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 real asset ETFs the most RIAs actually own. The answer is gold: SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) is held by 162 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by iShares Gold Trust (IAU) at 97 and iShares Silver Trust (SLV) at 73. Gold ETFs had a record year, taking in $89 billion globally in 2025, including $51 billion in North America, as the gold price posted its best annual performance since 1979 (World Gold Council, January 2026).
In this article, we’ll rank the 10 real asset ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate, and break down what a gold-heavy real assets sleeve means for managers selling commodities, infrastructure and natural resources strategies.
The Top 10 Real 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
|
GLD
|
SPDR Gold Shares
|
Gold
|
162
|
|
2
|
IAU
|
iShares Gold Trust
|
Gold
|
97
|
|
3
|
SLV
|
iShares Silver Trust
|
Silver
|
73
|
|
4
|
GDX
|
VanEck Gold Miners ETF
|
Gold miners
|
45
|
|
5
|
GLDM
|
SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust
|
Gold
|
39
|
|
6
|
PAVE
|
Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF
|
Infrastructure
|
33
|
|
7
|
XLB
|
Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Materials
|
24
|
|
8
|
FTGC
|
First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund
|
Commodities (active)
|
18
|
|
9
|
PDBC
|
Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF
|
Commodities
|
18
|
|
10
|
IAUM
|
iShares Gold Trust Micro
|
Gold
|
16
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025. FTGC and PDBC tie at 18 RIAs. IAUM ties with SIVR and FIW at 16. Ties are ordered by RIA dollars held.
What the Ranking Shows
1. Gold Is the Real Asset Allocation (195 of 225 RIAs)
Five of the top 10 funds hold gold or gold miners. Of the 225 RIAs holding a real asset ETF, 195 hold a physical gold fund, and gold accounts for $1.3B, about 55% of RIA real asset ETF dollars. Only 30 RIAs with real asset exposure hold no gold at all.
GLD is the default. It reaches 162 RIAs, nearly as many as hold Vanguard Value (VTV), one of the most widely held ETFs of any kind.
2. Lower-Cost Gold Funds Draw Larger Tickets (IAU, GLDM, IAUM)
Many RIAs hold more than one gold fund: 93 hold two or more of GLD, IAU, GLDM and IAUM, and 77 hold both GLD and IAU.
The lower-cost funds attract bigger positions. The average RIA position in IAU is $4.6M and in GLDM $4.5M, compared with $3.4M in GLD. GLD’s reach reflects history and liquidity. The newer, cheaper share classes are where larger, more recent allocations tend to go.
3. Beyond Gold, Exposure Is Thin (79 Silver, 56 Commodities, 46 Infrastructure)
After gold, real asset exposure drops off fast. 79 RIAs hold a silver ETF, 71 hold a natural resources or materials ETF, 56 hold a broad commodity ETF and 46 hold an infrastructure ETF. 25 hold a uranium or nuclear energy fund.
65 RIAs hold gold and no other real asset ETF. For them, gold is the whole real assets sleeve.
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 $2.3B in real asset ETF holdings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
GLD
|
SPDR Gold Shares
|
162
|
$543M
|
|
IAU
|
iShares Gold Trust
|
97
|
$446M
|
|
PAVE
|
Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF
|
33
|
$186M
|
|
GLDM
|
SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust
|
39
|
$177M
|
|
SLV
|
iShares Silver Trust
|
73
|
$111M
|
|
DJP
|
iPath Bloomberg Commodity Index Total Return ETN
|
5
|
$98M
|
GLD and IAU together hold about $989M, roughly 43% of all RIA real asset ETF dollars. SLV goes the other way: third by holders, but an average position of just $1.5M.
The biggest tickets sit outside gold. Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development (PAVE) holds $186M across 33 RIAs, an average of $5.6M, the largest among the top 10. The iPath Bloomberg Commodity Index ETN (DJP) holds $98M across just five RIAs, nearly $20M each. A few firms with conviction in commodities and infrastructure write much larger checks than the broad gold base.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
For most RIAs, real assets means gold. Every other real asset strategy is competing to become the second allocation.
-
Pitch beside gold, not against it. An RIA holding GLD or IAU is unlikely to sell it. Show how your strategy adds a different inflation hedge or return driver: commodities, infrastructure, natural resources or real asset income.
-
Start with the gold-only RIAs. 65 RIAs hold gold and nothing else in real assets. They have already accepted the case for real assets but haven’t diversified it, which makes them a natural audience for broader real asset strategies.
-
Find the commodity and infrastructure buyers. The 56 RIAs in broad commodity ETFs and 46 in infrastructure ETFs have shown they’ll allocate beyond gold. They are the first call for active commodity, infrastructure and private real assets managers.
-
Look at real estate separately. Dakota tags REIT ETFs as sector equities, not real assets. RIAs holding both gold and REIT funds such as VNQ are building a broader real asset sleeve, which makes them a strong fit for diversified real assets 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:
-
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.
