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ETF Trends from the RBC Capital Markets Trading Floor – September 2025

Written by Valerie Grimba | Published on October 8, 2025

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September ETF Flows Follow Markets Higher
Both global markets and ETF fund flows were on fire in September – defying the month’s historically poor equity performance. Last month was yet another blockbuster one for global equity performance, and other asset classes available in ETF form also fared well, including but not limited to, bonds, gold and crypto. US ETF Fund Flows hit a new record as they gained $149 billion of new assets.1 This was primarily driven by fund flows into US Equity ETFs (around 55% of inflows). This was further segmented by demand into Large Cap indexes and ‘Total Market’ broad indexes.

International Equity ETFs also saw incremental fund flows to the tune of $30 billion, the highest demand of international exposure all year. We saw a pick-up of interest and fund flows into ETFs that hold Chinese equities, specifically Chinese Technology exposure.

At home in Canada, ETF fund flows exceeded the $12 billion level, but fell just short of the $14 billion high seen in March. In keeping with the dominant theme so far this year, international equity ETFs led the way from a fund flows perspective. Canadian investors continue to buy additional exposure to international markets – International equity ETFs accounted for nearly a quarter of all fund flows this month. US equities were not too far behind, adding $2.6 billion or about 21% of monthly fund flows. What was most interesting, is that Canadian equities are now outperforming both the US and International markets on a year to date (YTD) basis (the TSX Composite is up 24% YTD), but the associated ETFs have seen limited inflows, largely offset by outflows. Part of this is likely explained by investors taking profits and trimming positions. Still, this is notable, as performance and fund flows typically go hand in hand, but fund flows are seemingly lagging behind the domestic market’s strong performance.

In Canada, the TSX Composite Index continue to climb in September, hitting new highs for the fifth consecutive month. In calendar Q3 alone, the Composite was up 12.5%, with the Materials/Mining sector accounting for nearly half of that appreciation. Notably, the TSX Global Gold index was up 48.4% in the quarter. Because of the outperformance of this subsector, the TSX Composite has started to materially advance ahead of the large cap index, the TSX 60. The broader index has returned over 1% of additional performance this quarter.2

Crypto and Gold ETF marathon continues
The “store of value” trade continues at an extremely fast pace. Both Gold and Bitcoin had very strong months of performance and correspondingly strong ETF inflows. The Gold Bullion price rallied 14% in USD terms in September, and Bitcoin rallied 5% in September, before continuing its run into what the crypto-universe is calling “Uptober”. The two largest Gold Bullion ETFs (GLD and IAU) saw combined fund flows of $12 billion. This takes YTD fund flows above $30 billion – the highest amount of physical Gold held by ETFs since the early days of Covid-19. Bitcoin ETFs have also seen fund flows accelerate alongside the rally in the cryptocurrency. But Gold has recently taken back the lead in the ETF fund flows race – with Gold ETFs exceeding $50 billion of fund flows YTD.

New Canadian ETF Launches ramp up
Sixty-nine new ETFs were launched in Canada in August and September. That’s almost two new ETFs launched each day. A large amount of these new launches – 31 to be exact – were related to Canadian “Single Stock” ETFs – where the ETF holds a single stock but then applies a modest amount of leverage and a covered call strategy to increase yield. This is inline with a bigger theme which we have seen playing out all year long, which is the increasing sophistication of ETF strategies and growth of actively managed ETFs. In 2025, Canada has seen 234 new ETFs brought to market and half of those deploy an embedded derivatives strategy. This seems to be a maturation of the industry and a net positive as it offers Canadian investors increased choice and opportunity.

Sources
1. Data sources from RBC Capital Markets ETF Desk and Bloomberg LP
2. S&P Dow Jones Indices

COMMENT

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