 SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF

SRLN provides actively managed exposure to noninvestment-grade, floating-rate senior secured debt of US and non-US corporations that resets in 3 months or less.

Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF

JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF

Invesco Senior Loan ETF

Capital Group Dividend Value ETF

Capital Group Growth ETF

Dimensional US Equity ETF

Blackrock US Equity Factor Rotation ETF

Fidelity Total Bond ETF

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund

iShares Bitcoin Trust

iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF

JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF

PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active ETF

Neos Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF

Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF

Neos S&P 500 High Income ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

Investors are closing the books on another eventful year — marked by record highs for the major stock market indices, record action in Treasury yields and record assets and flows into ETFs. 2024 was also marked by a much-debated pivot from the Federal Reserve, a dramatic Republican sweep in Washington, and plenty of geopolitical turmoil.

The ETF Flowdown: Wrapping Up 2024

SRLN is an actively managed ETF focusing on senior secured variable rate loans from non-investment grade companies, with a diverse portfolio across sectors. Recent Fed cuts should cause the fund's dividend yield to decline, likely below those of high-yield corporate bonds. Cuts are a significant headwind for the fund, and a dealbreaker for me.

SRLN: Senior Loan ETF, Good 8.7% TTM Yield, But Not A Buy Due To Fed Cuts

WisdomTree Barclays Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Fund

SmartETFs Dividend Builder ETF

Eaton Vance Short Duration Municipal Income ETF

Eaton Vance Total Return Bond ETF

VanEck Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF

Fidelity Small-Mid Factor ETF

Franklin Short Duration U.S. Government ETF

Hartford Schroders Tax-Aware Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

JPMorgan Municipal ETF

JPMorgan Income ETF

First Trust Low Duration Opportunities ETF

Legg Mason International Low Volatility High Dividend ETF

ClearShares Ultra-Short Maturity ETF

Xtrackers Short Duration High Yield Bond ETF

AB Short Duration High Yield ETF

FlexShares iBoxx 3 Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund

Reaves Utilities ETF

I updated my universe of exchange-traded funds to track based on superior long-term performance. Nearly 450 ETFs are ranked based on short-term monthly returns, exponential moving average, and money flows into funds. With valuations and concentrations high, I select twenty trending ETFs Lipper Categories with less risk of correction in 2025 for further analysis.

End Of 2024 Trending Exchange-Traded Funds

SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

Neos Enhanced Income Cash Alternative Etf

Invesco Ultra Short Duration ETF

JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF

Texas Capital Government Money Market ETF

PGIM AAA CLO ETF

PGIM Ultra Short Bond ETF

PGIM Ultra Short Municipal Bond ETF

WisdomTree Bloomberg Floating Rate Treasury Fund

Investors have been married to their money market funds for the better part of the last two years. But a recent poll from VettaFi's Q4 Fixed Income Symposium in October showed more market participants may finally be willing to break out of their comfort zones and redeploy those funds into riskier assets.

More Money Market Substitutes Taking Shape

Blackrock Flexible Income ETF

SPDR Gold Trust

SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust

iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF

VanEck Merk Gold Trust

Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF

Global X U.S. Preferred ETF

VanEck Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF

Invesco QQQ

VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash Flow ETF

Aberdeen Standard Gold ETF Trust

SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF

Vanguard Small-Cap ETF

Vanguard Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

Vanguard Real Estate ETF

Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund

Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund

Invesco S&P SmallCap Momentum ETF

The first cut is the deepest — so they say. As with all complicated relationships, this mantra may certainly ring true for the Federal Reserve and the markets — at least from a psychological standpoint.

Positioning Ahead of the Fed: ETFs for a Lower Rate Era

ProShares Global Listed Private Equity ETF

Invesco Global Listed Private Equity ETF

The world's largest asset managers are scrambling to devise new ways to package private investment opportunities into a passive ETF wrapper. Private assets are the fastest-growing market in the financial world — but could also prove the most challenging field for ETF providers to penetrate.

Can ETFs Capture Private Equity Markets?

Better than expected inflation data prompts the market to price in more than three rate cuts in 2024. Lower rates leading to capital outflows from floating rate assets into fixed rate investments. SRLN underperforms peers due to high standard deviation, drawdown, and expense ratio, making it a sell in current market conditions.

SRLN: Sell The Weakest Leveraged Loan Fund

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

YieldMax COIN Option Income Strategy ETF

Calamos S&P 500 Structured Alt Protection ETF-August

Invesco DB Agriculture Fund

Eaton Vance Floating-Rate ETF

VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF

iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF

Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF

Yieldmax Tsla Option Income Etf

United States Natural Gas Fund LP

Global X Uranium ETF

SPDR S&P Biotech ETF

Hello! Bonds seemed more appealing to ETF investors than ever before in July, based on flow data from State Street. This week's ETF Wrap looks at what's driving investors' appetite for fixed income lately, and where their money flowed within fixed income.

Bond ETFs attract record flows in July as investors position for Fed rate cuts

Goldman Sachs TreasuryAccess 0-1 Year ETF

BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

Schwab Ultra-Short Income ETF

iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF

iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF

Vanguard Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

How's a 5.6% safe return on your cash sound? For a growing number of ETF investors fearful of the S&P 500's future, it's a sweet deal.

Clever Investors Find A Safe Way To Score 5.6% On Their Cash

iShares MBS ETF

Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

During LSEG Lipper's fund flows week that ended June 19, 2024, investors were overall net redeemers of fund assets for the first week in three, removing a net $30.0 billion. Taxable bond funds, alternative investments, and tax-exempt bond funds posted net inflows. Conventional equity funds posted a weekly return of positive 0.19%, the third straight week of gains.

U.S. Weekly Fund Flows Insight Report: Equity ETFs See Their Third Outflow Over The Last 4 Weeks

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF

Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF

iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

Vanguard Growth ETF

Markets steadily march on to record highs, as Q2 2024 wraps up. Many patterns that emerged earlier in the year once again prevailed through the fog of geopolitical and rate uncertainty.

The ETF Flowdown: Q2 2024

Pimco Senior Loan Active Exchange-Traded Fund

Blackrock Floating Rate Loan ETF

The Federal Reserve continues to hold fast to its highly data-driven, wait-and-see approach on rate policy. Last week's FOMC meeting further bolstered the market's belief in a lone rate-cut scenario, and senior loan ETFs have gained traction as elevated rate expectations spill over into the second half of the year.

Business of Bonds: Senior Loan ETFs Take the Spotlight

SRLN is an actively managed ETF focusing on senior loans. Senior loans are variable rate loans, and so their coupon rates and yields have skyrocketed because of past Fed hikes. SRLN itself yields 8.9%, and has outperformed its peers these past few years, and since inception.

SRLN: Simple Senior Loan ETF, Strong 8.9% Yield And Performance Track Record

Capital Group Core Bond ETF

Capital Group Core Plus Income ETF

Vanguard Core Bond ETF

Vanguard Core-Plus Bond ETF

AB Ultra Short Income ETF

Interest in active fixed income products has swelled in 2024, as credit spreads narrow and the Federal Reserve holds fast to a “will they, won't they” game of trimming interest rates. Active fixed income ETFs have seen north of $11 billion in net inflows this year and $27 billion globally.

Golden Age for Active Bond ETFs?

BondBloxx BBB Rated 1-5 Year Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

SPDR Bloomberg Short Term High Yield Bond ETF

The largest high yield bond ETFs have been out of favor for much of 2024. However, many advisors recently told VettaFi they think the style will perform best going forward.

Taking on More Credit and Less Rate Risk

SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF seeks to provide current income while preserving capital by investing in senior loans. SRLN is overweight in single-B leveraged loans and has a low concentration in CCC-rated loans. The Fund has poor analytics compared to its peers and has historically underperformed the leveraged loan index.

SRLN: Better Alternatives Exist In The Leveraged Loan Space

First Trust Senior Loan Fund

Morgan Stanley Investment Management's active senior loan ETF is a compelling offering in the current environment. Investors have increasingly looked to senior loan ETFs in recent history instead of high yield bonds.

MSIM's Active Senior Loan ETF Beats Competitors on Cost

When the Exchange conference starts on Monday, advisors will have a new active floating rate bond ETF to learn about. It's one that's backed by a firm with a rich heritage in the investment style.

Eaton Vance Loans Expertise to the ETF Market

Floating rate investments like SRLN may see lower forward returns due to the Fed's plan to lower interest rates in 2024. SRLN has underperformed passive leveraged loan ETFs and has not lived up to its mandate. Investors interested in floating-rate leveraged loans may want to consider CLO ETFs like the JBBB ETF, which has outperformed SRLN and offers similar distribution yields with higher credit quality.

SRLN: Underperforming Leveraged Loan Fund

SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF provides exposure to senior loans and aims to generate current income while preserving capital. Senior loans are high-yield debt obligations backed by the borrower's assets, offering protection against inflation but carrying higher credit risk. The SRLN ETF's portfolio is diversified across various sectors, with no AAA rated holdings, and has shown competitive performance compared to similar ETFs.

SRLN: An Interesting Income Play Few Talk About

Franklin Senior Loan ETF

Virtus Seix Senior Loan ETF

Amid the prospect of higher interest rates for a longer-than-expected period, investors are flocking to bank loan ETFs.

5 Bank Loan ETFs to Capitalize on Higher Rates

Panagram Bbb-B Clo Etf

Janus Detroit Street Trust-Janus Henderson B-BBB CLO ETF

Federal Reserve hikes have led to strong dividend growth in most variable rate securities and funds. Two of these are senior loans and CLO debt tranches. A look at the similarities, and differences, between these two asset classes follows.

Senior Loans Or CLO Debt, Which Is Best For Income Investors And Retirees?

Senior loan ETFs can offer protection against rising interest rates.

An Introduction to Senior Loan ETFs

Investing in a bank loan ETF can offer a compelling yield while helping maintain defensive portfolio positioning. In the current environment, investors who want to generate as much yield as possible might look to bank loans instead of high yield bonds.

Invesco's Bank Loan ETF Offers High Yield, Outpaces Active Peers

Senior loans currently yield more than most relevant fixed-income sub-asset classes. SRLN is an actively-managed senior loan ETF, offering investors a growing 7.4% yield. An overview of the fund follows.

SRLN: Growing 7.6% Yield, Low Interest Rate Risk, Strong Recent Performance

News for SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF ETF (SRLN)