Hello! Here\u2019s how the competition for ETF assets shook out in 2023. Will BlackRock keep its top spot in 2024?<\/p>\n
Please send feedback and tips to christine.idzelis@marketwatch.com or isabel.wang@marketwatch.com. You can also follow me on X at\u00a0@cidzelis<\/a>\u00a0and find me on\u00a0LinkedIn. Isabel Wang is at\u00a0@Isabelxwang<\/a>.<\/p>\n BlackRock finished 2023 with the biggest market share in the exchange-traded fund industry, keeping Vanguard at bay in the No. 2 spot even after the close competitor topped U.S. flows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ended the year very strong,\u201d capturing more ETF inflows than any other firm globally, said Salim Ramji, BlackRock\u2019s global head of ETF and index investments, in a phone interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n BlackRock continues to rank No. 1 in assets in the global ETF industry after tallying flows for 2023, according to Morningstar data. Including its iShares brand, BlackRock had more than $190 billion of inflows globally last year, compared with around $184 billion for Vanguard, Morningstar estimated.<\/p>\n Vanguard oversees the second largest share of ETF assets globally, followed by State Street, according to the Morningstar data through 2023. BlackRock also kept its top market share in the U.S., which houses the most ETF assets by far.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cVanguard has been moving closer to BlackRock,\u201d said Aniket Ullal, head of ETF data and analytics at CFRA Research, in a phone interview. \u201cThey haven\u2019t caught up yet.\u201d<\/p>\n For U.S.-listed ETFs, BlackRock\u2019s iShares business had about $2.6 trillion of net assets at the end of last year, exceeding Vanguard\u2019s $2.35 trillion, according to CFRA. But Vanguard saw larger inflows last year at about $158 billion, compared with around $107 billion for BlackRock, based on rankings by CFRA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt seems likely\u201d that Vanguard may overtake BlackRock in the U.S. ETF industry for the most assets, based on flow data over the past few years, said Ullal. In his view, that could happen as soon as this year or in 2025.<\/p>\n BlackRock had a market share of around 32% in the U.S. at the end of last year, compared with almost 29% for Vanguard, according to Morningstar\u2019s estimates. Morningstar data also showed that Vanguard had the biggest inflows in the U.S.-listed ETF market last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re losing money from their mutual funds and it\u2019s going into their ETFs,\u201d said Dan Sotiroff, a senior analyst for manager research at Morningstar, by phone. \u201cThe ETF is winning out long term.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of that broad trend, asset managers have been converting mutual funds into ETFs, according to Sotiroff.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year BlackRock launched ETFs that target the fixed-income market with actively managed strategies similarly used by its mutual funds, giving investors a choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n The active BlackRock Total Return ETF See:<\/strong> BlackRock\u2019s Rick Rieder rolls out his second ETF as active exchange-traded funds surge<\/p>\n Within fixed income, BlackRock\u2019s iShares business took in $113 billion of ETF flows in 2023 globally for a 34% market share, according to a spokesperson for BlackRock.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge part of the flows, certainly for us,\u201d said Ramji, who expects that iShares fixed-income ETFs will triple assets to $2.5 trillion by 2030. That would surpass the industry\u2019s current $2.2 trillion of bond ETF assets, according to Ramji.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vanguard also recently launched active ETFs targeting fixed income, listing both the Vanguard Core-Plus Bond ETF \u201cIt seems like they are making a bigger push into active\u201d ETFs, although the industry\u2019s overall assets under management remain dominated by passive, index-tracking funds, said Ullal.<\/p>\n Meanwhile BlackRock has seen the number of individual investors using its iShares ETFs swell over the past five years to 43 million, Ramji said. \u201cWe want to double it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently wealth advisers represent the largest part of BlackRock\u2019s investor base for ETFs, followed by individual investors and then institutions such as insurance companies and other asset managers, according to Ramji.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ETF industry\u2019s total assets stand at almost $11 trillion globally, including around $8 trillion in the U.S., Citi Research estimated in a note earlier this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n ETFs are becoming the \u201cdefault investment vehicle for investors,\u201d said Ramji. \u201cThere\u2019s a very broad investor base all across the world.\u201c<\/p>\n BlackRock\u2019s top five ETFs in terms of assets gathered globally last year were the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF As usual, here\u2019s your look at the top- and bottom-performing ETFs over the past week through Wednesday, according to FactSet data.<\/p>\nVanguard vies for top<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n BRTR
\n began trading in December, while the BlackRock Flexible Income ETF
\n BINC
\n was listed in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n VPLS
\n and Vanguard Core Bond ETF
\n VCRB
\n in December.<\/p>\n\u2018Default investment vehicle\u2019<\/h4>\n
\n IVV,<\/span>
\n iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
\n TLT,<\/span>
\n iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
\n AGG,<\/span>
\n iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF
\n SGOV
\n and iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF
\n QUAL,<\/span>
\n according to the giant asset manager\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\nThe good\u2026<\/h2>\n
\n
\n \n Top Performers<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n \n %Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n United States Natural Gas Fund LP
\n UNG\n <\/td>\n\n 9.9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF
\n MSOS\n <\/td>\n\n 3.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund
\n XLU\n <\/td>\n\n 2.4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Vanguard Utilities ETF
\n VPU\n <\/td>\n\n 2.2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF
\n KWEB\n <\/td>\n\n 2.2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Source: FactSet data through Wednesday, Jan. 3. Start date Dec. 27. Excludes ETNs and leveraged products. Includes NYSE-, Nasdaq- and Cboe-traded ETFs of $500 million or greater<\/p>\n<\/td>\n \n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n \u2026and the bad<\/h2>\n
\n
\n \n ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF
\n SILJ\n <\/td>\n\n %Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF
\n BLOK\n <\/td>\n\n -11.1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n ARK Innovation ETF
\n ARKK\n <\/td>\n\n -10.6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n ARK Fintech Innovation ETF
\n ARKF\n <\/td>\n\n -10.4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n ARK Next Generation Internet ETF
\n ARKW\n <\/td>\n\n -10.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF
\n SILJ\n <\/td>\n\n -9.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Source: FactSet data <\/p>\n<\/td>\n \n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n New ETFs<\/h2>\n
\n
Weekly ETF reads<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n