RIA ETF Trends Report Q2 2026

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Q2 2026 ETF holdings analysis

This whitepaper analyzes the U.S. RIA ETF holdings universe quarter over quarter. Findings are derived from AdvizorPro's RIA holdings dataset, covering 5,398 RIAs present in both the Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 snapshots. All RIA-level analyses exclude RIAs not present in both files to ensure like-for-like comparisons.

Note on Q1 2026 figures: because this report's cohort is the 5,398 RIAs present in both Q1 and Q2 2026, Q1 baseline figures shown here differ slightly from the Q1 2026 report, which was built on the 5,304 RIAs present in both Q4 2025 and Q1 2026. Both cohorts are correct for their respective comparisons.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Executive Summary
3. Are RIAs Concentrating or Diversifying ETF Allocations?
4. ETF Turnover Trends Among RIAs
5. Top 10 Biggest Issuers by RIA Penetration
6. Top 10 Fastest-Growing ETF Issuers Among RIAs
7. Top 10 Fastest-Growing ETFs Among RIAs
8. Top 10 High-Fee ETFs Gaining RIA Allocators
9. Top 10 Newly Launched ETFs Gaining RIA Adoption
10. Top 10 ETF Categories with the Highest RIA Growth
11. Adoption of Thematic ETFs Among RIAs

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Introduction

The second quarter of 2026 showed RIAs rotating out of the real-asset trade that shaped Q1 and into technology and semiconductors, while continuing to broaden their ETF lineups at a faster pace than the prior quarter. Advisors added ETFs steadily, turnover stayed similar, and the fastest-growing funds clustered around a handful of themes: semiconductors and AI, infrastructure, active equity in an ETF wrapper, and small-cap.

Our Q2 2026 analysis draws from the AdvizorPro RIA holdings dataset across 5,398 RIAs present in both the Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 snapshots. Building on the Q1 2026 report, this quarterly update focuses on where advisor demand moved inside a single quarter and what that means for issuers competing for new shelf placement.

Executive Summary

Compared with the Q1 2026 report, which traced RIAs favoring real assets, defense-oriented industrials, and international equity, this quarter's data shows a reversal in where new dollars went, while the underlying broadening trend accelerated. Advisors continue to add funds and explore new strategies, and growth this quarter concentrated in technology, AI infrastructure, and a handful of active and thematic specialists.

Several themes stand out across the data:

• ETF usage broadened faster. The average number of ETFs per RIA portfolio climbed from 88.4 to 92.9 quarter over quarter, a bigger jump than Q1's. 63.4% of RIAs added ETFs against just 18.2% that trimmed, so expanders outnumbered contractors more than 3 to 1, a wider gap than Q1's roughly 2-to-1 split. The adoption story is not slowing down.
• Turnover stayed similar and adds kept outpacing drops. Average quarterly turnover was 11.6%, modestly below Q1's 12.3%. Adds ran at 13.9% of prior holdings versus 8.7% for drops, a net gain of nearly 25,000 ETF positions across the universe, a larger net gain than Q1's despite the lower turnover rate.
• Technology and semiconductors led a rotation out of real assets. Technology added 230 net RIAs at the category level, the most of any category. SOXX, SMH, XLK, and VGT each added 149 or more RIAs, and AI names like AIQ, BAI, and QTUM piled on. Meanwhile Commodities Focused shed 103 RIAs and Digital Assets gave back 86, the reverse of Q1's real-asset surge. The move tracks a broader market rotation this quarter, where chipmakers and memory suppliers well beyond the largest AI names posted some of their strongest gains in years as investors widened their AI exposure across the supply chain.
• Every one of the ten biggest issuers gained ground. Unlike Q1, when the top issuers were flat to negative, all ten leaders added RIAs this quarter. Invesco led the incumbents with 95 net new firms, followed by Schwab (+85), First Trust (+79), VanEck (+70), and Dimensional (+64).
• The fastest growth again came from active and thematic specialists, though a few names carried over from Q1. Tema grew 274%, EntrepreneurShares 116%, and Baron Capital 83%. EntrepreneurShares and VistaShares both repeated from Q1's top-10 fastest-growing-issuer list, but the rest of the leaderboard turned over. Advisor momentum keeps rewarding active managers in an ETF wrapper, even if it is not always the same names each quarter.
• New-launch velocity slowed. Only 41 tickers showed up in RIA portfolios for the first time this quarter, down from 140 in Q1. Leveraged and inverse trading products made up most of them. Issuers are launching fewer genuinely new funds that advisors actually pick up.

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Put it together and Q2 was a rotation inside a still-expanding market. RIAs are adding funds faster, concentrating their new dollars in tech, AI, and infrastructure, and rewarding active managers who show up in an ETF wrapper. The issuers winning are the ones offering a clear portfolio role, not the ones competing on scale.

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1.  Concentration Trends

This analysis examines whether RIAs are concentrating into fewer ETF positions or broadening exposure across more strategies. Drawing on the 5,398 RIAs present in both the Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 snapshots, we track firm-level ETF counts quarter over quarter to assess whether advisors are consolidating or diversifying their lineups. The data points clearly: the average number of unique ETFs per firm rose from 88.4 to 92.9, expanders outnumbered contractors more than 3 to 1, and the pace of broadening actually picked up from last quarter. RIA ETF portfolios are widening, not tightening.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Broadening accelerated this quarter. The average firm added 4.5 net ETFs quarter over quarter, a wider gap than Q1's move and consistent with a market where advisors are still treating ETFs as the default vehicle for new exposure rather than pulling back after a volatile rotation.
• Expanders now outnumber contractors more than 3 to 1. 63.4% of RIAs added ETFs against 18.2% that trimmed. That ratio widened from Q1, when the split was closer to 2 to 1. The direction has been consistent for a year, but the pace has not moderated the way a maturing market would typically suggest.
• The broadening favors specific roles, not core swaps. Firms are adding slots rather than tearing up their lineups. For issuers, the opening is in filling a defined job, whether that is AI exposure, income, or downside protection, not simply displacing an incumbent.
• The steady cohort shrank. Only 18.5% of RIAs held their ETF count flat, down from 21% in the Q1 2026 report's comparable measure. Fewer firms are standing pat, which means more of the market is actively in motion and more shelf space is up for grabs.

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2.  ETF Turnover Trends

This analysis measures how actively RIAs reshuffled their ETF positions from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. Turnover ratio is defined as (ETFs added plus ETFs dropped) divided by two, over average holdings, then averaged across all 5,398 RIAs present in both quarters. At 11.6% average turnover, with adds running at 13.9% of prior holdings and drops at 8.7%, the quarter reflects orderly rebalancing rather than wholesale rotation, and it reinforces the broadening trend from Section 1.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Turnover of 11.6% is a healthy  level of activity. Across 5,398 RIAs, advisors added 66,233 ETF positions and dropped 41,489 in a single quarter, a net gain of nearly 25,000 positions, a larger net add than Q1's despite a slightly lower headline turnover rate.
• Adds outpaced drops by roughly 1.6 to 1. A 13.9% add rate against an 8.7% drop rate means new slots are opening faster than existing ones close. The competitive question for issuers is less about defending against displacement and more about earning the new positions being created.
• Existing positions stayed sticky. With only 8.7% of holdings dropped, more than 90% of positions carried over quarter to quarter. Incumbency remains an advantage. For challengers, winning a spot still takes a clear differentiation story.
• The net direction is the signal. The raw turnover rate matters less than the consistent surplus of adds over drops. Two quarters running, advisors have layered in more than they have cut, even as the specific categories they are adding to have flipped.

Methodology: For each RIA present in both files, ETFs Added equals unique tickers in Q2 not in Q1, ETFs Dropped equals unique tickers in Q1 not in Q2, and Turnover Ratio equals (Added plus Dropped) divided by two, over the average of Q1 and Q2 holdings, averaged across RIAs. Percent added and percent dropped are computed against total Q1 holdings across the universe. RIAs not present in both files are excluded.

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3.  Top 10 Biggest Issuers by RIA Penetration

This analysis ranks the largest ETF issuers by the unique number of RIAs holding any ETF from the issuer in Q2 2026. It gives a full picture of where advisor relationships are concentrated and where they are shifting. iShares, State Street, Vanguard, and Invesco remain the gatekeepers, but the notable change this quarter is that every one of the ten biggest issuers added RIAs, a broad-based lift that did not show up in Q1.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The whole top tier moved up together. All ten leaders gained RIAs this quarter, a shift from Q1, when the largest issuers were flat to slightly negative. Incumbency is still the story at the top, but this quarter incumbency came with growth.
• Invesco led the incumbents. Invesco added 95 net RIAs, the most of any top-ten issuer, followed by Schwab at 85 and First Trust at 79. The mid-tier is where the largest absolute gains landed, echoing the pattern from Q1 where the mid-tier was also the most active battleground.
• The competitive band is tight but positive. Net RIA changes across the ten range from 0.1% to 3.5%. Nobody is running away with it, but nobody gave ground either.
• Consolidating issuer names matters. First Trust looks like it shrank if you read only one of its two name strings. Combined, it grew 3.5% and sits firmly in the top tier. Clean issuer attribution changes the read.

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4.  Top 10 Fastest-Growing ETF Issuers

This analysis highlights the ETF issuers with the strongest percentage growth in RIA adoption from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026, filtered to issuers with at least 50 RIAs in Q1 2026 to strip out small-base noise. Rankings are by quarter-over-quarter percentage change in unique RIA count. Tema leads by a wide margin at 274%, and the rest of the list is dominated by active managers and thematic specialists.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Tema's 274% jump is the standout. Growing from 50 to 187 RIAs in a single quarter, Tema's active thematic funds found a wave of new advisor adopters. It is the clearest breakout of the quarter, in the same mold as Akre Capital's Q1 surge. The rest of the list is dominated by active managers and thematic specialists, a dynamic we broke down in detail in our Fastest Growing ETF Issuers Among RIAs analysis.
• Active managers keep winning the ETF channel. EntrepreneurShares (+116%), Baron Capital (+83%), Convergence (+61%), Lazard (+56%), and Bahl and Gaynor (+32%) all posted big gains. Advisors are comfortable paying for active security selection when it comes wrapped as an ETF, a theme that has now held for two quarters running.
• Thematic and innovation shops are pulling advisor dollars. ProcureAM (+72%), VistaShares (+59%), and ROBO Global (+38%) each grew fast, tracking the quarter's tilt toward AI and robotics exposure.
• The fast-grower list mostly turns over, but not entirely. EntrepreneurShares and VistaShares both repeat from Q1's top ten, the only two names to carry over. For issuers watching this list, that is a signal that a handful of specialists may be starting to build repeat momentum rather than a single-quarter spike, though eight of ten spots still changed hands.

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5.  Top 10 Fastest-Growing ETFs

This analysis ranks the top ten ETF tickers by percentage growth in unique RIA count from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026, filtered to funds with at least 50 RIA allocators in Q1 2026. The list is heavy with technology, AI, and active equity, a sharp change from Q1's real-asset leaders.

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ETF Growth by RIA Size Bucket (Top 20 Growth ETFs)

For the same top-20 growth ETFs, RIA counts are bucketed by each firm's total AUM into under $500M, $500M to $1B, $1B to $100B, and over $100B. As in prior quarters, adoption is concentrated in the $1B to $100B mid-market segment for nearly every ticker, the cohort that drives the most issuer share growth.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Technology and AI names dominate this quarter's leaderboard, a full reversal from Q1, when real-asset and international tickers like AKRE, SDCI, SETM, and COPX led the list.
• Active equity keeps compounding adoption. Names spanning derivative income and large blend continue to gain ground even as the theme at the top shifted to tech, echoing Q1's pattern where income and structured outcome strategies compounded steadily beneath the headline winner.
• Mid-sized RIAs remain the primary adoption engine. As in Q1, growth concentrates in the $1B to $100B AUM segment for most tickers on this list, the cohort where distribution effort continues to have the clearest return.
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6.  Top 10 High-Fee ETFs Gaining RIA Allocators

This analysis identifies where RIAs are willingly paying premium fees, restricted to ETFs with expense ratios in the top decile of the universe (roughly 1.06% and above) and at least 50 RIA allocators in Q1 2026. The high-fee gainers this quarter cluster around active equity, AI, and income.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Advisors keep paying premium fees for a defined portfolio role, not just yield. As in Q1, the high-fee gainers list spans long-short, market-neutral, and derivative-income strategies rather than clustering in a single structure.
• Derivative income and structured payoff funds remain a durable fee premium. Several names from Q1's high-fee list persist in some form this quarter, reinforcing that advisor willingness to pay for complexity has not been a one-quarter phenomenon.

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7.  Top 10 Newly Launched ETFs Gaining Adoption

This analysis identifies which recently launched ETFs are gaining the fastest traction with RIAs, filtered to funds three years old or less as of the Q2 2026 quarter-end with at least 50 RIA allocators in Q1 2026. For product teams, early RIA adoption is the cleanest read on product-market fit in the advisor channel.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• iShares is winning the new-launch race. CORO, BLCR, and TOPT all made the list, showing the scale advantage of a large issuer pushing new funds through advisor channels quickly.
• Derivative income remains a reliable on-ramp. TDVI and IWMI both gained fast despite being young, confirming that structured income payoffs are still among the quickest paths to advisor adoption for new products, consistent with the pattern the Q1 report also flagged.
• AI shows up even among new launches. ALAI, an AI-focused fund under three years old, cracked the list, echoing the quarter's tilt toward technology and AI exposure.
• New funds are reaching scale quickly. Several funds under two years old already clear 90 to 380 RIA allocators. When a new launch fits a clear portfolio need, advisor adoption is compressing into just a few quarters, a trend both this report and the Q1 report have now observed back to back.

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8.  New ETFs Appearing in Q2 2026 for the First Time

This analysis captures the 41 unique ETF tickers that appeared in RIA portfolios for the first time in Q2 2026, with no presence in the Q1 2026 dataset. That is a steep drop from 140 first-time tickers last quarter. The pace of genuinely new funds landing on advisor shelves slowed hard.

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Top Morningstar Categories Among New ETFs

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• First-time launches dropped sharply. Only 41 new tickers appeared this quarter versus 140 in Q1. Either issuers pulled back on new launches or advisors got more selective about adopting them. Both point to a cooler new-product environment.
• Leveraged and inverse products led the new arrivals, consistent with Q1, where these categories also dominated new entrants, though the total volume fell across the board this quarter.

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9.  Top 10 ETF Categories by RIA Growth

This analysis ranks Morningstar categories by net change in unique RIAs holding any ETF in the category from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026, filtered to categories with at least 50 RIAs in Q1 2026. Because Morningstar reclassified a number of tickers between the two files, each ticker is mapped to a single, stable category so the results reflect real advisor adoption rather than category re-tagging.

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Of 104 qualifying categories, 83 posted positive net RIA growth.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Technology led all categories by a wide margin. Technology added 230 net RIAs, more than any other category. After a Q1 dominated by energy and commodities, advisors rotated hard back into tech and semiconductors, a shift that lines up with the broader market rotation into AI-adjacent hardware and memory names this quarter.
• Infrastructure was the fastest grower. Infrastructure added 133 net RIAs at 12.3% growth, the strongest rate among the leaders. It fits the quarter's theme of hard-asset and AI-adjacent buildout demand, consistent with the continued run-up in data center and grid capital spending that has defined 2026.
• Small-cap quietly came back. Small Blend (+118) and Small Growth (+106) both cracked the top of the list, a sign advisors started adding domestic small-cap exposure alongside the tech trade, tracking the small-cap rally that has been building through the first half of the year.
• Growth was broad. 83 of 104 qualifying categories posted positive net RIA growth, an 80% positive rate. The tide is rising, but Technology, Infrastructure, and small-cap are where the strongest absolute gains landed.

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10.  Thematic ETF Trends

This analysis tracks RIA adoption across eleven thematic Morningstar categories: Technology, Digital Assets, Industrials, Consumer Cyclical, Health, Equity Hedged, Miscellaneous Sector, Miscellaneous Region, Commodities Focused, Trading-Leveraged Equity, and Trading-Inverse Equity. Each ranking is filtered to categories with at least 20 RIAs in Q1 2026 and uses firms present in both quarterly snapshots for a clean comparison.

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Top 10 Thematic ETFs by RIA Change

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Semiconductors and AI drove thematic growth. SOXX (+206), SMH (+205), XLK (+194), and VGT (+149) led all thematic tickers, and AI names AIQ (+113), BAI (+109), and QTUM (+95) stacked in right behind them. The tech theme was the whole story this quarter, and it lines up with a market backdrop where investors broadened their AI exposure well beyond the largest chipmakers into memory and enabler names.
• Commodities and digital assets gave back RIAs. Commodities Focused shed 103 RIAs and Digital Assets lost 86, a direct reversal of Q1's real-asset surge. Advisors rotated out of the trade that led three months ago.
• Health rebounded and biotech led it. Health added 100 net RIAs after slipping last quarter, with XBI (+108) pulling the category up. It is a notable swing back into a beaten-down sector.
• Advisors are concentrating tech around semis and software. The gains cluster tightly in semiconductor and software tickers rather than broad tech. Advisors are expressing a specific view on the AI buildout, not buying the whole sector, which mirrors the same selective posture the Q1 report noted around IGV and SMH even while the broader Technology category was shrinking.

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Key Takeaways for ETF Issuers

A few things ETF issuers should take away from the quarter, with the numbers rounded and the trends put in context.

1. RIA portfolios broadened faster, not slower. The average number of ETFs per firm rose from 88.4 to 92.9, with 63.4% of RIAs adding net new funds and expanders outnumbering contractors more than 3 to 1. Turnover stayed orderly at 11.6%, and adds outpaced drops by roughly 1.6 to 1. Advisors are layering in new strategies, not swapping out old ones, and doing so at a faster clip than in Q1.
2. Technology and semiconductors led a clean rotation out of real assets. Technology added 230 net RIAs and led all categories, with SOXX, SMH, XLK, and VGT each adding 149 or more allocators and AI names like AIQ, BAI, and QTUM close behind. At the same time Commodities Focused lost 103 RIAs and Digital Assets lost 86. This is the reverse of Q1, when energy and commodities led, and it tracks a broader market environment where the AI trade widened out from the largest hyperscaler-adjacent names into chipmakers and memory suppliers across the supply chain.
3. Infrastructure and small-cap were the quiet winners. Infrastructure grew 12.3% and added 133 net RIAs, the fastest rate among the top categories, tracking demand for the AI and power buildout that has driven record utility and data center capital spending through 2026. Small Blend and Small Growth added a combined 224 RIAs as advisors rebuilt domestic small-cap exposure, consistent with small-cap equities posting some of their strongest performance in decades this year. Portfolio growth like this often tracks firm-level growth too, a pattern we explored in Where Are RIAs Actually Growing?
4. Active managers in an ETF wrapper keep winning shelf space fast. Tema grew 274%, EntrepreneurShares 116%, and Baron Capital 83%, and the high-fee gainers list filled up with active equity and AI names. Advisors will pay a premium for security selection when it shows up as an ETF, a pattern that has now held for two consecutive quarters.
5. New-launch velocity slowed sharply. Only 41 tickers appeared in RIA portfolios for the first time this quarter, down from 140 in Q1, and leveraged and inverse trading products made up most of them. The new-product engine cooled, and advisors got choosier about which launches they pick up.
6. The fast-grower lists mostly rotate each quarter, though a couple of names are starting to repeat. EntrepreneurShares and VistaShares both carried over from Q1's top-ten fastest-growing-issuer list, a small early signal worth watching, but the other eight spots turned over completely. Advisor adoption momentum is still largely episodic and issuer-specific, and no mid-tier challenger has yet built a durable growth advantage in the RIA channel.

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Bottom Line

Q2 2026 was a rotation quarter inside a still-expanding market. Advisors added ETFs faster than they did in Q1, moved their new dollars into technology, AI, and infrastructure, pulled back from commodities and digital assets, and kept rewarding active managers who show up in an ETF wrapper. The issuers seeing the best results are the ones offering a clear portfolio role, whether that is AI exposure, income engineering, or active security selection, rather than competing on scale alone.

Sources: AdvizorPro Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 RIA ETF holdings datasets, covering 5,398 RIAs present in both snapshots. Category and thematic comparisons use a stable Morningstar category mapping to control for ticker reclassifications between the two files, and issuer figures consolidate multiple name variants (BlackRock, First Trust) into a single issuer. Industry-trend framing references widely reported 2026 themes including the AI and semiconductor buildout, data-center and power infrastructure demand, and rotation out of the real-asset trade that led early in the year.

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