2024 was a banner year for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with the investment vehicle seeing record annual inflows and total net asset values reaching an all-time high. After a standout year, here are some of the trends that ICE will be watching over the course of 2025.

1. ETF flows continue to march higher

ETFs continued their march upwards, with total global inflows reaching $1.88 trillion in 2024 and global assets hitting $14.85 trillion.1 U.S. ETFs have nearly 4,0002 total fund listings. At NYSE Group, trading volume surpassed $9.1 trillion last year.3

Investors are flocking to ETFs due to their ease of use, cost benefits, tax efficiencies, and daily liquidity. The popularity of these vehicles has moved beyond the traditional retail investor user base and they are now attracting investment from institutional asset managers and beyond.

Investors are increasingly shifting asset allocations into ETFs as their preferred investment vehicle, eroding the asset base of competing mutual funds, which boasted $21.6 trillion4 in assets under management (AUM) at the end of 2024, compared to $25.5 trillion in 2023.5

2. Active ETFs accelerate while passive still hold lion's share of AUM

Actively managed ETFs soared in popularity in 2024 with $339 billion of global inflows, doubling the prior year,6 with active funds absorbing 26% of total ETF inflows.7 Actively managed funds grew their market share to almost 8%, compared to a little more than 6% 12 months ago.8 The number of active ETF launches hit a record 603 in 2024, while passive ETFs and index trackers still dominated the market with 74% of inflows.9

ICE is seeing the participation of new ETF players who haven’t previously utilized these vehicles building out their ETF expertise and launching products, with more than 75 new issuers entering the market last year.10

ICE Data Indices has a comprehensive range of services for actively managed ETFs, semi-transparent ETFs, leveraged ETFs, ETNs, fund-of-fund ETFs and more. We are a leading provider of Indicative Optimized Portfolio Value (IOPV, also known as iNAV or iiv). Our calculation service provides quality and transparent information to ETF investors so they can efficiently evaluate their positions, make better-informed trading decisions, and enhance their Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA).

3. Asset Classes

Traditional equity and bond ETFs accounted for 95% of total U.S. flows in 2024.11 Last year’s bull market saw equity ETF flows rise, particularly in the technology sector on the back of the “Magnificent Seven” fervor. Total fixed income inflows in the U.S. during 2024 reached $303 billion and fixed income ETFs are now a $2 trillion asset class.12 Flows favored broad market and government bond funds, particularly in intermediate duration and investment grade credit13 as the Fed cut rates.

With respect to new ETFs launched in 2024, Bitcoin and Ethereum were the investment asset underpinning eight out of the top 10 new funds by inflows due to an increasingly favorable regulatory landscape.14

ICE’s IOPV service covers an expansive range of asset classes and financial instruments, including equities, fixed income, options, futures, precious metals, forward FX contracts, spot currency cash, total return swaps, interest rate swaps, and digital assets including CDX, Bitcoin and Ethereum.