Since the establishment of the first ETF in 2004, it took 16 years for ETF assets under management to first break through 1 trillion yuan. However, as ETFs have entered a fast development track in recent years, the scale growth of these products has accelerated. After breaking through the 1 trillion yuan milestone, in less than five years, ETF assets have successively surpassed 2 trillion, 3 trillion, and 4 trillion yuan, and broke through 5 trillion yuan for the first time on August 25th. Looking back, ETF assets first exceeded 4 trillion yuan in April. In other words, it took only a short 4 months to grow from 4 trillion to 5 trillion yuan. Wind data shows that as of August 25th, ETF assets broke through 5 trillion yuan for the first time.

On August 26th, the latest data released by the Asset Management Association of China showed that as of the end of July, public mutual fund assets exceeded 35 trillion yuan, reaching a new high. Under the thriving momentum of the overall industry, the significant development of ETFs has become inevitable. However, under the Matthew effect, the top four fund managers by ETF assets under management have already occupied half of the entire market share. Industry insiders believe that after ETF assets break through 5 trillion yuan, the advantages of leading fund companies may become even more pronounced.

**ETF Assets Reach 5.07 Trillion Yuan**

ETF assets have reached a new high. Wind data shows that as of August 25th, ETF assets broke through 5 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 5.07 trillion yuan.

Among these, equity ETF assets reached 3.46 trillion yuan, accounting for 68.15%. Cross-border ETFs and bond ETFs followed closely, with assets of 754.168 billion yuan and 555.903 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 14.87% and 10.96% respectively. Additionally, commodity ETFs, money market ETFs, and other ETFs occupied smaller proportions.

Looking at the past month, the ETF with the largest share increase was the Huabao CSI All Securities Company ETF, which increased by 26.414 billion shares in the past month. Data shows that as of August 25th, the fund's assets were 31.093 billion yuan, an increase of over 7.4 billion yuan from the beginning of the year. Huabao Fund also issued a congratulatory announcement after the fund's assets exceeded 30 billion yuan, calling it a "bull-catching tool and A-share top performer."

Additionally, other ETFs with share increases exceeding 10 billion in the past month include the Fuguo CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Internet ETF, which increased by 13.848 billion shares in the past month, with latest assets of 75.355 billion yuan, an increase of over 53 billion yuan from the beginning of the year.

Looking at year-to-date gains of on-exchange funds, Wind data shows that as of the close on August 26th, a total of 7 ETFs gained over 100% year-to-date, namely: E Fund CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Drug ETF, Wanjia CSI Hong Kong Innovation Drug ETF, Huatai-PineBridge Hang Seng Innovative Drug ETF, Yinhua CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Drug ETF, GF CSI Hong Kong Innovative Drug ETF, Invesco Great Wall CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Drug ETF, and Fuguo Hang Seng Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare ETF, with gains of 109.05%, 108.76%, 108.43%, 107.54%, 107.03%, 104.89%, and 101.11% respectively.

It's worth noting that currently, the top 17 positions on the year-to-date gains ranking for on-exchange funds are all occupied by cross-border ETFs, including the aforementioned Hong Kong innovative drug ETFs, as well as Hong Kong Stock Connect healthcare ETFs, Hang Seng biotech ETFs, Hang Seng healthcare ETFs, and Hang Seng pharmaceutical ETFs.

**Pronounced Head Effect**

From the perspective of ETF assets under management by fund managers, the head effect is pronounced. Wind data shows that as of August 25th, a total of 14 public fund companies have ETF assets exceeding 100 billion yuan, with China Asset Management leading other institutions with ETF assets of 858.787 billion yuan.

E Fund Management, Huatai-PineBridge Fund, and Southern Fund followed closely, with ETF assets of 795.701 billion yuan, 564.099 billion yuan, and 347.807 billion yuan respectively. The top four public fund companies' combined ETF assets under management totaled 2.57 trillion yuan, accounting for half of the entire market. Additionally, Harvest Fund, GF Fund, Fuguo Fund, Bosera Fund, and Cathay Fund all have ETF assets under management exceeding 200 billion yuan, while Huabao, Hua An, Haitong, Yinhua, and E Fund also have ETF assets exceeding 100 billion yuan.

Some leading public fund companies have also recently published articles mentioning that their ETF assets have reached new highs. For example, Penghua Fund stated that its "sci-tech ETF investment toolbox" covering broad-based, enhanced strategy, sector themes, and innovative bonds has exceeded 26 billion yuan in total assets. Looking ahead, as the sci-tech board system continues to optimize, the quality of listed companies continues to improve, and investors deepen their understanding of sci-tech themes, the sci-tech ETF market will continue to maintain vigorous vitality.

Recently, Bosera Fund also published an article stating that its 5 bond ETFs have exceeded 100 billion yuan in total assets, with convertible bond ETF assets exceeding 57 billion yuan, and several other bond ETFs frequently breaking through 10 billion yuan, providing investors with diversified bond index investment tools.

Overall, as of August 25th, there are 7 ETFs in the entire market with assets exceeding 100 billion yuan, with Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF leading other products with assets of 418.28 billion yuan. E Fund and China Asset Management's CSI 300 ETFs have assets exceeding 200 billion yuan, at 296.865 billion yuan and 219.106 billion yuan respectively.

During the same period, Harvest CSI 300 ETF, China Asset Management SSE 50 ETF, Southern CSI 500 ETF, and E Fund ChiNext ETF also exceeded 100 billion yuan, at 191.814 billion yuan, 186.298 billion yuan, 134.597 billion yuan, and 100.708 billion yuan respectively. It's not difficult to see that the top-ranking ETFs by assets are all products from leading public fund companies.

Bai Wenxi, Chief Economist for China at China Enterprise Capital Alliance, believes that after ETF assets break through 5 trillion yuan, the advantages of leading fund companies will become even more pronounced. At the same time, as market scale expands, fund managers may increase product innovation efforts, launching more segmented theme ETFs, and competition will become more intense.

**Future Assets Expected to Continue Growing**

Looking back at ETF development history, the first ETF was launched in 2004, and it wasn't until 16 years later in October 2020 that ETF assets first broke through 1 trillion yuan.

However, against the backdrop of continued market volatility in recent years and significant return drawdowns of actively managed equity products, ETFs have also entered a fast development track with rapidly climbing assets. In August 2023, ETF assets first broke through 2 trillion yuan, taking nearly three years to grow from 1 trillion to 2 trillion yuan.

By September 2024, ETF assets broke through 3 trillion yuan, accelerating the process once again compared to the previous milestone, taking one year. In April 2025, ETF assets first broke through 4 trillion yuan, achieving another breakthrough in just half a year. The growth from 4 trillion to 5 trillion yuan in ETF assets took only 4 months. It can be seen that ETF asset growth is accelerating.

Regarding the reasons for rapid ETF asset growth, Yang Delong, Chief Economist at Qianhai Open Source Fund, analyzed that ETFs have become an important channel for the major transfer of household savings to capital markets. At the same time, as stock market conditions improve, investors' investment willingness strengthens, and investing in ETFs is also an important investment method for participating in the stock market.

Bai Wenxi also believes that the recent continued strength of the A-share market, with ETFs serving as a core channel for capital inflows, has attracted large amounts of capital, driving rapid asset growth. At the same time, in recent years, the "national team" has frequently increased holdings in multiple broad-based ETFs, not only helping to drive their asset growth but also increasing investor attention to ETFs. Additionally, ETFs have advantages such as high transparency, strong tool attributes, and low fees, which align with current market needs.

In May this year, the "Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Public Mutual Funds" issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission also optimized registration arrangements for equity funds, clearly promoting the launch of more on-exchange and off-exchange index funds and medium-to-low volatility equity-containing products, promoting innovative development of equity funds. Looking back at this year, multiple types of new ETFs have also been launched and gained market favor.

For example, the first batch of free cash flow ETFs, sci-tech comprehensive index ETFs, and sci-tech bond ETFs were successively approved during the year. Among these, the first batch of 10 sci-tech bond ETFs were all sold out in one day, collectively attracting 30 billion yuan in a single day. Additionally, the second batch of sci-tech bond ETFs has also been submitted and is awaiting regulatory approval.

Yang Delong also mentioned that significant ETF asset growth has brought incremental capital to capital markets, increasing management fee income for fund companies. For investors, it means sharing in stock market gains through ETF investments. It's expected that the ETF market will continue to develop and grow in the future, especially under the current backdrop of gradually confirmed bull market conditions, where most investors will continue to participate in the stock market through continued ETF holdings.

Bai Wenxi also believes that future ETF market assets are expected to continue growing, but as the base becomes larger, growth rates may gradually slow down. As investor acceptance of index investing improves, the ETF market will continue to expand, and index investing will become one of the mainstream market trends. However, during periods of high market sentiment, some ETFs may experience high premiums, and investors need to pay attention to short-term volatility risks and participate rationally.