The exchange-traded fund industry closed 2025 with its strongest year ever for investor demand, gathering $2.37 trillion in net inflows as global assets surged to a record $19.85 trillion, according to a Tuesday ETFGI report.
December capped the historic year with $330.78 billion in net inflows, marking the 79th consecutive month of positive flows into ETFs, according to ETFGI. The 2025 inflow total eclipsed the previous record of $1.88 trillion set in 2024 and represented a 33.7% increase in total ETF assets from the $14.85 trillion recorded at the end of 2024.
Equity ETFs led the charge throughout the year, pulling in $1.14 trillion, slightly ahead of the $1.11 trillion gathered over the same period in 2024, according to ETFGI. December alone saw $211.15 billion flow into equity funds.
Fixed income ETFs demonstrated robust demand as well, attracting $458.63 billion for the year — a jump from the $315.24 billion recorded in 2024, according to ETFGI. The funds drew $50.95 billion in December.
Commodity ETFs posted a dramatic surge, gathering $106.65 billion in 2025 compared to just $3.91 billion over the same period in 2024, according to ETFGI. December inflows reached $16.32 billion.
2026 Starts Strong
Rather than cooling off after the record-setting year, ETF flows have accelerated in early 2026. The top funds so far this year are the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which has already gathered $16.05 billion year-to-date, according to FactSet. The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM) attracted $5.93 billion, while the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) pulled in $4.95 billion.
2026 Top 10 Fund Flows Chart
| Ticker | Name | YTD Flows |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | $16.05B |
| SPYM | State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF | $5.93B |
| IEMG | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | $4.95B |
| RSP | Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF | $4.01B |
| VCIT | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF | $2.93B |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | $2.90B |
| VGIT | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF | $2.65B |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Shares | $2.32B |
| VUG | Vanguard Growth ETF | $2.17B |
| SGOV | iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF | $2.06B |
Source: FactSet as of January 16
“As advisors and investors put new money to work, ETFs have become the default operating system for portfolios,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi.
In December, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) led all ETFs with $29.29 billion in inflows, according to ETFGI. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) followed with $13.07 billion, while VOO gathered $12.54 billion.
Active ETFs continued gaining momentum throughout 2025 with $637.47 billion in net inflows, well above the $373.54 billion gathered during 2024, according to ETFGI. The funds attracted $56.23 billion in December.
The industry’s top three providers maintained their dominance. iShares led with $5.56 trillion in assets representing a 28% market share, followed by Vanguard with $4.25 trillion (21.4%) and State Street’s SPDR ETFs with $1.99 trillion (10%), according to ETFGI. Together, these providers accounted for 59.5% of global ETF assets, while each of the remaining 964 providers held less than 5% market share.
The global ETF industry comprised 15,807 products with 30,634 listings from 967 providers on 83 exchanges in 65 countries at the end of December, according to ETFGI.
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