BlackRockIssuer

2026 Trends Shaping Investment Products

BlackRock's January 2026 trends paper counts more than 4,700 ETFs in the U.S., with over a third launched within the last two years.

Read the full paper at BlackRock ↗
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FlowsThemesBonds· 18 pages · PDF

What it says

Figures as stated by BlackRock, Jan 13, 2026
  • BlackRock projects U.S. outcome ETF assets, such as buffer and covered call funds, at $650 billion by 2030, up from $265 billion today.BlackRock, p. 14
  • BlackRock says active funds accounted for 80% of new ETFs brought to market across the past 3 years.BlackRock, p. 13
  • BlackRock estimates global active ETF assets could reach $4.2 trillion by 2030, and says active ETFs grew 50% organically in the last five years.BlackRock, p. 14
  • BlackRock, citing Cerulli, puts U.S. model portfolio assets at $4 trillion, and projects models will carry 30% of product sales within five years, up from about 20%.BlackRock, p. 10
  • BlackRock, citing Morningstar, notes that 52% of liquid managed assets are now indexed, against 2% in 1993.BlackRock, p. 5

The ETFIQ take

ETFIQ data to Oct 20, 2026 · the 746 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figure, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026

BlackRock reports more than 4,700 ETFs in the U.S., over a third of them launched within the last two years. From Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, the ETFs ETFIQ can count had a net flow of +$127.9bn, with +$90.1bn for stock ETFs and +$35.7bn for bond ETFs.

+$127.9bnnet flow, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, summed over the 746 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figureOct 20, 2026 · ETFIQ →+$461.8bnnet flow, Jan 2, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, summed over the 713 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figureOct 20, 2026 · ETFIQ →+$90.1bnnet flow into stock ETFs, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, over the 322 of 1,739 with a daily figureOct 20, 2026 · ETFIQ →+$35.7bnnet flow into bond ETFs, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, over the 204 of 833 with a daily figureOct 20, 2026 · ETFIQ →
Paper: U.S. ETFs and global investment products, through October 2025. ETFIQ: the 746 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figure, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026. Net flow is the change in shares outstanding times the day’s NAV, summed over the days in the window, for the funds with a daily figure. The two sets and windows differ; the figures are stated, not reconciled.MethodData

Related ETFs

The largest ETFs ETFIQ covers, by net assets
VOOVanguard S&P 500 ETF+16.5%IVViShares Core S&P 500 ETF+16.5%SPYSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust+16.4%VTIVanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF+15.9%QQQInvesco QQQ Trust, Series 1+19.2%VUGVanguard Morningstar Growth ETF+11.2%

Figure: total return, 1 year, to Oct 21, 2026, from each fund’s page. All 4,807 ETFs in the screener →

Related papers

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All 16 papers on flows →

Questions people ask

What does the BlackRock paper conclude?

BlackRock's January 2026 trends paper counts more than 4,700 ETFs in the U.S., with over a third launched within the last two years. The paper’s own words are at the link above.

What does ETFIQ’s data show on the same question?

From Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, the ETFs ETFIQ can count had a net flow of +$127.9bn, with +$90.1bn for stock ETFs and +$35.7bn for bond ETFs. ETFIQ states both figures and does not reconcile them.

What is an ETF’s net flow?

The change in its shares outstanding times its net asset value, summed over the days of a window: money in less money out. More on this →

Where can I read “2026 Trends Shaping Investment Products”?

On BlackRock’s own site. ETFIQ summarizes the paper and does not host it. BlackRock’s page ↗
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, 2026 Trends Shaping Investment Products (BlackRock), summary and ETFIQ take, as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/research/library/blackrock-2026-trends-shaping-investment-products/

Open data →

Summary by ETFIQ. ETFIQ is not affiliated with BlackRock; logos identify the source.