January 2018 marked the twenty-fourth consecutive month of net inflows into US-listed ETFs/ETPs (hereafter ETFs), reports ETF industry consultant ETFGI.

US-listed ETFs/ETPs attracted $78.8bn in net inflows during January.

According to ETFGI’s monthly report detailing flows into ETFs listed in the US, assets invested across the country’s ETF industry rose by a record $219 billion in January 2018 to bring assets under management (AUM) to a new high of $3.6 trillion,

The $219 billion uptick represents a 6.4% increase in AUM, the highest percentage gain since October 2015.  Of that amount, $78.8bn came from new inflows, with strong market performance making up the balance.

Investors favoured equities this January as assets in US-listed equity ETFs increased by 7.5% – significantly more than the 1.0% increase seen by fixed income ETFs. Equity ETFs listed in the US saw net inflows of $64.8bn in January, while fixed income ETFs gathered net inflows of $8.8bn. Investors tended to invest in core, market cap and lower cost ETFs during the month.

The top 20 ETFs by net new assets collected the majority of inflows, gathering $60.9bn. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY US) on its own accounted for net inflows of $19.8bn. The SPDR ETF was the first ever US-listed ETF and is currently the largest with $307bn AUM. The ETF tracks the S&P 500 Index and has an expense ratio of 0.09%.

Top 20 ETFs by net new assets

Source: ETFGI.

The US ETF industry has evolved at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6% over the last ten years, with particularly strong growth in recent years.

Source: ETFGI.

According to ETFGI’s report, the US ETF industry had 2,157 ETFs as of January 2018, with assets of $3.64 trillion from 132 providers listed on four exchanges.