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The global ETF industry set a new high mark for first-quarter inflows, suggesting investor confidence remains strong despite recent market volatility.
ETFs worldwide collected $463.5 billion in the first quarter of 2025, according to London-based ETFGI's March 2025 Global ETFs and ETPs report. This surpasses the previous first-quarter record of $397.5 billion set in 2024, according to the research firm's data.
The record-breaking quarter comes despite major market indexes posting declines, with the S&P 500 down 5.6% in March, according to the ETFGI report. This marks the 70th consecutive month of positive net inflows for the global ETF industry, demonstrating solid investor appetite for exchange-traded funds.
March alone saw $158.8 billion flow into ETFs globally, according to ETFGI. The global ETF industry now manages $15.2 trillion in assets, up 1.6% since the end of 2024.
Active ETFs Gain Momentum
Active ETFs have emerged as a growth driver, attracting $41.5 billion in March alone and $145.3 billion for the quarter, according to ETFGI. This represents an increase from the $71.8 billion gathered during the same period last year.
Equity ETFs remained the dominant category with $211.6 billion in first-quarter inflows, though this was slightly below the $234.7 billion gathered in the first quarter of 2024, according to ETFGI data. Fixed-income ETFs collected $81.3 billion, while commodity ETFs reversed last year's outflows to attract $21.9 billion.
IVV, VOO, GLD Lead ETF Inflows
The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) led individual fund flows in March, gathering $23.6 billion, according to the ETFGI report. Other popular U.S. funds included the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) with $6.5 billion and the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) with $3.9 billion in March inflows.
Gold-focused products also saw strong demand, with the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) attracting $2.9 billion in March, according to the ETFGI report, making it the seventh-highest inflow among all ETFs globally for the month.
Beyond the U.S., developed markets showed better performance, declining just 0.4% in March while gaining 5.7% year to date, according to the ETFGI report. Among emerging markets, the Czech Republic and Greece stood out with March gains of 14% and 13%, respectively.
Denmark and the United States saw the largest decreases among developed markets in March, Deborah Fuhr, managing partner, founder and owner of ETFGI, noted in the report.
The global ETF industry now encompasses 13,832 products, with 27,411 listings from 852 providers across 81 exchanges in 63 countries, according to ETFGI.