Episode summary
Did ETF Investors Buy the Dip Last Month?
Zacks Market Edge
· · 32 min · Hosts: Tracey Ryniec, Neena Mishra
Summary
US-listed ETFs kept attracting money in October despite a volatile month for stocks, with more than $200 billion of inflows and a pace that points to about $2.3 trillion in full-year 2026 assets, according to State Street estimates. The guest said investors largely kept buying the dip rather than fleeing risk, even as the Nasdaq fell 5% and AI-related names sold off sharply late in the month.
The strongest flows went into leveraged and semiconductor funds, including SOXL with $7.3 billion of inflows and SOXX with $3.3 billion, while the memory ETF DRAM saw profit-taking and lost about $2.2 billion. Bond investors also shifted around the curve: ultra-short funds such as SGOV drew money first, then longer-duration ETFs like LQD, AGG, and IEF also saw inflows as investors locked in yields.
The discussion also covered hot niches outside tech, including energy ETFs such as XLE and VDE, refiners through CRAK, and the unusually strong but thinly owned tanker ETF BWT. On the crypto side, IBIT saw some flows but far less enthusiasm than earlier in the year, while gold ETFs lost favor as real rates rose. The guest highlighted the massive launch of UCBG, a 90/10 endowment-style ETF, as evidence that low-cost Buffett-like portfolios remain popular.
Key takeaways
- The guest said October ETF inflows topped $200 billion even as stocks were volatile, showing investors kept buying dips rather than running for the exits.
- SOXL took in $7.3 billion and SOXX $3.3 billion, while DRAM lost $2.2 billion as traders rotated within semis and took profits in memory.
- Bond ETF flows first favored cash-like funds such as SGOV, then moved into LQD, AGG, and IEF as investors tried to lock in yields.
- Energy funds such as XLE and VDE drew inflows, and CRAK benefited from the year’s strong crack spreads and refinery margins.
- The guest said IBIT was still seeing some flows, but crypto enthusiasm has faded compared with AI and memory trades earlier in the year.
- UCBG launched with about $2.5 billion, underscoring demand for simple 90/10, Buffett-style portfolios with low fees.
Notable quotes
“US-listed ETFs continued to take in a lot of money. So, during the month of October, ETFs gather gathered more than 200 billion in flows”
“investors continued to buy the dips. So, we have seen this pattern over the last few years”
“SOXL, which is 3X uh semiconductor bull ETF, that took in 7.3 billion in assets”
“the crack ETF uh has done quite well this year”
“This has just about 180 million in assets. So this is pricey 3.5% expense ratio, but that is nothing compared to the performance”
How the episode opens
Stocks, bonds, ETFs. Straight out of downtown Chicago. This is Zacks Market Edge.
Welcome to Zacks Market Edge, the podcast about investing in your life. I'm your host, Tracy Ryniec, and this week I'm joined by a guest, Nina Mishra, who is Zacks Director of ETF Research. And obviously, she's on to talk about ETFs and what's going on in that world.
And I invited her on specifically for this episode to talk about what were the inflows and outflows looking like in the ETFs for the month of October. It was a bit rough, especially for uh stock investors. We had a 5% pullback in the Nasdaq.
It wasn't quite so bad in some of the other major indexes, but a lot of the AI stocks, as many of us know, really sold off hard. And we saw big losses in those. But, if you're in more passive investing, maybe you didn't even notice or care.
So, I invited her on to give us the lowdown. Where were we putting our money? Was there a panic?
Were people like fleeing certain things last month? It might give us some clues about what things could look like as we head into the end of the year. So, welcome back, Nina.
Hi, Tracy. Thanks for having me on. So, as you mentioned, October was a challenging month for stocks.
It was quite volatile, particularly later in the month. And despite all that volatility, US-listed ETFs continued to take in a lot of money. So, during the month of October, ETFs gather gathered more than 200 billion in flows and we are now on track for uh about 2.3 trillion in assets uh for the for the year uh full year 2026.
That is according to State Street estimates.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- etf inflows
- etf outflows
- etf performance
- stock market volatility
- portfolio strategy
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Watch “Did ETF Investors Buy the Dip Last Month?” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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