Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are attracting cash at a record-breaking trillion-dollar pace despite persistent inflation, war in the Middle East and bouts of market volatility – a testament to US households’ enduring buy-and-hold conviction.
US-listed ETFs have absorbed about US$1 trillion (S$1.29 trillion) in 2026, reaching the milestone before June is over. That’s after taking all of 2024 and 10 months in 2025 to do the same.
Flows are now on pace to “easily break” 2025’s record haul of US$1.5 trillion, which itself had topped the 2024 peak of US$1.1 trillion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence (BI). Year to date, the flows were led by Vanguard’s S&P 500 fund (VOO), which has raked in roughly US$110 billion already.
ETFs are a popular investment vehicle because they are easier to trade compared with mutual funds, they are relatively low cost, and there is an ETF for almost everything in the market.
“Every year, more investors are appreciating the benefits of the ETF wrapper,” said Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at TMX VettaFi. “And it’s not just for existing strategies, but there are increasingly newer and innovative strategies that are being placed into the ETF wrapper that are attracting attention.”
Equity-focused funds constitute the majority of the influx, garnering more than US$660 billion year to date.
Besides VOO – which just weeks ago became the first ETF to cross US$1 trillion in assets – State Street’s SPYM, a cheaper version of its mega SPY fund, has accumulated roughly US$41 billion in flows year to date, followed by Vanguard’s total-stock market vehicle (VTI) with US$31 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Most notably, allocations to US-centred equity ETFs have accelerated recently – even as the war with Iran dragged on, according to BI. It suggests that investors see “American markets as the primary destination for risk capital”, said BI’s Athanasios Psarofagis.
Since last week, however, there have been some outflows from US ETFs, bringing the year-to-date influx to US$987 billion. Still, it is notable that the cohort has brought in this haul, with six months left to the year.
The ETF industry is not set to break just one record: It is also on track to see a record number of new funds. More than 600 products have started trading in 2026, the fastest pace ever, according to BI.
In this mix, one of the most eye-catching flow-gatherers has been a fund by Roundhill that offers exposure to global memory-chip companies and trades under the ticker DRAM. It became the fastest-growing fund when measured by flows, gathering more than US$15 billion since its April launch. Its success has also spawned a number of copy-cat products.
“I don’t want to say it’s a mania, but it’s the continued momentum of ETFs being a preferred vehicle and an extension of how they’re used to capitalise on areas of the market that maybe weren’t as accessible,” said Christian Magoon, founder and chief executive officer of Amplify ETFs. BLOOMBERG