Despite the sudden bout of volatility in equities that pushed markets down into a correction territory, ETFs operated more or less in an orderly fashion.
“Overall, ETF trading was orderly and investors turned to ETFs to express their views in a fast-changing market,” according to a BlackRock note.
On Tuesday, total equity volumes hit $677 billion, surpassing the $622 billion traded during the Monday selling, according to BlackRock data. U.S.-listed ETF volumes was $260 billion Tuesday, or 38% of total U.S. equity trading volume. Meanwhile, U.S. iShares ETFs traded at 316% of their averaged daily volume, or $69 billion in shares exchanging hands.
After the Thursday sell-off, the S&P 500 was down 10% from the last month’s highs. Meanwhile, iShares ETFs traded at 215% their average daily volume while the broader U.S.-listed ETFs traded at 253% average daily volume and equities traded at 176% averaged daily volume.