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7 November 2026

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ETF investors adding to portfolios during recent volatility

Geopolitical events like the current Middle East conflict and supply chain disruptions can create short term market volatility, but they rarely change the long-term fundamentals for investors as the Vanguard Index Chart demonstrates.

Vanguard has seen more than $1.5 billion of net inflows into its ETFs in the first half of March, already outpacing flows in January and February, indicating investors are using the volatility to add to their portfolios.

Flows have been focused towards equity ETFs, with a clear preference for broad-based, diversified core exposures.

The most popular ETF has been Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) with around $670 million of inflows, followed by Vanguard MSCI International Shares ETF (VGS) at approximately $440 million.

Other notable inflows include Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (VHY) with approximately $100 million and Vanguard MSCI Index Shares (Hedged) ETF (VGAD) with approximately $66 million, and the newly launched Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (V500), which has added around $45 million since launch.

Vanguard’s diversified ETF suite has also remained positive, totaling around $58 million of inflows.

Strong start to the year for ETFs

ASX ETF figures show that $4.4 billion flowed into Australian ETFs in February, following $5.1 billion in January. With this $9.5 billion of inflows recorded to February and a strong start to March, it is early days, but the ETF industry is on pace for a very strong year.

Total ETF assets in Australia passed $300 billion by the end of 2025, almost doubling in just over two years, from around $170 billion at the end of 2023.

Australians are leaning into diversification, discipline and low-cost exposure, and ETFs are a practical way to do that.

This response from investors is consistent with what Vanguard has seen in the past.

Market volatility is nothing new. History shows that those who ignore the emotional swirl of short-term market conditions and focus on long-term results tend to be rewarded for their patience and discipline.

Vanguard’s founder Jack Bogle himself said, “Stay the course. No matter what happens, stick to your program. I’ve said ‘stay the course’ a thousand times and meant it every time. It is the most important single piece of investment wisdom I can give to you.”

 

Andrew Jones is ETF Investment Product Manager at Vanguard Australia, a sponsor of Firstlinks. This article is for general information purposes only and does not consider the circumstances of any individual.

For more articles and papers from Vanguard Investments Australia, please click here.

 

  •   25 March 2026
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