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Fixed-income ETFs are on track to reach $6 trillion in assets under management (AUM) by 2030, if not sooner, according to BlackRock’s annual outlook published Wednesday.
The forecast comes after global bond exchange-traded fund assets increased 20% in 2024—the highest organic asset growth of any other asset class or investment vehicle—pushing AUM to $2.6 trillion.
Relative to their equity counterparts, fixed-income ETFs are in their early stages with significant opportunity for growth: Equity ETFs represent 10% of its respective underlying market while fixed-income ETFs represent just 2%.
Innovation in Fixed-Income ETFs
Interest in these ETFs isn’t showing signs of slowing. Through March 2025, global bond ETF flows reached $131.6 billion, which is more than double the average first-quarter inflows over the last decade.
This growth is in part due to innovation offering investors more choice. In 2024, the industry launched 420 bond ETFs—a one-third increase from the year before—and more than 75 bond ETFs have already been issued in 2025.
“Fixed-income ETFs have allowed investors to reposition portfolios given the recent market volatility,” Karen Veraa-Perry, head of iShares U.S. fixed income strategy at BlackRock, told etf.com. She added that the firm has seen an uptick in inquiries from a range of clients looking to use ETFs to access collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) and boost yield in their portfolios.
The Appeal of Bond ETFs in Today’s Market
The report also notes a significant increase in liquidity and trading volumes for these ETFs: The average daily volumes of fixed-income ETFs have more than doubled over the last five years. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) have seen record trading volumes, Veraa-Perry said.
Bond ETFs are “particularly powerful” during times of market volatility, such as during the onset of President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements earlier this year, and tend to experience record volumes while maintaining market quality, according to the report’s authors. Yields are also higher than they have been in years, with roughly 80% of global fixed-income assets now yielding more than 4%.
Money market ETFs and short-term government bond ETFs, such as the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV), have also been effective tools for reducing portfolio volatility and have seen strong inflows year to date, Veraa-Perry said.