ETF Industry Surpasses Record $1 Trillion Inflows

The exchange-traded fund industry’s theme song may very well be Frank Sinatra’s “It Was a Very Good Year,” as the industry grew to $1.25 trillion in assets annually through November, faster than at any other time in history.

“I think generally speaking, if you look at the different asset classes – stocks, bonds, commodities, gold, of course – it’s been a very good year to hold assets. Assets have outperformed cash by a lot. So it’s just a positive return environment for assets. So I think we’ve seen flows come in because of the type of risk on the type of behavior, but also the positive performance of assets,” said Matt Bartolini, global head of research strategies at State Street Investment Management, at FOX. Business in October, when the industry reached a previous milestone.

State Street manages more than $5 trillion in assets with clients in more than 60 countries.

Teleprinter	Security	Last	Change	Change %
STT	STATE STREET CORP.	128.50	+1.13	+0.89%

Last year, ETF inflows hit $1 trillion on December 11, 2024. Bartolini rightly predicted that the industry would surpass the $1 trillion mark by October 15; he reached this level a day early. Full-year totals are expected to reach $1.4 trillion, up from an upwardly revised $1.3 trillion, helped in part by bonds.

“Fixed income ETFs – these continue to gain more and more popularity every year. And now they’re breaking full-year records just in the first nine months. And that’s simply because the use cases for fixed income ETFs have expanded beyond just beta building blocks to now contain more active strategies that have identifiable track records,” he added.

RETAIL FUND MANAGERS DRIVE ETF GROWTH

Bond ETFs generated $42 billion in inflows last month and are on track to hit a record $400 billion this year.

Gold ETF inflows are also on fire, on track to break annual records this year, recording $1 billion in November alone. Even as the price of the yellow metal continues to break records, trading above $4,482.80 per ounce as of December 23. Inflows already amount to $42 billion.

SPDR Gold Trust ETF, the largest ETF backed by physical gold, saw record inflows and gained more than 68%, while the smaller SPDR Gold minishares ETF is up the same amount.

Teleprinter	Security	Last	Change	Change %
GLD	SPDR GOLD SHARES TRUST – USD ACC	416.74	+4.81	+1.17%
GLDM	SPDR® GOLD MINISHARES® TRUST – USD ACC	85.90	+0.12	+0.14%

ETF LEADERS COUNCIL DOMINATED BY NIMBLE FUNDS

Bartolini and others describe the traditional arguments for gold ownership:

The bullish context for gold

• Inflation persists above the Federal Reserve’s preferred 2% mandate
• Global instability
• Lower interest rates
• US debt and deficits
• A weaker US dollar
• Institutional instability at the Fed and Japan
• Continued gold purchases by central banks

There is also another bullish statistic for the precious metal despite a market that may appear overextended.

THE LATEST NEWS ON ETFS

“Gold tonnage is actually lower than the top tier,” Bartolini said. “So the actual amount of tonnes of gold held is below this high threshold,” suggesting further upside potential.

Teleprinter	Security	Last	Change	Change %
SLV	ISHARES SILVER TRUST – USD ACC	71.12	+5.90	+9.05%
SIVR	ABRDN PHYSICAL SILVER SHARES ETF – USD ACC	74.64	+6.15	+8.98%

Gold prices have risen more than 70% this year, while silver prices have surged more than 140%, both reaching record highs.

The Arberdeen Physical Silver Shares ETF and the iShares Silver Trust rose alongside precious metals.

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This story, originally published 10/14/25, has been updated with November ETF data from State Street.