Investors pulled nearly $6 billion out of exchange-traded funds in February, the first time ETF fund flows have been negative in nearly a year.

 

Investors pulled nearly $6 billion out of exchange-traded funds in February, the first time ETF fund flows have been negative in nearly a year.

The new data, compiled by the National Stock Exchange and published on Wednesday, reversed the strong trend seen in January 2009 and December 2008. That's when investors poured more than $80 billion into ETFs.

 

Month

ETF Fund Flows

Feb-09

(5,794)

Jan-09

41,989

Dec-08

42,841

Nov-08

26,375

Oct-08

7,303

Sep-08

57,662

Aug-08

11,336

Jul-08

...

Differing stats from different exchanges add up to same picture: ETFs are growing as trading tools by all types of investors.

 

The NASDAQ Stock Market reported Thursday that new trading records were set for exchange-traded funds during the wild market ride of September.

The exchange said its average daily volume of U.S.-listed ETFs hit the 785 million share mark. That set a new record, says NASDAQ. What's more, the volume of U.S. ETFs traded on NASDAQ also reached a record level for the month—16.5 billion shares traded.

Interestingly enough, the National Stock Exchange monthly data for August and September showed the total percentage of U.S. equities trading represented by ETFs as higher each month, 31% and 35% respectively (see story here).

Michael Traynor, chief strategy officer for the NSX, noted that if early October trading volumes (above 40%) stayed on pace throughout the month,

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