19/08/25 13:46:19

ETFs: S&P 500 and Nasdaq as favorites

New highs on Wall Street are tempting investors, and US stocks are once again the big sellers. Tech stocks are also in high demand. However, the long-popular defense ETFs are now seeing inflows and outflows.


19 August 2025. FRANKFURT (Börse Frankfurt). ETF trading continues to run smoothly. “Purchases clearly outweigh sales,” reports Frank Mohr of Société Générale. US, global, and European stocks are in demand. “Only German stocks are seeing more sales than purchases this time,” he notes. Holger Heinrich of Baader Bank also reports more purchases than sales overall. On Friday, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones reached new all-time highs, with the Nasdaq 100 doing so two days earlier. At midday on Tuesday, the DAX stood at 24,378 points, still slightly below its high of 24,639 points.
Mohr sees particular interest in S&P 500 and Nasdaq trackers. “In the case of US ETFs, it was mainly large indices such as the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and MSCI USA that were bought,” Heinrich also reports. ETFs with dividend payments were sold. Michael Norizin of Lang & Schwarz also sees the focus on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq – in the case of the Nasdaq, often as leveraged ETNs (IE00BLRPRL42).

Profit-taking on DAX trackers

According to Heinrich, large indices such as Euro Stoxx 50, MSCI Europe, and MSCI EMU also dominate European equities. “Here, too, dividend ETFs tend to be on the selling side,” he adds. Small caps (IE00B02KXM00), which were so popular last week, are also being sold off. According to Mohr, DAX ETFs (LU0274211480) are also being sold off. On the other hand, an ETF with access to Greek stocks is doing well, as Norizin explains: the Amundi MSCI Greece (FR0010405431). “There could be a recommendation behind that,” he suspects. The ETF has performed very well, with a price increase of 53 percent since the beginning of the year.

Mohr

Frank Mohr

According to Mohr, world ETFs, such as those from iShares or Xtrackers (IE00B4L5Y983, IE00BJ0KDQ92), as well as the Vanguard FTSE All-World (IE00BK5BQT80) and the VanEck Morningstar Developed Markets Dividend Leaders (NL0011683594). Trading in world ETFs is currently quieter at Baader Bank. The Amundi MSCI World ESG Selection (IE0004CIQ1O4) is one of the products being bought. Norizin also sees above-average demand for emerging market ETFs. “This extends to many different products.”
 

Sector ETFs: Tech index funds account for one third

Tech stocks once again dominate trading in sector ETFs. “They account for 30 percent of our sales of sector ETFs,” says Mohr. Always popular: the Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data (IE00BGV5VN51). But this time, the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity (IE00BF16M727) is also in demand. The healthcare and financial sectors are in second and third place on the sales list – also with a clear buyer surplus, as Mohr notes. The Amundi Euro Stoxx Banks (LU1829219390) and the iShares Euro Stoxx Banks 30-15 (DE0006289309) are popular choices.

The WisdomTree Euro Stoxx Banks 3x Daily Leveraged ETN (IE00BLS09N40) is also popular among Lang & Schwarz's trading-savvy clientele. It tracks the banking index with a leverage of 3. The financial sector is one of the sectors with the best price performance this year, as figures from the ETF platform justETF show.

Defense: Far enough for some

After minor setbacks, defense ETFs are now seeing buying and selling activity, as Norizin also explains, for example, the Future of Defense (IE000OJ5TQP4) and VanEck Defense (IE000YYE6WK5). There is also clear demand for everything related to blockchain, such as VanEck Crypto and Blockchain Innovators (IE00BMDKNW35).

Bitcoin record: Demand high again

There is also some activity in the trading of crypto ETNs and commodity ETCs. According to Norizin, Bitcoin and Ethereum trackers, such as VanEck Bitcoin (DE000A28M8D0), are in demand around the new all-time high for Bitcoin. “Commodity ETC trading was strongly influenced by the Trump/Putin meeting,” he adds. Demand for gold and silver ETCs has risen. 

By Anna-Maria Borse, 19 August 2025, © Deutsche Börse AG

Anna-Maria Borse is a financial and business editor specializing in financial markets/stock exchanges and economic issues.

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