• Assets in U.S. exchange-traded funds have topped $10 trillion for the first time in November, according to the latest data from Cerulli Associates.
• As 2024 comes to a close, here are some ETF trends that dominated the year, based on the latest data.

Assets in U.S. exchange-traded funds in November topped $10 trillion for the first time, according to the latest data from Cerulli Associates.

ETFs — funds that invest in stocks, bonds or other assets and trade on national stock exchanges — reached $156 billion in flows for November, surpassing previous monthly flow records.

The activity is "on par with elevated activity typically seen toward the end of the year," Cerulli reported.

Research from Morningstar pointed to a "Trump bump" that helped U.S. funds — including both ETFs and mutual funds — take in $115 billion in November, the highest total since April 2021.

As 2024 comes to a close, these are a few of the ETF trends that dominated the year, based on the latest data.

S&P 500 among 2024 fund winners

Year to date, the S&P 500 index is up almost 24%, as of Monday.

The S&P 500 rally, buoyed by the Magnificent Seven stocks — Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla — helped account for about half of the index's gains for the year, according to data and analytics company VettaFi.

Four of the top 10 ETFs for 2024 by flows track the S&P 500 index, according to Cerulli.

The Vanguard 500 Index Fund ranks No. 1 for 2024 year-to-date inflows, according to Cerulli, followed by iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust, Invesco QQQ Trust, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF, SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF and Vanguard Growth Index Fund.

Malcolm Ethridge, a certified financial planner and founder and managing partner at Capital Area Planning Group, said he often uses S&P 500 ETFs in client portfolios because they allow for access to company names that would be in any large-cap growth strategy for significantly reduced costs.

While an actively managed fund may charge 50 or 75 basis points, a passive S&P 500 ETF may only charge 10 basis points, he said.

The S&P 500 index, which has had a record run, may be poised to continue to do well as the index rebalances to reflect current market leaders.

"I think this is a case where SPY [SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust] probably outperforms the majority of fund managers in 2025," Ethridge said.

However, the S&P 500 may not match the "historically rare" double digit gains we've seen in the past two years, said Kirsten Chang, senior industry analyst at VettaFi. The median S&P 500 forecast from Wall Street banks calls for gains in the high single digits, she said. Moreover, the Magnificent Seven and mega-cap technology companies that have driven recent gains may see their returns start to diminish.

"Investors will continue to embrace S&P 500 ETFs for their low fees and unmatched liquidity, but I think the torrid pace we've seen into the typical broad-based vanilla funds will likely slow a bit in 2025," Chang said.

Alternative ETFs see record growth

Meanwhile, alternative ETFs in November crossed $400 billion in net assets for the first time, according to Cerulli.

Moreover, the year-over-year asset growth rate for alternative ETFs — at 93% — was highest among all asset classes.

Most of the total alternative ETF market share — 80%, or around $325 billion — comprises digital assets, trading-leveraged equity and derivative income ETFs, according to Cerulli.

Financial advisors reported having just a 3.6% allocation to alternatives in 2024, though that is expected to increase, according to Cerulli. Within existing alternatives allocations, 14.4% is done through the use of ETFs, the firm found.

Crypto ETFs are 'here to stay'

In January, bitcoin ETFs began trading on U.S. exchanges.

Now, spot bitcoin ETFs hold more digital currency than bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, VettaFi noted. Despite a "more lackluster" rollout for spot ethereum ETFs this year, crypto ETFs are "here to stay," according to VettaFi.

The top five new ETFs by assets in 2024 are all bitcoin ETFs, according to Cerulli, based on data through November.

They include iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF at No. 1, followed by Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF, ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, and Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF.

As institutional interest and adoption of crypto has increased, financial advisors are now more likely to address the topic with clients, Chang said.

"Even if advisors themselves may be skeptical about bitcoin, they're acknowledging the conversation about crypto from clients has become inevitable," Chang said.