Fixed income ETFs surge as investors shore up portfolios

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

17 June 2025

Australian investors flocked towards fixed income exchange traded funds (ETF) during the month of May seeking more stable and defensive allocations amid fluctuating market volatility, according to specialist provider Betashares’ monthly ETF review.

The reign of international equities barely lasted one month, with fixed income flows taking the top spot in May at $1 billion, followed by international equities at $929 million and Australian equities with $752 million. This comes as the total Australian market capitalisation of ETFs across the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and CBOE reached a new record of $273.7 billion in funds under management (FUM) – an increase of 5.7 per cent.

The industry also saw its eighth consecutive month of inflows above $3 billion, with May’s figures sitting at $3.38 billion – quite shy of last April’s $4.46 billion.

The report also found that while total ASX trading value was approximately $15 billion in May – an “elevated level” – it did not quite reach the highs of April’s $22 billion.

The industry now also boasts a total of 425 exchange traded products available to investors via the ASX and CBOE, with eight new funds brought to market in May.

Cryptocurrency continued its strong performance trajectory for yet another month, taking out the top three:

• Global X 21Shares Ethereum ETF at 46.68 per cent
• Monochrome Ethereum ETF at 45.27 per cent
• Betashares Ethereum ETF at 43.20 per cent

The data also indicated that the market’s concentration among the top four providers is slowly unravelling, with the total market share between Vanguard, Betashares, iShares and VanEck dropping by 0.59 per cent to 83.64 per cent.