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 multi-asset ETFs the most RIAs actually own. The answer is the iShares Core allocation lineup. iShares Core Growth Allocation (AOR) is held by 26 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by iShares Core Aggressive Allocation (AOA) at 24 and iShares Core Moderate Allocation (AOM) at 17. Packaged allocation funds compete with the advisor’s own portfolio construction. Morningstar found that assets in custom model portfolios topped $125 billion as of September 30, 2024, nearly 50% more than in mid-2023 (InvestmentNews, February 2025).
In this article, we’ll rank the 10 multi-asset ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate, and explain why so few RIAs hand their asset allocation to a single fund.
The Top 10 Multi-Asset 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
|
AOR
|
iShares Core Growth Allocation ETF
|
Allocation (60/40)
|
26
|
|
2
|
AOA
|
iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF
|
Allocation (80/20)
|
24
|
|
3
|
AOM
|
iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF
|
Allocation (40/60)
|
17
|
|
4
|
RLY
|
SPDR SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF
|
Real return
|
9
|
|
5
|
AOK
|
iShares Core Conservative Allocation ETF
|
Allocation (30/70)
|
7
|
|
6
|
PCEF
|
Invesco CEF Income Composite ETF
|
Multi-asset income
|
5
|
|
7
|
NTSX
|
WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund
|
Capital-efficient (90/60)
|
4
|
|
8
|
GDE
|
WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Equity Strategy Fund
|
Capital-efficient (equity + gold)
|
4
|
|
9
|
MDIV
|
First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund
|
Multi-asset income
|
4
|
|
10
|
HNDL
|
Strategy Shares Nasdaq 7HANDL Index ETF
|
Multi-asset income
|
4
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025. NTSX, GDE, MDIV and HNDL tie at 4 RIAs. Ties are ordered by RIA dollars held. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) is excluded because it is a U.S. equity fund.
What the Ranking Shows
1. RIAs Do Their Own Allocating (51 RIAs)
Only 51 RIAs hold any of the top 10 multi-asset ETFs. That compares with 255 RIAs holding a top 10 large cap growth ETF and 281 holding a top 10 international equity ETF.
That fits the RIA model. Building the allocation is the advisor’s core job, so most RIAs buy stock and bond building blocks and do the mix themselves rather than buying it pre-mixed.
2. The iShares Core Ladder Leads (4 of the Top 5)
The four iShares Core allocation funds take four of the top five spots. 36 RIAs hold at least one of them. 23 hold two or more risk levels, and 5 hold all four.
Holding several risk levels suggests these funds are used as ready-made portfolios for different client risk profiles, often in smaller accounts. The positions are small: 10 of AOR’s 26 RIA positions are under $250,000.
3. Capital-Efficient and Real Return Funds Are Breaking In (NTSX, GDE, RLY)
Three of the top 10 are not traditional balanced funds. NTSX and GDE use futures to stack exposures, pairing 90% equity with 60% Treasuries or gold. RLY is built around real return and inflation protection.
Together they reach 17 RIAs. That’s a small base, but it shows some RIAs will use one ETF to add exposure on top of what they already own, not to replace their allocation.
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. RIAs reported $444M in the top 10 multi-asset ETFs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
NTSX
|
WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund
|
4
|
$300M
|
|
RLY
|
SPDR SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF
|
9
|
$38M
|
|
AOR
|
iShares Core Growth Allocation ETF
|
26
|
$37M
|
|
AOM
|
iShares Core Moderate Allocation ETF
|
17
|
$27M
|
|
AOA
|
iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF
|
24
|
$26M
|
|
GDE
|
WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Equity Strategy Fund
|
4
|
$6M
|
One position drives the total. A single RIA holds $298M in NTSX, about 67% of all top 10 multi-asset dollars. Without it, the category holds about $146M across 50 RIAs.
The most widely held funds draw the smallest checks. AOR ranks first by holders, but its average position is $1.4M. RLY averages $4.3M across nine RIAs, the largest average among funds with more than four holders.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
Most RIAs see asset allocation as their own job. Multi-asset strategies win when they fit into the advisor’s portfolio, not when they replace it.
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Sell a sleeve, not a portfolio. An RIA is unlikely to give up its asset allocation to a single fund. Position a multi-asset strategy as one part of the portfolio, such as an income sleeve, an inflation hedge or a way to add exposure without selling anything.
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Find the risk-ladder users. The 36 RIAs holding iShares Core allocation funds, and especially the 23 using several risk levels, are already comfortable with packaged portfolios. They are a natural audience for model providers and allocation strategies.
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Go after capital-efficient buyers. NTSX shows how large a single conviction position can get. RIAs already using futures to stack exposures understand the concept and are the first call for return-stacked and capital-efficient strategies.
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Target inflation-aware RIAs. The nine RIAs in RLY have chosen a multi-asset real return fund. They are a fit for real assets, commodities and inflation-linked strategies.
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:
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Find who holds a competitor's fund. Search a ticker and pull every firm reporting it.
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Spot momentum. Filter by Status to see which RIAs bought or added to a position last quarter, and which sold out.
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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.
