January was a big month for an ETF-in-a-box shop, ETF Managers Trust.

The information within this article draws from Morningstar Direct data on January 2018 mutual fund and ETF flows.

ETF Managers Trust brought in an estimated $361 million in net inflows in January, more than any other fund family with less than $1 billion in AUM. Other big winners in January included: AmplifyETFs, $202 million; Chilton Funds, $182 million; Fuller & Thaler, $133 million; and Reality Shares, $116 million.

On a relative basis, setting aside apparent newcomers, ETF Managers Trust again dominated the smallest fund firms, this time with estimated net inflows equivalent to 88.04 percent of its AUM. Other big winners last month, proportionately, included: Footprints, 53.91 percent; Reality Shares, 52.87 percent; AmplifyETFs, 50.07 percent; and Wear, 49.99 percent.

There were also half a dozen apparent newcomers (i.e. firms where their AUM was equal to their monthly net inflows) in January. Those firms include: AlphaOne, Heitman, Innovation Shares, InsightShares, MProved, and Wealthfront.

On the flip side, January was a rough month for Mondrian, which suffered an estimated $66 million in net outflows, more than any other fund firm with less than $1 billion in AUM. Other big sufferers last month included: RMB, $47 million; O'Shares, $45 million; Goodhaven, $39 million; and Oak Ridge, $37 million.

Proportionately, Castlemaine led the outflows pack among the smallest firms, with estimated net outflows equivalent to 118.5 percent of its AUM by the end of January (meaning the outflows were bigger than the AUM left in the funds when the the month was over). Other big sufferers proportionately were: Estabrook, 106.46 percent; AGFiQ, 22.71 percent; GoodHaven, 21.6 percent; and LocalShares, 20.13 percent.

As a group, fund families with less than $1 billion in AUM each brought in an estimated $1.763 billion in combined net inflows, equivalent to 1.91 percent of their combined AUM.

Last week M* released a report about industrywide flows in January, and MFWire highlighted the biggest winners and losers among the largest fund firms. Across the whole industry, long-term active mutual funds brought in an estimated $24.048 billion in net inflows in January, up from $7.81 billion in net outflows in December. Money funds swung to $47.881 billion in net outflows in January, and passive funds brought in $104.076 billion in net inflows. Within long-term active mutual funds, taxable bond funds, international equity funds, muni bond funds, liquid alts, commodities funds, and sector equity funds each had net category inflows in January, while U.S. equity funds and allocation funds suffered net outflows. 

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