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 sector ETFs the most RIAs actually own. Technology leads: the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) is held by 131 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by Vanguard Information Technology (VGT) at 107 and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) at 99. Sector ETFs, including thematic funds, took in $89.8 billion in 2025, led by information technology, industrials and utilities (FactSet, January 2026). For managers pitching RIAs, sector holdings show where an advisor has chosen to lean beyond the index.
In this article, we’ll rank the 10 sector ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate, and break down what RIA sector bets mean for managers selling equity strategies.
The Top 10 Sector 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
|
XLK
|
Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Technology
|
131
|
|
2
|
VGT
|
Vanguard Information Technology ETF
|
Technology
|
107
|
|
3
|
XLF
|
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Financials
|
99
|
|
4
|
VNQ
|
Vanguard Real Estate ETF
|
Real Estate
|
95
|
|
5
|
XLV
|
Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Health Care
|
84
|
|
6
|
XLE
|
Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Energy
|
83
|
|
7
|
XLU
|
Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Utilities
|
67
|
|
8
|
XLI
|
Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Industrials
|
67
|
|
9
|
XLY
|
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Consumer Discretionary
|
65
|
|
10
|
SMH
|
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
Semiconductors
|
62
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025. XLU and XLI tie at 67 RIAs and are ordered by RIA dollars held.
What the Ranking Shows
1. Technology Leads by Every Measure (225 RIAs, 35% of Sector Dollars)
Three of the top 10 funds are technology funds: XLK, VGT and SMH. Across all sector ETFs, 225 of the 278 RIAs holding a sector fund own at least one technology ETF, and technology accounts for $2.0B, about 35% of RIA sector ETF dollars. That is slightly more than technology’s 32.3% weight in the S&P 500 (DoubleLine, March 2026).
RIAs often double up. 65 RIAs hold both XLK and VGT, and 87 hold a semiconductor ETF such as SMH or SOXX on top of their broad technology exposure.
2. RIAs Build With Select Sector SPDRs (7 of the Top 10)
Seven of the top 10 funds are Select Sector SPDRs, which split the S&P 500 into its 11 sectors. 189 RIAs hold at least one. More telling, 114 hold three or more and 65 hold five or more.
An RIA holding five or more sector funds is not making a single bet. It is building or tilting its equity book sector by sector, often through models that rotate weights as conditions change.
3. Real Estate Ranks Second, and Themes Are Gaining (VNQ at 95 RIAs)
Vanguard Real Estate (VNQ) ranks fourth by holders, and real estate is the second most widely held sector overall: 150 RIAs hold at least one REIT ETF.
Beyond the 11 standard sectors, thematic funds are building a following. 70 RIAs hold an aerospace and defense ETF such as iShares US Aerospace & Defense (ITA, 52 RIAs), with $215M in holdings. 46 hold a cybersecurity ETF and 41 hold an AI or robotics ETF.
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 $21.0B in fixed income ETF holdings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, and the top 10 funds account for $4.7B of it.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
XLK
|
Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
131
|
$571M
|
|
VGT
|
Vanguard Information Technology ETF
|
107
|
$448M
|
|
XLF
|
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
99
|
$287M
|
|
XLC
|
Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
59
|
$255M
|
|
SMH
|
VanEck Semiconductor ETF
|
62
|
$208M
|
|
XLU
|
Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund
|
67
|
V
|
XLK and VGT together hold about $1.0B, roughly 18% of all RIA sector ETF dollars. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) sits outside the top 10 by holders at 59 RIAs, yet ranks fourth by dollars. VNQ goes the other way: fourth by holders, with an average position of just $1.8M.
Real estate also produces the biggest tickets. Dimensional Global Real Estate (DFGR) holds $184M across 29 RIAs, an average of $6.3M per firm, compared with $4.4M for XLK. First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure (GRID) draws $96M from 24 RIAs.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
Sector ETFs are where RIAs express a view. An RIA that holds XLK on top of an S&P 500 core fund has chosen to be overweight technology, and that tells a manager what conversation to have.
Read sector holdings as tilts. An RIA holding XLK, VGT and SMH already leans heavily into technology. Lead with how your strategy diversifies that exposure, or with an active approach to the sector the RIA already favors.
Find the sector rotators. The 114 RIAs holding three or more Select Sector SPDRs are managing sector weights actively. They are a natural audience for tactical, sector rotation and active equity managers.
Use public REITs as a real estate signal. 150 RIAs hold a REIT ETF. An RIA with public real estate exposure is already comfortable with the asset class, which makes it an opening for private real estate, interval funds and active REIT strategies.
Start thematic outreach with existing theme buyers. RIAs holding defense, cybersecurity or AI ETFs have shown they will allocate to a theme. They are a better first call for thematic issuers than RIAs that hold only broad sector funds.
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.
