According to @EricBalchunas, passive funds gained 1.4 percentage points of market share in 2025 to reach 54% overall, comprising roughly 60% on the equity side and 40% on the fixed-income side, source: @EricBalchunas on X, Jan 8, 2026. According to @EricBalchunas citing analysis by @JSeyff, the slower pace of passive share gains was driven by a bull market subsidy and genuine growth from active strategies, particularly in active ETFs, fixed income, and buffer strategies, source: @EricBalchunas on X, Jan 8, 2026; analysis referenced from @JSeyff.

According to Eric Balchunas, only 50% of 2025 ETF net inflows went into funds charging 10 bps or less, the lowest share in years, source: Eric Balchunas Jan 7 2026. He said this is not due to investors leaving ultra cheap funds, since the 50% slice still totaled about 750 billion dollars of flows, source: Eric Balchunas Jan 7 2026. He attributed the shift to an expanding ETF universe that includes legacy active strategies, buffer ETFs, hot sauce products, and BYOA, source: Eric Balchunas Jan 7 2026. He added that this is welcome news for asset managers after a period when cheap beta seemed poised to take everything, source: Eric Balchunas Jan 7 2026.