The U.S. is the largest ETF market in the world. This makes the U.S. ETF industry a focal point for investors and market observers around the globe to identify new trends which have the power to change the global ETF industry. At the same time regulators are concerned about possible threats for the wider financial markets caused by the growth of the ETF industry and product innovations, as well as the increasing usage of modern portfolio management techniques by ETF promoters. In addition to this, the high market share of the 10 largest ETF promoters in the U.S. raise questions about the competitiveness of the U.S. ETF industry since the vast majority of the assets under management are held by a small number of ETF promoters. Respectively, the high concentration of the assets under management at the promoter level is seen as a threat as it may create barriers to enter the market or may impact the market efficiency. Generally speaking, I would agree with the statement that one needs to be concerned about the efficiency of a market when a few players are dominating by a wide margin, but I disagree with this thesis when it comes to the U.S. ETF industry.
In more detail, graph 1 shows that the U.S. ETF industry is highly concentrated at the promoter level since the 10 largest ETF promoters held 90.10% of the overall assets under management at the end of June 2025. Even as this is a high level of market concentration at the promoter level, it is significantly below the concentration of the assets under management in the European ETF industry since the largest ETF promoter in Europe held 93.44% of the overall AUM on June 30, 2025. When it comes to this, the market share of the 10 largest ETF promoters in Europe has never been lower in the last 15 years than on June 30, 2025. The results for Europe show that the market is still working efficiently as there are new promoters successfully entering the market. That said, there is no doubt that the U.S. ETF market is open and efficient since there were so many new market entrants over the last few years which gathered significant assets under management, especially in the segment of actively managed ETFs.
Graph 1: Market Share of the 10 Largest ETF Promoter in the U.S. ETF Industry by Assets Under Management (June 30, 2025)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The differences in size of the largest ETF promoters in Europe and the U.S. is another interesting way to evaluate the competition in the U.S. ETF industry. While iShares is the undisputed market leader in the European ETF industry (please read our analysis of the market concentration on promoter level in the European ETF industry for more information on this topic), the race for the title of the largest ETF promoter in the U.S. is well open.
Graph 2 depicts that iShares ($3,487.7 bn) was the largest ETF promoter in the U.S. by assets under management at the end of June 2025, closely followed by Vanguard ($3.337.0 bn). This means iShares leads over Vanguard by “only” $150.8 bn, a margin which could be eaten up by differentiating fund flow trends in a month or two. As a result, the race for top spot on the table of the largest ETF promoter in the U.S. by assets under management is an interesting data point to watch, since fund flows are driven by investor demand and may therefore unveil new trends or product preferences.
Graph 2: The 10 Largest ETF Promoter in the U.S. ETF Industry by Assets Under Management (June 30, 2025)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Despite the somewhat fascinating competition between the two largest ETF promoters in the U.S., graph 2 also shows that there is a huge gap between the two leading ETF promoters and the rest of the promoters in the U.S. ETF industry. In fact, SPDR—the third largest ETF promoter—is playing in a league of its own, as it is too small to challenge the leading ETF promoters and too large to be challenged by the following ETF promoters in the foreseeable future.
Please read our review of the U.S. ETF industry H1 2025 for more information about the assets under management and fund flow trends in the U.S. ETF industry.
The views expressed are the views of the author, not necessarily those of LSEG.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice.
