Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
Every quarter, institutional investment managers with $100 million or more in 13(f) securities report their holdings to the SEC (SEC Form 13F FAQ). The filings are public but not built for prospecting: each is one firm's list of issuer names, share counts and values, with no asset class tags and no quarter-over-quarter comparison. Finding which RIAs hold a given ETF means pulling filings firm by firm and doing the matching yourself.
Dakota Marketplace does that work for you. Its 13F tab holds 2,621,000+ holdings, including 938,000+ ETF positions, searchable by ticker, asset class and product structure, with Status fields that flag each position as New, Increased, Decreased or Sold-Out versus last quarter.
We used that data to find which ETFs the most RIAs actually own. The answer is S&P 500 beta: SPY is held by 231 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by VTI (212), IVV (211) and VOO (209). With advisor ETF allocations at 21.6% in 2024, up from 11.2% in 2015 (Cerulli Associates, October 2025), that core matters to every manager pitching RIAs.
In this article, we'll rank the 10 ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate, and break down what a core-beta portfolio means for managers selling active and alternative strategies.
The Top 10 ETFs Held by RIAs
Ranked by the number of distinct RIAs reporting a position in 13F filings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.
|
Rank
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
Category
|
RIA holdings
|
|
1
|
SPY
|
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
|
US large cap
|
231
|
|
2
|
VTI
|
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
|
US total market
|
212
|
|
3
|
IVV
|
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF
|
US large cap
|
211
|
|
4
|
VOO
|
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
|
US large cap
|
209
|
|
5
|
VTV
|
Vanguard Value ETF
|
US large cap value
|
164
|
|
6
|
GLD
|
SPDR Gold Shares
|
Gold
|
162
|
|
7
|
VUG
|
Vanguard Growth ETF
|
US large cap growth
|
159
|
|
8
|
VEA
|
Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF
|
International developed
|
157
|
|
9
|
VIG
|
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF
|
US dividend
|
149
|
|
10
|
IJR
|
iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF
|
US small cap
|
148
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What the Ranking Shows
1. S&P 500 Exposure Is the Default Core (4 Funds, 209 to 231 RIAs Each)
The top four slots all go to broad US equity index funds. Three of them, SPY, IVV and VOO, track the same index. Of the 279 RIAs holding at least one of the three, 224 hold two or more and 148 hold all three. Ticker choice looks driven by custodian, model and client account history, not by a view on the index.
Cerulli Associates describes RIAs as early ETF adopters because of their demand for "low-cost beta building blocks" (Cerulli, October 2025). The 13F data shows exactly that: index funds form the base of the portfolio, and everything else is built around them.
2. Style, Size and Dividend Tilts Come Next (VTV, VUG, VIG, IJR)
After the core, RIAs reach for value, growth and small cap sleeves. Vanguard Value (VTV, 164 RIAs) edges out Vanguard Growth (VUG, 159), and iShares Core S&P Small-Cap (IJR) rounds out the top 10 at 148.
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG, 149) is the only dividend strategy in the top 10. For an RIA serving retirees and income-focused clients, it is often the first step away from pure market-cap weighting.
3. Gold Outranks International and Bonds (GLD at 162 RIAs)
SPDR Gold Shares is held by more RIAs than any international equity or bond ETF. Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets (VEA, 157) is the only international fund in the top 10, and no emerging markets fund makes the list.
Bonds miss the top 10 entirely. The most widely held bond ETF, AGG, is held by 111 RIAs. 13F filings cover only exchange-listed securities, so this likely understates RIA fixed income: bond mutual funds, separately managed accounts and individual bonds do not show up here.
Want to see which RIAs in your territory hold these funds? Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace.
Breadth vs. Dollars: Where RIA Assets Concentrate
The ETFs held by the most RIAs are not always the ones holding the most RIA money. Among ETFs tagged US large cap in Dakota's data, RIAs reported $22.1B in holdings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
IVV
|
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF
|
211
|
$4.6B
|
|
VOO
|
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
|
209
|
$2.5B
|
|
SPY
|
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
|
231
|
$1.9B
|
|
SPLG
|
SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF
|
78
|
$1.0B
|
|
AVUS
|
Avantis U.S. Equity ETF
|
39
|
$705M
|
|
DYNF
|
BlackRock U.S. Equity Factor Rotation ETF
|
41
|
$551M
|
IVV, VOO and SPY together hold about $9B, roughly 40% of the US large cap total. SPY has the most holders but the smallest dollar total of the three, consistent with smaller, legacy positions spread across many firms.
At the other end, Avantis and BlackRock's factor rotation fund draw large tickets from fewer RIAs. Dimensional's US Core Equity 2 ETF (DFAC) shows the same pattern: about $1.6B across 14 RIAs in positions over $50M each. A handful of firms with conviction in systematic or factor approaches can move more money than hundreds of firms holding a core index fund.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
If the core of an RIA portfolio is low-cost index beta, every other product competes for the space around it. That changes how managers should position.
- Pitch against the core, not instead of it. An RIA holding IVV or VTI is unlikely to swap it out. Show how your strategy complements a broad index position: lower correlation, a different return driver, or exposure the index does not reach.
- Use holdings to segment your list. An RIA holding VUG and IWF has a growth tilt; one holding VIG and SCHD is income-focused. Holdings data tells you which story to lead with before the first call.
- Find the conviction buyers. The Avantis, Dimensional and BlackRock factor positions show that a small group of RIAs writes large tickets to systematic strategies. Those firms are a better first target for factor and quant managers than the broad index base.
- Expect alternatives to sit outside the 13F. Interval funds, non-traded BDCs and private funds do not appear in 13F filings. An RIA with a plain index ETF book may still run a meaningful alternatives sleeve.
Turn 13F Holdings Into a Prospect List
Every number in this post came from the 13F tab in Dakota Marketplace. Members filter 2,621,000+ holdings by account name, investment strategy, ticker, asset class, sub-asset class, product structure, fund balance range and filing period, and switch between a By Investor and a By Fund view.
Seven new fields make the data faster to act on:
- Quarter-over-quarter change on any holding: Previous No. of Shares, Previous Quarter Value and Status (New, Increased, Decreased, Equal Shares or Sold-Out) show who is adding or trimming a position, with no filing to open and no math to do.
- ETF exposure on every account: ETF AUM, ETF AUM %, Active ETF AUM and Passive ETF AUM answer "does this RIA use ETFs, and how much?" right on the account page.
That gives investment firms three ways to build a sharper list:
- Find who holds a competitor's fund. Search a ticker and pull every firm reporting it.
- Spot momentum. Filter by Status to see which RIAs bought or added to a position last quarter, and which sold out.
- Target real holdings, not stated mandates. An RIA that leans active in its ETF book is a very different conversation than one that runs almost entirely passive.
Members can now build and save their own 13F lists with Create a List and My Lists, then export any list to Excel to share or print.
Find the RIAs Behind the Holdings
Dakota Marketplace tracks 8,700+ RIAs and 48,300+ RIA contacts, with 13F holdings attached to each firm profile. Filter by ETF ticker or asset class held, by RIA AUM, by metro area, or by decision-maker title such as CIO or portfolio manager.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to know what an RIA already owns before you pitch what it should add.
