Passive inflows reached 12-figure territory last month as the Low-Cost Leviathan regained the lead, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research company.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on October 2025 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds-of-funds. (The data also excludes other asset management products, like CITs and separate accounts.*) More specifically, this article focuses on the 155 firms (up by two month-over-month from September 2025 and up by three year-over-year from October 2024) that offer passively managed, long-term mutual funds or ETFs.

Vanguard pulled ahead again last month, thanks to an estimated $34.866 billion in net October 2025 passive inflows, up by $18.538 billion M/M from September 2025 and up by $14.519 billion Y/Y from October 2024. Other big October 2025 passive inflows winners included:

BlackRock (including iShares), $28.009 billion (down by $12.43 billion M/M, down by $5.548 billion Y/Y);

State Street's State Street Investment Management (SSIM, fka SSGA), $25.356 billion (up by $19.353 billion M/M, up by $13.738 billion Y/Y);

Invesco, $9.849 billion (up by $2.79 billion M/M, up by $37.5 billion Y/Y); and

J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles), $4.724 billion (up by $4.779 billion M/M, up by $4.253 billion Y/Y).

On the flip side, Rafferty's Direxion took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $2.807 billion in net October 2025 passive outflows, down by $729 million M/M from September 2025 and a $4.081-billion net flows drop Y/Y from October 2024. Other big October 2025 outflows sufferers included:

WisdomTree, $1.382 billion (up by $588 million M/M, up by $978 million Y/Y);

Pacer, $1.05 billion (up by $200 million M/M, up by $1.047 billion Y/Y);

Jackson, $828 million (down by $117 million M/M, up by $62 million Y/Y); and

ProShares and ProFunds, $769 million (down by $236 million M/M, down by $55 million Y/Y).

Overall, passive funds brought in a combined $111.772 billion in net October 2025 inflows (up by $33.631 billion M/M, up by $18.774 billion Y/Y). 56.1 percent (87) of the passive fund families brought in net passive inflows last month, down M/M from 57.5 percent but up Y/Y from 51.3 percent.

*This caveat is particularly important for large fund firms, many of which are big players in the 401(k) business, where collective investment trusts (CITs) and separately managed accounts (SMAs) are commonly used alternatives to traditional mutual funds. 

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