Episode 6: Cross Asset ETPs Matter
The ETP ecosystem, spanning equities, commodities, REITs, fixed income and more recently crypto, has become the real-time window into investor sentiment and how capital is repositioning itself across asset classes with varying risk exposures. Trading volumes and changes in assets under management (AUM) reveal sector rotations, assets exposures, and liquidity constraints as they happen.
This granularity has the advantage over mutual fund data, which suffers heavy time lags. Unlike quarterly mutual fund surveys, ETF flows are timely signals of where capital is moving and which asset classes are facing execution pressure. This is an essential tool for determining asset allocation and diversification.
For example, holdings in European Gold ETPs have grown by over 90% since January 2025; silver equivalents have more than doubled. January 2026 revealed increasing bearish sentiment on the metals and concerns about an AI bubble (gold and silver are used heavily in chip manufacturing) which triggered an historic 44% drawdown in silver and a 15% temporary slide in gold prices. Figure 1 shows the extreme reduction in asset values in January followed by a reversion to the trend.
Figure 1: Daily Changes in AUM for European Gold and Silver ETPs since January 2025.
Figure 2 shows daily trading activity in European ETPs for equities, commodities and fixed income since the beginning of 2025, with gold and silver growing fast since September 2025, reaching a peak at the end of January. What does this mean for measuring investor sentiment? Traditionally, commodities have been viewed as a hedge against inflation (opinion is divided). But inflation is reducing. Is the longer term connection between gold investment through ETPs a bullish take on the AI revolution, or a risk-off hedge for the bubblists?
Figure 2: Daily Traded Value in European ETPs since January 2025 showing strong growth in Commodities since September 2025.
Pause for thought - both bulls and bears chasing the same asset class sounds like a regime change - volatility caused by the push and pull of different use cases for the asset. This demands careful consideration for portfolio managers using these assets as signals. Even for portfolios that don’t invest in commodities, their prices impact equities and fixed income products. Market volumes help to understand the dynamics behind the price and ETPs represent a powerful proxy for following the trend.
Historic and intraday information on ETF volumes, backed up with creation/redemption information allows portfolio managers to track trends across asset classes over multiple years and granular periods. It can identify sizable institutional switch strategies on a daily basis, and momentum in investor sentiment shifts. It can be used to pick out trends in retail attitudes to risk and help traders understand the rapid evolution in market structure that accompanies the ETP ecosystem. This helps to plan and implement execution strategies and measure execution quality, through the monitoring of trading costs across different venues types such as RFQ venues and lit order books.
Our primary and secondary ETF market data provides insights into peer group rankings, trends in asset classes that support product development and provide deeper analysis into trading and execution strategies. For more information on our ETF data and analytics, contact sales@xyt.one.
