The growing divide between retail and institutional ETF investors
Speakers
Summary
- The Retail vs. Institutional Divide: Institutions (13F filers) dominate traditional passive beta (60-70% ownership), while Retail and Advisors are the primary drivers of complex, non-traditional ETFs (Synthetic Income, Buffers).
- "Overlay Everything": The market is entering a phase where options strategies are being layered onto almost every asset class to manufacture yield, driven by insatiable retail demand.
- The Great Rotation: Akins identifies a shift in flows away from the "AI theme" and "High Growth" toward "Real Assets," specifically Infrastructure and Industrial Reshoring.
- Future of Crypto: Galinowska predicts the next wave of ETF innovation will be driven by the approval of new digital asset tokens beyond Bitcoin/Ether, moving from tactical to structural institutional interest.
Trade Ideas
"We're seeing a rotation of assets year-to-date really in the thematic space kind of from that AI theme to more real asset type thematics, whether it's the infrastructure, whether it's America industrial reshoring." As the market rotates out of crowded tech/AI trades, capital is flowing into tangible sectors supported by government spending and supply chain restructuring (reshoring). LONG sectors tied to physical construction and domestic manufacturing. Policy changes regarding industrial subsidies or a slowdown in government infrastructure spending.
Mike Akins
Founding Partner, ETF Action
"The market continues to play out where people start questioning the AI trade a little bit, start trading the duration risk on, you know, high growth names." The "AI trade" has become crowded. Investors are beginning to reassess valuations and duration risk (sensitivity to rates), leading to potential underperformance relative to value/real assets. WATCH/AVOID as capital rotates into real assets. AI technology could experience another breakthrough that reignites the momentum trade regardless of valuations.
Up Next
This CNBC video, published February 24, 2026, features Mike Akins discussing ITB, XLI, BOTZ. 2 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Mike Akins · Tickers: ITB, XLI, BOTZ