Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF, VOO, pulled in roughly $13 billion in a single week, extending a run that has made it the top-selling ETF in the US market. Its 0.03% expense ratio is far below rivals SPY and IVV, which have together seen nearly $20 billion in outflows over the same stretch.
Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF, ticker VOO, just vacuumed up roughly $13 billion in a single week, continuing a streak that has made it the undisputed king of the US ETF market. The fund pulled in six times more capital than any other ETF this month.
The scale of the inflows
VOO became the first ETF in history to cross $1 trillion in assets under management back in June 2026. Year-to-date inflows through mid-2026 are estimated between $75 billion and $110 billion, the highest among all US-listed ETFs by a wide margin.
In late August alone, VOO pulled in approximately $11.4 billion over a five-day stretch. Early September kept the momentum going, with multiple single-day inflows ranging from roughly $2.99 billion to $3.28 billion.
Fees explain the shift
The explanation is fees. VOO charges an expense ratio of 0.03%, meaning investors pay $3 per year for every $10,000 invested. Its competitor, State Street's SPY, charges 0.09%, triple the cost for essentially identical exposure to the S&P 500.
While VOO has been pulling in capital, SPY and BlackRock's IVV have seen combined outflows totaling nearly $20 billion during the same period. SPY still has a structural advantage in the options market, where its deep liquidity makes it the preferred vehicle for hedging and trading. But for buy-and-hold investors, the math increasingly points toward Vanguard.
A broader fee war
Overall US ETF inflows in 2026 are projected to exceed previous records, driven primarily by demand for equity products, particularly large-cap blend funds.
SPY, which launched in 1993 as the first US-listed ETF, has been losing ground for years but remains a massive fund due to its trading volume and options ecosystem. IVV, BlackRock's S&P 500 offering with an expense ratio matching VOO's 0.03%, hasn't been able to keep pace either, suggesting Vanguard's brand loyalty and distribution advantages extend beyond raw pricing. Vanguard's mutual ownership structure, where fund shareholders effectively own the company, allows it to operate at razor-thin margins that publicly traded competitors struggle to match.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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