The global ETF industry is showing no signs of abating, recording its 82nd consecutive months of net inflows last month.
In March, it gathered $174.4 billion in net inflows (all figures in U.S. dollars). This brought first-quarter inflows to a record high of $626.4 billion, representing a 35% increase from the same period last year, London-based consultancy ETFGI said in a report this week.
“Q1 net inflows of $626.4 billion are the highest on record, surpassing the prior peak of $463.5 billion in 2025 and $397.5 billion in 2024,” the report said.
Flows by fund type
Equity ETFs accounted for $54.1 billion of the inflows registered this March. By the end of the month, the category hit $225.6 billion in year-to-date inflows, surpassing the $211.6 billion attracted in the first quarter of 2025.
Fixed-income ETFs took in $35.4 billion in the month. The category’s year-to-date inflows came in at $119.2 billion by month’s end, “well above” the $82 billion gathered in the same period last year, the report said.
Commodities ETFs bled out in March, recording net outflows of $9.8 billion, which coincided with a steep drop in the price of gold. Year-to-date net inflows for the category totalled $16.6 billion, below the $21.9 billion recorded at the same time last year.
Active ETFs pulled in $78.4 billion in the month, bringing year-to-date inflows for the category to $246 billion, which was “significantly higher” than the $144.5 billion gathered in the first quarter of 2025.
“Substantial inflows” were attributed to the top 20 ETFs and exchange-traded products (ETPs), which collectively gathered $94.1 billion and $6.6 billion in March, respectively, the report noted. Among ETFs, the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPYM) drew the highest net inflows with $16.8 gathered, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust (Nasdaq: IBIT) was the ETP with the highest inflow level recorded for the month at $1.4 billion.
Key providers
By the end of March, the industry totalled $20.1 trillion in assets under management (AUM), down from the previous $21.2 trillion record set in February.
Those assets were spread across 16,284 products, with 31,823 listings from 994 providers. The products were listed on 85 exchanges in 65 countries, the report noted.
iShares controlled $5.4 trillion of total global ETF AUM (27.1%) at the end of March. It was followed by Vanguard at $4.3 trillion (21.4%) and State Street SPDR ETFs at $2 trillion (9.9%).
Altogether, those three providers accounted for 58.3% of total global ETF assets by the end of March. Meanwhile, the other 991 providers each represented less than 5% of global ETF AUM, ETFGI said.