US ETF Inflows Top 1.54 Trillion Dollars by September, Already Past 2025’s Full Year Record
Investors poured more than 1.54 trillion dollars into US listed exchange traded funds in the first 9 months of 2026, already above the record 1.515 trillion dollars taken in over the whole of 2025, according to State Street Investment Management data reported by Reuters on 2 October. Matthew Bartolini, the firm’s global head of research strategists, expects inflows to reach 2.3 trillion dollars by the end of the year. On our calculation, using 1.54 trillion dollars as the base, that would require at most about 760 billion dollars in the final quarter, roughly 253 billion dollars a month against an average of about 171 billion dollars a month so far this year; the true requirement is slightly lower because the end September total is given as more than 1.54 trillion dollars.
Equity funds lead, bond funds set their own record
Equity ETFs took in more than 1 trillion dollars, about 65 percent of the total on our calculation, and fixed income funds more than 469 billion dollars. State Street’s August report had bond fund inflows at 407 billion dollars at the end of August, just under 2025’s record 448 billion dollars, so on our reading bond ETFs gathered about 62 billion dollars in September and are now about 21 billion dollars, or 4.7 percent, above last year’s full year record.
US ETF inflows, January to September 2026
| Category | Inflows | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| All US listed ETFs | $1.54tn | 100% |
| Equity ETFs | $1tn | 65% |
| Funds tracking US stocks | $655bn | 43% |
| Fixed income ETFs | $469bn | 30% |
| International developed markets funds | $150.4bn | 10% |
| Technology sector funds | $59bn | 4% |
| Financials sector funds | -$3.8bn | outflow |
Year to date to end September 2026, as reported by Reuters. “More than” applies to the total, equity, fixed income, technology and financials figures. Shares are our calculation and do not add to 100 percent because the categories overlap.
Home markets and technology draw the most
Funds tracking US stocks took in about 655 billion dollars and funds tracking international developed markets 150.4 billion dollars, so on our calculation domestic equity funds drew about 4.4 dollars for every dollar that went to developed markets abroad. By sector, technology funds led with more than 59 billion dollars, while financials funds lost more than 3.8 billion dollars. “Investors continue to favor ETFs as their primary tool for allocating capital, building portfolios, and adapting to changing market conditions, while mutual funds remain mired in persistent outflows,” Bartolini said.
Why it matters: Beating a full year record with 3 months to spare underscores how deeply ETFs have become embedded in portfolio allocation across both equities and fixed income. On our reading, the bond side is the more telling shift: fixed income funds alone have passed their own 2025 total, which points to investors using ETFs for income and duration, not only for equity exposure.
Outlook: The firm’s own September flows report will give the official figures for the month. Reaching the 2.3 trillion dollar forecast needs monthly inflows in the fourth quarter close to half as large again as the year’s average monthly pace, so October’s total is the first test.
Sources: State Street Investment Management, Reuters, The Edge.
