March 2026 was another month with strong inflows for the U.S. ETF industry.
Even as the inflows into ETFs in the U.S. were way below the inflows for January and February, March 2026 could be considered another month with strong inflows for the U.S. ETF industry. This is because ETFs showed once again inflows in a volatile market environment.
Generally speaking, financial markets in March 2026 were shaped primarily by the interaction of geopolitical escalation in the Middle East, an associated energy price shock, and a coordinated pause in monetary policy across major central banks. These factors drove a marked shift in investor expectations for inflation, growth, and interest rates.
The dominant macro driver was the intensification of the US–Iran conflict, which disrupted energy infrastructure and pushed oil prices above USD 100 per barrel during the month. This triggered a reassessment of global inflation risks and raised concerns about a stagflationary environment—higher prices combined with weakening economic activity. Central banks explicitly acknowledged this uncertainty, with policymakers highlighting that the conflict created upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth.
Against this backdrop, March became a rare instance of synchronized central bank decisions. The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and Bank of England all kept policy rates unchanged.
Market expectations shifted significantly during the month. Prior assumptions of a continued easing cycle were replaced by expectations that rate cuts would be delayed or even reversed, particularly in Europe and the UK. The energy shock forced investors to reconsider inflation trajectories, with markets increasingly pricing in the possibility of additional tightening later in 2026.
This repricing had immediate effects across asset classes. Equity markets weakened, particularly in Europe, as higher input costs and geopolitical risks weighed on corporate earnings expectations. At the same time, bond markets experienced heightened volatility, reflecting conflicting forces: weaker growth prospects supported government bonds, while rising inflation expectations and fiscal uncertainty pushed yields higher at various points during the month.
Investor sentiment over March can be characterized as cautious and reactive. Markets oscillated between concerns about persistent inflation—driven by energy prices—and fears of slowing growth. The result was a decline in conviction around monetary policy outlook and increased sensitivity to geopolitical developments.
Overall, March 2026 marked a turning point in market narratives. The combination of geopolitical shocks and central bank caution interrupted the prior disinflation-driven optimism and reintroduced uncertainty over the path of both inflation and interest rates, shaping global securities markets throughout the month.
From a U.S. ETF industry perspective, the performance of the underlying markets led, in combination with the estimated net flows, to decreasing assets under management (from $14,315.5 bn as of February 28, 2026, to $13,651.1 bn at the end of March). At a closer look, the decrease in assets under management of $664.4 bn for March 2026 was driven by the performance of the underlying markets (-$777.3 bn), while the estimated net inflows added $112.9 bn, to the assets under management.
Assets Under Management in the U.S. ETF Industry
As for the overall structure of the U.S. ETF industry, it was not surprising equity ETFs ($10,318.0 bn) held the majority of assets, followed by bond ETFs ($2,409.8 bn), alternatives ETFs ($496.9 bn), commodities ETFs ($365.5 bn), mixed-assets ETFs ($32.9 bn), and money market ETFs ($28.1 bn).
Graph 1: Market Share, Assets Under Management in the U.S. ETF Industry by Asset Type, March 31, 2026
Source: LSEG Lipper
Given the volatile and mainly negative market environment over the course of the month, it is no surprise that the overall assets under management in the U.S. ETF industry didn’t hit a new (month end) all-time high at the end of March 2026. Conversely, it is noteworthy that the assets under management for all bond ETFs and money market ETFs reached a new (month end) all-time high at the end of March.
ETF Flows by Asset Type
The inflows in the U.S. ETF industry for March (+$112.9 bn overall) were driven by equity ETFs (+$56.7 bn), followed by bond ETFs (+$44.9 bn), alternatives ETFs (+$16.6 bn), money market ETFs (+$3.9 bn), and mixed-assets ETFs (+$0.7 bn). On the other side of the table, commodities ETFs (-$9.9 bn) faced outflows.
Graph 2: Estimated Net Sales by Asset Type, March 1 – March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Given the market environment, it was somewhat surprising to see that equity ETFs enjoyed the highest estimated net inflows over the course of March. That said, money market ETFs saw lower than expected estimated net inflows despite their status as safe haven products. Nevertheless, the inflows into money market products might be a sign that some U.S. investors have started to put some money on the sidelines as a risk-off move in an environment with increasing geopolitical tensions.
Assets Under Management by Lipper Global Classifications
In order to examine the U.S. ETF markets in further detail, a review of the Lipper global classifications will lead to more insights on the structure and concentration of assets within the U.S. ETF industry. At the end of March 2026, the U.S. ETF market was split into 136 different Lipper global classifications. The highest assets under management at the end of March were held by funds classified as Equity U.S. ($5,557.8 bn), followed by Equity Global ex U.S. ($1,117.3 bn), Equity U.S. Small & Mid Cap ($1,005.2 bn), Bond USD Medium Term ($615.1 bn), and Equity U.S. Income ($493.1 bn). These five classifications accounted for 64.38% of the overall assets under management in the U.S. ETF segment, while the 10-top classifications by assets under management accounted for 76.72%.
Overall, 15 of the 136 peer groups each accounted for more than 1% of assets under management. In total, these 15 peer groups accounted for $11,438.0 bn, or 83.79%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 3: Ten Largest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
In addition, it was noteworthy that the rankings of the largest classifications saw some movement in single positions over the last few years. As the positions of the classifications had been quite stable in the past, this indicates that U.S. investors use ETFs to trade according to their market views. Even as some of these positions might be core holdings, once investors got into risk-off mode they also reduced their exposure to core asset classes.
Despite the fact that the rankings at the top of the table show some changes from time to time, these numbers show that the assets under management by Lipper global classifications continued to be highly concentrated in the U.S. ETF industry.
The peer groups on the other side of the table showed some funds in the U.S. ETF market are quite low in assets and their constituents may face the risk of being closed in the near future. They are obviously lacking investor interest and might, therefore, not be profitable for their respective fund promoters.
Graph 4: Ten Smallest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Lipper Global Classifications
The net inflows of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications accounted for $107.1 bn. In line with the overall sales trend for March, equity peer groups (+$50.5 bn) led the flows by asset type on the table of the 10 best-selling Lipper global classifications by estimated net inflows. That said, it was surprising to see only four equity classifications on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications for the month given the overall fund flow trend. With regard to this, it was also surprising that Bond USD Government Short Term (+$22.1 bn) was the best-selling Lipper global classification for March, which might be a sign that U.S. investors have switched into risk-off mode. Equity Global ex U.S. (+$17.8 bn) was the second best-selling classification. It was also surprising to see Equity U.S. (+$17.3 bn) in the third spot on the table, since U.S. investors seem to have a home bias when it comes to their equity investments. These three classifications were followed by Equity U.S. Small- and Mid-Cap (+$9.7 bn), Bond USD Medium Term (+$8.1 bn), and Bond USD Short Term (+$7.2 bn).
As said before money market is no core asset type for U.S. ETF investors, therefore it was not surprising that Money Market USD (+$3.9 bn) was not on the table of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications for the month.
Graph 5: Ten Best- and Worst-Lipper Global Classifications by Estimated Net Sales, March 1 – March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
More generally, these numbers showed the U.S. ETF segment is also highly concentrated when it comes to fund flows by classification. Generally speaking, one would expect the flows into ETFs to be concentrated since investors often use ETFs to implement their market views and short-term asset allocation decisions. These products are made and, therefore, are easy to use for these purposes.
On the other side of the table, the 10 peer groups with the highest estimated net outflows for March 2026 accounted for $35.6 bn in outflows, which was way higher compared to the numbers for January (-$16.6 bn) and February (-$9.0 bn).
Commodity Precious Metals (-$14.6 bn) was the Lipper classification with the highest outflows for the month. It was bettered by Bond USD High Yield (-$5.4 bn), Equity Sector Financials (-$2.5 bn), Equity Sector Healthcare (-$2.3 bn), and Equity Sector Gold & Precious Metals (-$2.2 bn).
A view of the list of the 10 Lipper global classifications with the highest estimated net outflows indicates that U.S. investors may have reduced the overall risk in their portfolios. In addition, they might have taken some profits from their investments in gold and miners.
Assets Under Management by Promoters
A closer look at assets under management by promoters in the U.S. ETF industry also showed high concentration, with only 124 of the 476 ETF promoters in the U.S. holding assets at or above $1.0 bn, accounting for $13,580.8 bn. The largest ETF promoter in the U.S.—iShares ($4,030.8 bn)—accounted for 29.53% of the overall assets under management. Despite a comfortable lead as largest ETF promoter globally, iShares is somewhat closely followed by Vanguard ($3,893.9 bn), the number-two ETF promoter in the U.S. That said, the two largest ETF promoters in the U.S. have a comfortable lead over the number-three promoter—State Street SPDR ($1,824.0 bn).
Graph 6: The 10 Largest ETF Promoters by Assets Under Management, March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The 10-top promoters accounted for 88.79% of the overall assets under management in the U.S. ETF industry. This meant, in turn, the other 461 fund promoters registering at least one ETF for sale in the U.S. accounted for only 11.21% of the overall assets under management.
ETF Flows by Promoters
Since the U.S. ETF market is highly concentrated when it comes to assets under management by promoter, it was not surprising that seven of the 10 largest promoters by assets under management were among the 10-top selling ETF promoters for March. iShares (+$33.8 bn) was the best-selling ETF promoter in the U.S. for the month, ahead of Vanguard (+$13.3 bn) and JPMorgan (+$6.7 bn).
Graph 7: Ten Best-Selling ETF Promoters, March 1 – March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flows of the 10-top promoters accounted for estimated net inflows of $85.2 bn. As for the overall flow trend in March, it was clear that some of the 476 promoters (105) faced estimated net outflows (-$2.3 bn in total) over the course of the month.
Assets Under Management by ETFs
There were 5,116 instruments (primary share classes [5,043] and convenience share classes [73]) listed as ETFs registered for sales in the U.S. in the Lipper database at the end of March. Regarding the overall market pattern, it was not surprising assets under management at the ETF level were also highly concentrated. Only 950 of the 5,043 ETFs (primary share classes = portfolios) held assets above $1.0 bn each. These ETFs accounted for $13,012.8 bn, or 95.32%, of the overall assets in the U.S. ETF industry. The 10 largest ETFs in the U.S. accounted for $4,001.6 bn, or 29.31%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 8: The 10 Largest ETFs by Assets Under Management, March 31, 2026 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Estimated Net Flows at ETF Level
A total of 2,608 of the 5,043 ETFs (primary share classes = portfolios) analyzed in this report showed net inflows of more than $10,000 each for March, accounting for inflows of $237.1 bn. This meant the other 2,435 instruments faced no flows, or net outflows, for the month. Upon closer inspection, 361 of the 2,608 ETFs posting net inflows enjoyed inflows of more than $100 m over the course of March—for a total of $206.3 bn. The best-selling ETF for March in the U.S. was State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF, which enjoyed estimated net inflows of $15.7 bn. It was followed by iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (+$9.2 bn) and iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (+$8.5 bn).
Graph 9: The 10 Best-Selling ETFs, March 1 – March 31, 2026 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flow pattern at the fund level indicated there was a lot of turnover and rotation during the month, but it also showed the concentration of the U.S. ETF industry even better than the statistics at the promoter or classification levels since the 10 best-selling ETFs account for 58.38% of the overall inflows.
Given its size and the overall trend for net sales at the promoter level, it was not surprising that six of the 10 best-selling funds for March were issued by iShares. These iShares ETFs accounted for estimated net inflows of $34.8 bn. Meanwhile, iShares’ main competitor Vanguard issued only one of the 10 best-selling ETFs in the U.S. which accounted for estimated net inflows of $5.3 bn.
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.
