Specialty Bond Recap: iShares Gathers $356M as Channel Sees $400M Inflow

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Weekly Channel Summary

The Fixed Income: Specialty channel currently holds a total of $67 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) across 129 distinct ETFs from 14 different issuers. Over the past week, the channel experienced net inflows of $0.40 billion. Year-to-date, it has attracted $12.78 billion, contributing to a total of $18.66 billion in net inflows over the past year.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

This week, the “Fixed Income: Specialty – Maturing Ladder” category led all performers with a Week-to-Date (WTD) return of 0.69%, bringing its Year-to-Date (YTD) gain to 6.94%. On the other end of the spectrum, the “Fixed Income: Specialty – Defined Maturity” category was the laggard, posting a modest WTD return of 0.07%, while maintaining a positive YTD performance of 5.62%.

Category Performance Snapshot

Category WTD 1 Month 3 Month 6 Month YTD 1 Year
Fixed Income: Specialty – Maturing Ladder 0.69% 0.57% 4.00% 6.31% 6.94% 2.36%
Fixed Income: Specialty – Interest Rate Volatility 0.42% 0.17% -1.51% -1.37% -0.95% 2.96%
Fixed Income: Specialty – Defined Maturity 0.07% 0.11% 2.21% 5.14% 5.62% 4.97%

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

The standout performer this week was the Simplify Bond Bull ETF (RFIX), which posted an impressive 4.40% return. Conversely, the week’s laggards were the Invesco BulletShares 2031 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (BSJV) and the Invesco BulletShares 2030 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (BSJU), which saw declines of -1.08% and -1.00% respectively.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
RFIX Simplify Bond Bull ETF 4.40%
IBGK iShares iBonds Dec 2054 Term Treasury ETF 1.38%
IBGL iShares iBonds Dec 2055 Term Treasury ETF 1.32%
LIBD LifeX 2065 Inflation-Protected Longevity Income ETF 1.30%
BNDD Quadratic Deflation ETF 1.30%
Bottom Performers
BSJV Invesco BulletShares 2031 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF -1.08%
BSJU Invesco BulletShares 2030 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF -1.00%
RYSE Vest 10 Year Interest Rate Hedge ETF -1.00%
BSJX Invesco BulletShares 2033 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF -0.96%
BSJW Invesco BulletShares 2032 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF -0.94%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The Fixed Income: Specialty channel saw total net inflows of $400 million this week. The “Specialty – Defined Maturity” category was the primary recipient, gathering $459 million in new assets and bringing its total AUM to $65.6 billion. In contrast, the “Fixed Income: Specialty – Maturing Ladder” category experienced the largest outflows, with a net redemption of -$57 million.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day 30 Day 90 Day YTD 1 Year
Specialty – Defined Maturity 99 $65.6B $459M $1,620M $4,561M $12,503M $18,492M
Specialty – Interest Rate Volatility 10 $0.9B ($1M) $27M $120M $144M $27M
Fixed Income: Specialty – Maturing Ladder 18 $0.2B ($57M) ($37M) ($143M) $134M $135M

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

Leading the inflows this week was the iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corporate ETF (IBDR), which attracted $63 million. On the other hand, the Invesco Bulletshares 2025 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCP) and the LifeX 2035 Income Bucket ETF (LDDR) saw the largest outflows, with -$65 million and -$57 million respectively.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
IBDR iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corporate ETF $63M
IBDQ iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate ETF $49M
IBDU iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Corporate ETF $47M
IBDZ iShares iBonds Dec 2034 Term Corporate ETF $36M
BSCV Invesco BulletShares 2031 Corporate Bond ETF $30M
Outflows
BSCP Invesco Bulletshares 2025 Corporate Bond ETF ($65M)
LDDR LifeX 2035 Income Bucket ETF ($57M)
IBTG iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Treasury ETF ($41M)
IBHE iShares iBonds 2025 Term High Yield & Income ETF ($20M)
BSJP Invesco BulletShares 2025 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ($12M)

Issuer League Table Update

The issuer landscape remains dominated by iShares and Invesco, which hold the top two spots for market share. iShares also led the week in asset gathering, pulling in $356 million in new flows. In contrast, Stone Ridge experienced the largest weekly outflows among all issuers, with a net redemption of -$57 million.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM AUM Market Share
iShares 52 $38.06B 57.04%
Invesco 31 $27.32B 40.95%
Quadratic 1 $0.43B 0.64%
Simplify 2 $0.29B 0.43%
SPDR 16 $0.22B 0.33%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
iShares $356M
Invesco $97M
SPDR $5M
Outflows
Stone Ridge ($57M)
FolioBeyond ($2M)
ProShares ($2M)

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Disclosures

This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. All investments, including ETFs, involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Investors should consider their investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing.

This analysis was developed by the team at ETF Action. We leverage advanced AI tools to assist in the drafting and refinement of our content, based on our expert prompts, direction, and final review.