,415.04	61,480.85	2.30%
VXF	Vanguard Extended Market ETF	1,411.00	11,407.45	12.37%
VO	Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF	1,352.24	36,068.79	3.75%
VXUS	Vanguard Total International Stock ETF	1,100.94	26,673.35	4.13%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust	-1,989.27	128,843.11	-1.54%
FXN	First Trust Energy AlphaDEX Fund	-380.40	140.38	-270.98%
GLD	SPDR Gold Trust	-350.73	78,638.39	-0.45%
XLU	Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund	-260.00	11,731.06	-2.22%
HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-244.57	30,199.88	-0.81%
POCT	Innovator S&P 500 Power Buffer ETF - October	-211.58	210.58	-100.48%
VLUE	iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF	-205.13	6,965.46	-2.95%
IWF	iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF	-160.89	57,844.08	-0.28%
EWJ	iShares MSCI Japan ETF	-160.64	9,977.60	-1.61%
EFAV	iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF	-158.28	10,801.16	-1.47%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	26,876.59	2,688,383.74	1.00%
International Equity	3,169.49	884,743.93	0.36%
U.S. Fixed Income	4,850.40	923,916.34	0.52%
International Fixed Income	1,723.77	109,974.79	1.57%
Commodities	-494.81	152,280.47	-0.32%
Currency	1.32	1,925.41	0.07%
Leveraged	220.09	38,293.63	0.57%
Inverse	-56.93	14,285.42	-0.40%
Asset Allocation	125.90	11,071.62	1.14%
Alternatives	100.12	5,116.40	1.96%
Total:	36,515.95	4,829,991.76	0.76%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	103,862.14	2,688,383.74	3.86%
International Equity	12,182.68	884,743.93	1.38%
U.S. Fixed Income	141,239.47	923,916.34	15.29%
International Fixed Income	13,220.57	109,974.79	12.02%
Commodities	44,349.10	152,280.47	29.12%
Currency	590.97	1,925.41	30.69%
Leveraged	2,973.02	38,293.63	7.76%
Inverse	13,377.99	14,285.42	93.65%
Asset Allocation	1,023.38	11,071.62	9.24%
Alternatives	-280.92	5,116.40	-5.49%
Total:	332,538.40	4,829,991.76	6.88%

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

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
IBBJ	Defiance NASDAQ Junior Biotechnology ETF	10.08%	36,863	2.68
PTH	Invesco DWA Healthcare Momentum ETF	8.87%	91,874	497.72
BTEC	Principal Healthcare Innovators Index ETF	8.66%	23,504	95.98
FUE	Elements MLCX Biofuels Index-Total Return ETN	8.47%	2,650	0.35
LIT	Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF	8.16%	1,112,219	764.93
BBP	Virtus LifeSci Biotech Products ETF	7.97%	5,490	26.67
XBI	SPDR S&P Biotech ETF	7.90%	16,028,691	6,296.92
IDNA	iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF	7.87%	113,901	147.61
ARKG	ARK Genomic Revolution ETF	7.63%	2,288,606	2,168.05
ARKK	ARK Innovation ETF	7.59%	7,281,429	8,566.94

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
XVZ	iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX ETN	107.68%	1.56%	9.76
VIXM	ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF	87.55%	1.31%	99.42
VXZ	iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN	86.76%	0.97%	30.46
ARKG	ARK Genomic Revolution ETF	85.71%	7.63%	2,168.05
TAN	Invesco Solar ETF	83.96%	7.13%	1,345.20
ARKK	ARK Innovation ETF	83.10%	7.59%	8,566.94
ARKW	ARK Next Generation Internet ETF	82.39%	5.77%	2,356.08
QCLN	First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund	70.80%	7.38%	557.07
ONLN	ProShares Online Retail ETF	69.85%	1.79%	297.54
PBW	Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF	69.47%	6.28%	671.95

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's worked for 12 years. Before joining the company, Roy was the managing editor and commodities analyst for Hard Assets Investor. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys climbing the city’s steep hills, playing pickleball and snowboarding.

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2020 ETF Inflows Now Second Largest Ever

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