Record ETF launches hit an RIA shelf that barely moves

AdvizorPro's analysis of 13F filings puts the average RIA portfolio at 92.9 ETFs in the second quarter of 2026, up from 88.4 in the first — an average net gain of 4.5 funds in a quarter when more than 1,000 new ETFs launched, a record pace according to CEO Michael Magnan. The launch calendar and the adoption curve are not moving together.

Of the 5,398 RIAs AdvizorPro tracked in both quarters, 63.4% added ETF positions, while only 18.2% cut them and 18.5% held flat — hardly a market that has turned against ETFs. After a first quarter that favored real assets and defense, the new positions concentrated in technology and infrastructure, and the average book turned over 11.6% of its ETF line-up, adding 13.9% and dropping 8.7% from the first quarter. In absolute terms, the tracked RIAs added 66,233 positions and dropped 41,489, a net gain of 24,744.

Magnan frames the mismatch in supply-and-demand terms: "With shelves already packed after years of record launches, most new products are covering ground RIAs already have exposure to," he wrote. The due-diligence burden and unproven track records leave advisors with "less urgency to add something new," he added.

iShares sits in 4,991 unique RIA portfolios, State Street in 4,737, Vanguard in 4,599 — each up less than 1% from the first quarter. With the three largest issuers barely growing, the net additions necessarily landed with the rest of the issuer base. AdvizorPro's researchers put it plainly: "Incumbency remains an advantage. For challengers, winning a spot still takes a clear differentiation story."

The rotation into tech and infrastructure points somewhere specific: as this publication reported in a companion analysis, the second quarter's flows into semiconductor and AI funds tracked the tickers model portfolios already favor. This looks less like a fresh conviction among individual advisors and more like model sleeves carrying the buying, and the low turnover rate reinforces that — new funds were slotting into roles in existing strategies rather than displacing old holdings.

The average book already holds 92.9 ETFs, so every new fund must compete for one of those seats in a process that weighs due-diligence hours and track records before it rewards novelty. The record launch calendar is not going to shrink, but the 13F net-gain line says what the RIA market thinks of it: the advantage belongs to the incumbent, and a new fund must bring a better argument than its backtest. The issuers that grow in RIA books over the coming quarters will be the ones who can name the specific hole their fund fills, not the ones who launch the cleverest factor.

It is not enough to show a strong return stream when the portfolio already holds a fund with the same factor exposure. The RIA buying process is built around roles — core, satellite, inflation hedge, diversification, liquidity sleeve — and the new product needs a job description that matches one of those seats. The ground the big three left on the table is going somewhere, and the issuers most likely to claim it are the ones who can articulate which empty square they fill.

Next quarter's 13F round will show whether the technology and infrastructure sleeve holds or rotates again, and whether the average book finally crosses 93. For every new launch, the question is which seat it fills before the next filing.