22/07/25 13:05:38

ETFs: Europe enthusiasm is over

After many months of European and German euphoria, global and US equities are now back in demand. Due to the crypto rally, blockchain ETFs are also in focus - as are Bitcoin and Ripple ETNs.


22 July 2025. FRANKFURT (Börse Frankfurt). WWorld and US index funds are once again dominating ETF trading - the great interest in European and German equities is a thing of the past. Frank Mohr from Société Générale speaks of a “normalization”: “World and US equities once again account for almost 70 percent of our turnover in the equities segment,” he explains. The trading volume is back to its usual level after a few weeks of high turnover. According to Moritz Kretschmann from Lang & Schwarz, a lot is happening in crypto ETNs. “The new all-time highs of Bitcoin and Ripple are making themselves felt.”

In equity ETF trading, Mohr reports inflows into MSCI World ETFs from iShares, Invesco and SPDR, as well as the L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity (IE0001UQQ933). This focuses on shares of small, medium-sized and large companies from industrialized and emerging countries. The country weighting is based equally on market capitalization and country GDP. Factors such as size and quality are also used in the weighting. According to Mohr, purchases also dominate in US equities. Examples include S&P 500 ETFs from iShares and - in currency-hedged form - Amundi, as well as Nasdaq trackers.

MDAX rather than DAX

According to Mohr, the picture for European equities is mixed, with buying and selling, while German equities even tend to be sold. The iShares Core DAX (DE0005933931) and Xtrackers DAX (LU0274211480), for example, were affected by the sell-offs. On the other hand, MDAX ETFs from Invesco or iShares (IE00BHJYDV33, DE0005933923) are being bought. The DAX had reached a new record high on Friday morning, but has been falling since then. By contrast, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 reached new highs yesterday, Monday. Since the beginning of the year, however, the DAX is still ahead with a gain of 21 percent. The S&P 500 is up 7.5 percent and the Nasdaq 100 just under 11 percent.

Mohr

Balance sheet since the beginning of the year:

Greek equities in the lead. Despite a 21% rise in the DAX since the start of the year, DAX trackers are not among the best country ETFs this year. Since the beginning of 2025, ETFs on the Greek stock market have been the best performers with an increase of 44%, as figures from the ETF portal justETF show. This is followed by index funds on shares from Poland (38%), Austria (29%), South Korea (28%) and Spain (24%), with Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Malaysia currently bringing up the rear with losses of between 12% and 16%.

Blockchain ETFs in demand again

According to Mohr, trading in sector ETFs is mostly about technology. Purchases clearly predominated, for example in Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data (IE00BGV5VN51), Xtrackers MSCI World Information Technology (IE00BM67HT60) and L&G Cyber Security (IE00BYPLS672). Healthcare ETFs also recorded high turnover, mostly purchases. 
In addition, blockchain ETFs are also being well received in view of the new all-time highs in crypto, with Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain (IE00BGBN6P67) at Société Générale and VanEck Crypto and Blockchain Innovators (IE00BMDKNW35) at Lang & Schwarz.

Mixed picture for bond ETFs

In bond ETF trading, Mohr mostly sees outflows from corporate bonds and inflows and outflows from government bonds. Money market funds continue to see strong turnover, currently with slightly more purchases.

Cryptos and silver at new highs

New all-time highs for cryptocurrencies are stimulating crypto ETN trading. The 21Shares XRP on Ripple (CH0454664043), for example, is very popular, as Kretschmann explains. Ripple and Bitcoin rose to new highs of USD 3.65 and USD 123,020 respectively last week, but are currently trading slightly lower.

According to Kretschmann, trading in silver and gold ETCs has become somewhat quieter. He is seeing purchases and sales, for example of Xetra-Gold (DE000A0S9GB0). The silver price trend is particularly striking: the price is at its highest level since 2011.

By Anna-Maria Borse, 22 July 2025, © Deutsche Börse AG

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

Feedback and questions to redaktion@deutsche-boerse.com