Episode summary
Five ETF Flow Stories and a Closer Look at Private Credit
ETF Prime
· · Hosts: Nate Geraci · Guests: Todd Rosenbluth, Chris Getter
Summary
ETF flows remain strong in 2026, with the host and Todd Rosenbluth saying the industry is on pace for another massive year of net inflows after a record 2025. Rosenbluth argued that active fixed income ETFs are still drawing meaningful demand, especially products from PIMCO, iShares, Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan, while some investors are also rotating toward thematic funds tied to defense and drones rather than the old AI-led trade. He also said there are early signs of diversification away from US megacap exposure, citing strong flows into equal-weight S&P 500 and sector funds, even as broad index products like VOO and SPYM still dominate the leaderboard.
The conversation then turned to precious metals and crypto, where the host highlighted the unusual split between soaring silver prices and heavy outflows from SLV, while gold ETFs are attracting billions. Rosenbluth said silver feels more like a retail FOMO trade, whereas advisers are more comfortable treating gold as a core hedge. On crypto, he noted that inflows remain positive in parts of the market but that advisor adoption is still early, even as the host questioned whether persistent underperformance could weaken the “digital gold” argument for Bitcoin.
Chris Getter of Simplify then laid out the investment case for private credit and the Simplify VettaFi Private Credit Strategy ETF, PCR. He said the fund is designed around liquidity, manager diversification, stored-volatility mitigation, and more pure private-credit exposure, and he argued the ETF belongs in an alternatives sleeve rather than a traditional fixed-income bucket.
Key takeaways
- Rosenbluth said active fixed income ETFs are still a major flow winner, with PIMCO, iShares, Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan drawing demand in January.
- Rosenbluth argued defense and drone ETFs are leading the thematic category, with SHLD and DRNZ gathering assets on geopolitical and industrial-use demand.
- The host said silver is up about 65% yet SLV has seen about $2.5 billion of outflows, suggesting a retail FOMO trade rather than adviser adoption.
- Rosenbluth said investors are beginning to diversify away from US megacap exposure, with RSP crossing $5 billion of net inflows and XLF also attracting money.
- Getter said PCR aims to solve four private-credit problems at once: liquidity, stored volatility, manager selection, and purity of exposure.
Notable quotes
“I think this is a heavy hitter group of folks that are experienced”
“active fixed income ETFs in particular have been in demand”
“what really is leading the charge is is defense related ETFs”
“It's all private credit all the time”
How the episode opens
Private market funds, both equity and credit, they've gained in popularity, especially with potential eligibility for inclusion in retirement accounts. And there's there's no shortage of products that have either already launched or filed to launch. All right, joining me will be Chris Getter, managing director and portfolio manager at Simplify Asset Management, who currently offers 39 ETFs, about 12.5 billion dollars in assets, including an ETF that resides in a category that continues to garner a lot of attention, I would say, for both good and bad reasons, and that's private credit.
So the ETF is the simplify vetify private credit strategy ETF ticker symbol PCR. This tracks an index comprised of private credit focused business development companies and closed-end funds. And then in addition to that, this ETF can deploy a uh credit hedge.
I I'll let Chris explain all of the details of this, but as part of our conversation, we are going to go through four key considerations when investing in private credit investment vehicles, which I think these will really help to shine a light on both uh PCR's approach and also the private credit market overall. And then I'm also going to have Chris offer some thoughts on private credit in general just in terms of the investment case because again there have been some negative headlines here recently. So he'll join me a bit later to start this week.
I will be joined by Todd Rosenluth, head of research at Vetify and we are going to discuss five areas within the ETF market that have our attention right now. And all of these, I would say, are tied to flows in one way or another. Todd has three of these.
I'm bringing two to the table. And in just looking at our list here, I would say this is pretty expansive.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- etf flows
- private credit
- private credit etfs
- asset management
- market strategy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- VettaFi
- Simplify Asset Management
- Simplify VettaFi Private Credit Strategy ETF
Watch the episode
Watch “Five ETF Flow Stories and a Closer Look at Private Credit” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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ETF Prime, this episode and its artwork belong to Nate Geraci. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
