Trillions

What if an exchange-traded fund could help you quit your job and travel the world? Self-described “dividend nomads” are trying to do just that, using derivative-income ETFs to generate the cash they need to live abroad. The funds can offer eye-popping yields — sometimes well into the double digits — and the category has recently exploded in popularity. But generating that m...

Vanguard and BlackRock have spent years battling for supremacy in the ETF market. But now one of them may finally be pulling away from the other. And that’s just one interesting data point of late. Expiration dates, dip-buying and another pre-IPO frenzy are all making headlines. On this episode of Trillions , Joel Weber is joined by Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis an...

The ETF industry is on pace for another record year of launches. But there’s another record within reach: closures. About 250 funds have already been laid to rest in 2026, including leveraged bets that barely survived infancy and funds tied to ESG, the metaverse and cannabis. With about 2,500 products now buried in the ETF Graveyard, launching a fund is clearly no guarantee of longevity. On...

A new ETF seeded with $2.5 billion from the University of California's investment arm invests 90% in the S&P 500 and 10% in short-term bonds — essentially the same allocation Warren Buffett has recommended for his own family. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s now an exchange-traded product offering pre-IPO exposure to Anthropic — and another ETF that allows for a "hig...

In sports, wins and losses determine standings. Soon they could help determine something else: a price. A group of financial firms is trying to turn sports results and statistics into something investors can actually trade. The idea starts with indexes that measure the performance of individual teams, creating the foundation for futures, ETFs and potentially an entirely new asset class built aroun...

Less than a year ago, Corgi Invest launched its first ETF. It now has more than 200, with hundreds more registered and potentially on the way. If they all make it to market, Corgi could soon offer more ETFs than BlackRock. The strategy is audacious: Launch as many products as possible, compete aggressively on price and see what catches on. Or, as the company's new chief investment officer puts it,...

The 60/40 portfolio has been Investing 101 for generations. So why are ETF investors now closer to 80/20? Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers don't agree on much — but their portfolios have some surprising stocks in common. And then there's September, historically the market's worst month but one of the busiest times of the year for new ETF launches. On this episode of Trillions ,...

A decade ago, Nvidia was the 387th-biggest stock in the market. Before it became the world’s most valuable company, some of the biggest active managers were buying it on the way up. In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko had a code phrase for that kind of valuable tip: “Blue Horseshoe likes Anacott Steel.” Insider trading is illegal, of course. But the rise of active ETFs has cre...

What's a new way to invest in artificial intelligence? And what's the latest tax strategy for wealthy investors? There's no shortage of exchange-traded funds, but some of the latest launches reveal important trends — and also what fathers can learn from their sons. In this week's New ETFs to Watch episode, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Is...

Today, Vanguard is synonymous with low-cost index investing. But as the firm marks 50 years since the launch of the first index fund, something surprising has happened: After decades of relentless gains, Vanguard’s share of the fund industry has plateaued. For most companies, that would be bad news. Yet Jack Bogle might have seen it differently. More than 30 years ago, Vanguard’s found...

Oil has been one of the wildest trades of the year, surging and retreating as US tensions with Iran — and US President Donald Trump's endless hopes for a deal — have repeatedly whipsawed markets. For traders, the go-to exchange-traded fund for playing those moves has long been the United States Oil Fund (USO). But another, lesser-known fund has been gaining momentum. The USCF Energy Co...

The ETF industry has packaged everything from stocks and bonds to Bitcoin and leveraged bets on individual companies. So why not your favorite sports team? New filings from Volatility Shares would create ETFs tied to the performance of each NHL franchise. And those filings are just the latest sign that the worlds of ETFs and sports betting may start to converge. On this episode of Trillions , Joel...

The ETF industry had a record year in 2025. Somehow, 2026 is shaping up to be even bigger. More than $1 trillion has already poured into ETFs, launches continue at a breakneck pace and trading volume is on track for another record — putting the industry within reach of an unprecedented back-to-back “Triple Crown.” But the boom isn't just about more money and more funds. Some of t...

ETFs are already famous for their tax efficiency, but a growing corner of the market is pushing those benefits further than ever. What if you could sell a massive stock position without paying taxes on it - at least not yet?  Welcome the 351 conversions - custom built funds that allow investors to swap concentrated stock positions into diversified portfolios without paying gains taxes. ...

The ETF market is on pace for a record  year - not just in the number of launches but also for the range of issuers entering the market. With competition intensifying, there’s no shortage of noteworthy funds to keep an eye on. In this week’s ETFs to Watch episode, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg news cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee to break down the standou...

The confluence of single-stock ETFs and leverage has reached a fever pitch this year. Products tied to companies like SpaceX, Micron and SK Hynix are proliferating, attracting billions of dollars from traders — and raising concerns they're beginning to influence the very stocks they're meant to track. In some markets — we're looking at you, South Korea — regulators have even step...

Tokenization has been a Wall Street buzzword, only now it's becoming real. Beginning this summer, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation — a little-known utility at the center of the US financial system that processed securities quadrillion in transactions — will begin creating blockchain-based "digital twins" of stocks, bonds and ETFs. The goal isn't to replace tradition...

The new Trump Accounts are designed to give millions of American children a head start in the stock market. Besides the kids who are eligible for $1,000 in free money, there's another surprise winner: the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM). Thanks to its rock-bottom 0.02% fee, the fund has become the default investment for the new accounts — a designation that could funnel te...

The ETF wrapper has become investing's Swiss Army knife, packaging everything from stocks and bonds to gold and Bitcoin — and now, perhaps, even prediction markets. As issuers race to push the boundaries of what's possible, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission are rewriting their playbook in real time. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber sit down with...

SpaceX's record IPO quickly turned into a feeding frenzy in the ETF industry. Within days, about a dozen leveraged funds tied to the company — many of them almost identical — launched at the same time, setting off a battle for assets, attention and trading volume. The frenzy is reminiscent of the rush to launch spot Bitcoin ETFs. And obviously there are many other noteworthy new ETF la...

In the asset management industry, there are two undisputed heavyweights: BlackRock and Vanguard. They rival each other in almost every category, but this month Vanguard overtook BlackRock as the largest US ETF issuer — a title BlackRock had held for two decades. Despite their dominance, the two firms have very different reputations, cultures and approaches. On this episode of  Trillions...

Earlier this year, investors got hammered by the "SaaSpocalypse." The rise of AI sparked fears that software companies would need fewer workers, sell fewer licenses and spend heavily on technology with uncertain payoffs. Yet just a few months later, one little-known ETF — with only $2.5 million in assets — is quietly suggesting that software's death may have been slightly exaggerated....

SpaceX is finally going public — and at a valuation that's likely to make it one of the world's biggest companies the moment it hits the market. So what happens when a company worth as much as $2 trillion suddenly needs to be folded into indexes, ETFs, and portfolios built for a different era? On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence a...

The ETF universe keeps getting bigger - and weirder. This year is already on pace to shatter records for launches and inflows; it's also producing some of the most niche, speculative and oddly specific funds the industry has ever seen. From leveraged bets on obscure semiconductor firms to thematic products targeting everything from lithography to nicotine, the race to capture investor attention is...

What if you invested at literally the worst possible moments in market history? According to Ben Carlson, the co-host of the Animal Spirits podcast and an advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, even the world's worst market timer could still become a millionaire. Carlson's new book, Risk & Reward, explores why long-term investing remains so psychologically difficult. On this episode of Trillio...