Global ETF flows passed $1 trillion for the year as VOO and IVV diverged

Global ETF flows passed $1 trillion for the year before summer began, the earliest the industry has reached that mark, according to Ultumus's July report published Aug. 4. The report also cites ETFGI figures showing global ETF assets above $23 trillion by May and 83 consecutive months of net inflows.

The Ultumus dataset tracks the top 20 issuers and top 20 ETFs by assets in each region, so its figures are a large subset of the market rather than the full industry total. The report describes that subset as consistent in direction and scale with the broader third-party numbers it cites.

Across those 20 issuers, combined assets were $18.09 trillion at end-July on roughly $201 billion of net inflows for the month. Vanguard took the most new money at $59.84 billion, ahead of SPDR at $36.05 billion and iShares at $33.87 billion. By assets the ranking inverts: iShares held 33.5% of the top-20 total, Vanguard 26.8% and SPDR 12.4%, or 72.7% combined. Vanguard's monthly haul works out to just under 30% of the group's inflows.

Vanguard's VOO took in $19.36 billion of net new money in July while iShares' IVV shed $17.8 billion, the widest divergence in the global top-20 ETF table. Put end to end, the two figures are $37.16 billion apart.

The report identifies VOO and IVV as the two largest S&P 500 tracking ETFs and describes their split as a reversal that recurs periodically around quarter-end rebalancing. On a rolling year-to-date basis, it says, flows still favour VOO by a wide margin.

For two funds holding the same index, that spread is a reminder of how much of an ETF's monthly flow is decided by the platform, model portfolio and rebalancing calendar rather than by the exposure itself — a point the report makes by tying the swing to quarter-end mechanics. The Ultumus total also carries its own caveat: it is a top-20 view, so the VOO-to-IVV gap is the largest inside that table, not a claim about every ETF in the market.

The US slice of the same dataset shows top-20 issuers' US-listed ETFs at $14.74 trillion in assets, with Vanguard ($50.61 billion), SPDR ($34.56 billion) and iShares ($19.12 billion) again the dominant sources of net new money. That ordering differs from the global table, where SPDR and iShares run close together, and the report does not break out why.