Trillions

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 this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Andre Yapp, a senior ETF research associate with Bloomberg Intelligence, and Todd Sohn, ETF strategist at Baird Strategas — take another tour through the ETF Graveyard. They examine which strategies died out this year, why leveraged ETFs account for so many of the casualties, and which funds closed despite having substantial assets or strong returns. And because some ETF ideas refuse to stay dead, they nominate a few fallen funds that might someday join the “Lazarus list” and get resurrected.

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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 "highly speculative" bet on the S&P 500.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg TV markets reporter Isabelle Lee — run through the latest ETFs to watch. They discuss the arrival of the State Street SPDR UC Investments 90/10 ETF (UCBG), a European product offering synthetic exposure to private AI giant Anthropic (CLAU), and an options-based ETF from Roundhill designed for investors betting that the S&P 500 will reach 10,000 by 2030 (XX). They also discuss a new ETF combining the S&P 500 with a managed-futures strategy (SPXP). 

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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 around sports.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Vildana Hajric, a cross-asset editor with Bloomberg News, speak with FutureSports co-founder Leigh Taylforth and Head of Index Services Jodie Gunzberg about the financial infrastructure they’re building behind the new crop of sports ETF filings. They explain how to put a price on a team’s performance, why sports might offer investors something different from stocks and bonds, and how businesses could even use the products to hedge their exposure to wins and losses.

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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, try to become the Walmart of ETFs.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Corgi's Jeff Weniger, who recently joined the startup after a decade at WisdomTree. They discuss why Corgi is launching ETFs at a record pace, how AI and a youthful startup culture are helping it move so quickly, and the challenge of turning a memorable brand into actual assets. Weniger also talks about Corgi’s ambitions to get into Trump Accounts; why the ETFs are effectively a side hustle for the insurance business; and, naturally, the corgis behind the name, Hamilton and Napoleon among them.

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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, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis and Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee to dig into some of the more surprising signals hiding in the ETF data. They explore the rise of the 80/20 portfolio, what the holdings of US lawmakers reveal about their bipartisan investment tastes, and why September can be so lousy for markets — even as ETF issuers keep launching new funds.

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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 created a perfectly legal way to peek at what some of the world’s biggest stock pickers are buying — every single day.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber explore “Blue Horseshoe,” a new Bloomberg Intelligence tool designed to track what “Big Active” is buying and selling. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sharoon Francis and David Cohne join to explain how the daily transparency of active ETFs made the tool possible, how it can surface stocks while managers are still building their positions, and what names are attracting attention now. Blue Horseshoe likes Okta, anyone?

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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 Isabelle Lee — sift through the latest launches. They highlight the Investment House ETF (TIH) and the growing use of ETFs to defer taxes, how the Yorkville America MANGOS Plus Index ETF (FRUT) is betting on the next generation of AI winners, and whether investors really want a hedged version of Bitcoin (HBIT). They also explore Eric's negative aura.

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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 founder said he’d know his mission was succeeding when competitors became so cheap that Vanguard itself began losing market share.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee — revisit Bogle’s legacy. They trace the unlikely rise of the index fund, why it took decades to catch on and how Vanguard’s low-cost model eventually forced the rest of Wall Street to change. They also explore what Vanguard’s plateau means now that the Bogle Effect has become so much bigger than Vanguard itself. 

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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 Commodity Strategy Absolute Return Fund (USE) can go long or short across a range of energy commodities, offering investors a more dynamic way to play the oil market.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence's Andre Yapp to explain why USE is the ETF of the moment. They explore how its active strategy differs from USO, what “absolute return” actually means, and why trading oil through futures comes with risks most investors rarely encounter. They also dig into one potentially attractive feature of USE: Unlike USO, it won't leave investors dealing with the dreaded K-1 tax form.

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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 Weber is joined by Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis to examine the growing lineup of sports-themed ETF filings. They break down how the proposed NHL funds would work, review the filings for prediction market ETFs, discuss another filing for an actively managed fund that would essentially make sports bets on investors' behalf, and explore why ETFs face significant competition from existing sports offerings. None of these products has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but if history is any guide, it may be too early to bet against them.

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