Aus ETF industry close to $250b milestone as crypto products soar

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

16 December 2024

A cryptocurrency surge that saw Bitcoin reach new highs of USD$100,000 has complemented the Australian exchange traded fund (ETF) industry’s new total assets record of $242.9 billion.

According to Betashares’ Australian ETF Review for November, the industry is now “within striking distance” of the $250 billion milestone in total assets under management (AUM). Year-to-date flows are currently sitting at $26.9 billion, well ahead of the previous record set in 2021 ($23.2 billion).

The month of November had the ETF industry record its second-best month for asset growth, increasing by 4.5 per cent and total market capitalisation up by $10.4 billion. The industry also enjoyed its third-highest amount of flows on record, with $3.1 billion.

There are now 399 exchange traded products (ETPs) available on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and CBOE, with four new fund launches in November alone including the Betashares Ethical Australian Composite Bond ETF – an Australian-first.

The top-performing funds for November all revolved around cryptocurrency, with Betashares Crypto Innovators ETF topping the list (42.4 per cent), closely followed by Global X 21Shares Ethereum ETF (42 per cent), DigitalX Bitcoin ETF and Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (both 39.8 per cent), and VanEck Bitcoin ETF (39.6 per cent).

For yet another month, international equities saw the highest amount of inflows ($1.69 billion) in November, more than double Australian Equities ($804 million) and Fixed Income ($566 million).