| | Good morning. Breaking into Europe's ETF scene may now be harder than pulling off a heist at the Louvre. Citigroup is winding down its Velocity platform less than a year after launch, according to ETF Stream. That makes Citi the second Wall Street heavyweight to tour Europe's ETF-as-a-service market, following Goldman Sachs' Accelerator, which closed last year after collecting $5 billion in trust assets. Citi and Goldman weren't wrong about the trend, however. According to the report, 14 new managers entered Europe in 2025 and an additional 12 launched through white-label platforms. Apparently, even a globally recognizable brand name doesn't get you past the security lines. | | | | | | | | They say some people are worth their weight in gold … Well, they're probably carrying a little extra weight right now. The price of gold grew to historic highs last week, pushing past $5,100 an ounce and rising 18% so far in January alone, according to a Financial Times analysis. The boom has extended to other precious metals, too, with silver hitting a record $109 on Monday. Gold ETFs were one of the top-performing strategies in 2025. Individual investors sunk $95 million into the largest gold ETF, GLD, this month, the biggest single increase since October 2025, according to research from JPMorgan. It's an area of interest for financial advisors and their clients. "Yes, the price is high; yes, volatility is elevated," said Axel Merk, the chief investment officer at Merk Investments who helps oversee the VanEck Merk Gold ETF (OUNZ). "And by all means, a correction, even a severe one, is, of course, possible," Speculative Fervor One reason for gold's historically high price is interest from speculators, who trade futures and derivatives on commodities like gold and tend to be momentum traders, Merk said. What has happened with gold, he added, is similar to bitcoin's performance swings. "[Bitcoin's price] goes up, lots of people then go out, it goes up, up, up, others are jumping on it. I group those into the speculative camp," Merk said. "They don't really have a fundamental reason to invest in something… I'm not saying that's the dominant investor, but it is one factor that has changed versus a year ago." Other reasons for the boom include inflation, high central bank demand and tariffs. Some of the best-performing gold ETFs include: - The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which is up 20% YTD.
- The iShares Gold Trust (IAU), which is also up 20% YTD.
- The SPDR Gold Minishares Trust (GLDM), which is up 19% YTD.
  Trend Chasers. One major difference between the current gold boom and previous bull markets — like the technology industry in the 1990s — is that retail investors aren't driving the change, Merk said. "This is not the same as everybody chasing a trend," he said. "Most people do not understand gold." Written by Lilly Riddle | | | | | | If anyone can take on BlackRock, it might just be BlackRock itself. BlackRock has effectively cornered the market for spot bitcoin ETFs, with the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) becoming one of the fastest-growing funds of all time. Now, the world's largest asset manager is looking to build on that dominance with the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, an actively managed product designed to hold primarily bitcoin while generating additional income through call options. The premium income offering would sell call options on IBIT shares and indices that track spot bitcoin exchange-traded products. The strategy is aimed at investors who want crypto exposure, but are wary of the extreme volatility that comes with holding bitcoin directly. "It's not quite a buffered fund, but you are going to get a smoother ride," said James Seyffart, a senior research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "That being said, you are going to get a little less of an explosive upside when bitcoin rocks higher." Compare and Contrast Details including a ticker, management fees and custodians have yet to be disclosed, which is typical for early S-1 regulatory filings. However, existing bitcoin option-income ETFs provide some context. Similar products launched in 2024 include the NEOS Bitcoin High Income ETF (BTCI), the Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC) and the YieldMax Bitcoin Option Income Strategy ETF (YBIT): - All three funds carry expense ratios just under 1%. Those calls don't come cheap.
- BTCI is the largest of the group, with just over $1 billion in net assets. YBTC and YBIT trail far behind, with approximately $211 million and $67 million in AUM, respectively.
- Over the past 12 months, BTCI is down roughly 30%, YBTC has fallen about 45% and YBIT has dropped nearly 50%.
"If you look at periods where bitcoin is sideways or down, these funds should outperform if they're operated properly," Seyffart told Advisor Upside. BlackRock declined to comment. Think Big-ish. BlackRock is widely viewed as operating on a different scale altogether, with IBIT alone holding nearly $70 billion in assets, far outpacing the next-largest spot bitcoin ETF, Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), at roughly $18 billion. While Seyffart doesn't expect the premium income fund to approach IBIT's size, he believes demand will be there. "There's definitely a subset of investors who are looking for something exactly like this," he said. Written by Griffin Kelly | | | | | | | | | Some investors love ETFs so much that they just can't see themselves buying anything else. About 62% of ETF investors can envision building an investment portfolio made up of just exchange-traded funds, according to a recent Schwab study, while 50% said they could be fully invested in ETFs within the next five years. As investors move into increasingly cheaper alternatives, the research highlights the diminishing role that mutual funds play in portfolios, as issuers introduce new strategies to keep up with advisor demand. "From a time-sensitive point of view, you can buy an ETF at any time of day," said Barry Martin, a portfolio manager at Shelton Capital Management. "There's thematic ETFs, there's growth ETFs. It seems like there's more opportunities to specifically hit your clients' needs in an ETF rather than a mutual fund." All In The obvious appeal of all-ETF portfolios is that they will likely be cheaper than those constructed with mutual funds, despite the latter's efforts to keep up. Another reason is investor life cycles: While investors nearing retirement age may want a more stable source of income, younger ones can generally take on more risk. These clients also have smaller amounts of investable assets and could initially opt for an ETF-only model portfolio. As they accumulate wealth, however, they might incorporate a separately managed account, Martin said. "The younger generation will be highly correlated with ETFs, but as they grow their account value, it'll be broken down into other vehicles," he added. "As someone progresses in life, they need to be more conservative, and with fixed-income products, that will naturally happen." There's already evidence to suggest younger investors are more excited about ETFs than their pre-retiree counterparts. According to the Schwab study: - Slightly less than half (49%) of newer ETF investors, defined as those who started investing in ETFs in the past five years, are millennials.
- Meanwhile, only 34% of "tenured" ETF investors, or those who started investing over five years ago, are millennials.
Choose Your Own (ETF) Adventure. An all-ETF portfolio also offers customization, and that's driving traditional mutual fund firms to add ETF products, Martin said. His firm launched its first ETF in September. "It's [in] the last three years that there's been more of an awareness of using ETFs over mutual funds," Martin said. "[ETFs'] popularity in the last few years, and inflows, show that." Written by Lilly Riddle | | | | | - Hi-Ho Silver. Gains in silver prices are driving massive volumes in the iShares Silver Trust exchange-traded fund.
- Konnichiwa, Crypto. Japan will reportedly approve its first crypto ETFs in 2028.
- It's Existential. Why ETF investors may have an identity crisis.
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