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 Treasury ETFs the most RIAs actually own. The top four are nearly tied: Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury (VGIT) is held by 55 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) and iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond (SHY) at 54 each, and Vanguard Short-Term Treasury (VGSH) at 53. Bond ETFs had a record year, with US fixed income ETFs taking in $330.6 billion in 2025 (etf.com, 2025 full-year recap).
In this article, we’ll rank the 10 Treasury ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate along the yield curve, and break down what RIA Treasury positioning means for managers selling fixed income strategies.
The Top 10 Treasury 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
|
VGIT
|
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF
|
Intermediate
|
55
|
|
2
|
TLT
|
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
Long
|
54
|
|
3
|
SHY
|
iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
Short
|
54
|
|
4
|
VGSH
|
Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF
|
Short
|
53
|
|
5
|
IEF
|
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
Intermediate
|
40
|
|
6
|
IEI
|
iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
Intermediate
|
35
|
|
7
|
GOVT
|
iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF
|
Broad Treasury
|
34
|
|
8
|
TLH
|
iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
Long
|
33
|
|
9
|
SCHO
|
Schwab Short-Term U.S. Treasury ETF
|
Short
|
30
|
|
10
|
VGLT
|
Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF
|
Long
|
21
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025. TLT and SHY tie at 54 RIAs and are ordered by RIA dollars held.
What the Ranking Shows
1. No Single Fund Dominates (Four Funds, 53 to 55 RIAs Each)
Unlike most categories in this series, Treasuries have no runaway leader. VGIT, TLT, SHY and VGSH are within two RIAs of each other, and each sits at a different point on the yield curve.
In total, 180 RIAs hold at least one Treasury ETF, with $2.0B in holdings. That is a majority of the 292 RIAs that hold any bond ETF, but far fewer than the RIAs holding broad core bond funds like AGG. For many RIAs, Treasuries are a targeted add-on to a core bond position rather than the core itself.
2. The Intermediate Part of the Curve Holds the Money (41% of Dollars)
RIAs spread their Treasury holdings evenly across the curve, but their money concentrates in the middle. 108 RIAs hold a short-term Treasury ETF and 106 hold an intermediate-term one, while 76 hold a long-term fund.
The dollars tell a different story. Intermediate Treasury ETFs hold $838M, about 41% of RIA Treasury ETF dollars, compared with $441M in long-term and $407M in short-term funds. VGIT alone holds $467M.
3. Many RIAs Build a Ladder Across the Curve (84 RIAs)
Treasury ETFs are often bought in combination. 84 RIAs hold Treasury funds in two or more maturity ranges, and 38 hold short, intermediate and long-term funds at the same time.
Target-maturity funds are another way to build that ladder. 18 RIAs hold iShares iBonds Treasury ETFs, which mature in a set year like an individual bond, with $166M in holdings.
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 $2.0B in Treasury ETF holdings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, and the top 10 funds account for $1.6B of it, about 81%.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
VGIT
|
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF
|
55
|
$467M
|
|
TLH
|
iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
33
|
$231M
|
|
GOVT
|
iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF
|
34
|
$173M
|
|
TLT
|
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
54
|
$163M
|
|
VGSH
|
Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF
|
53
|
$149M
|
|
IEF
|
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF
|
40
|
$138M
|
VGIT leads by both measures, with an average position of $8.5M per RIA, the largest in the top 10.
Long-duration money takes an unexpected route. TLT is the best-known long Treasury ETF and ties for second by holders, but its average position is just $3.0M. iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond (TLH) holds $231M from 33 RIAs, an average of $7.0M. RIAs making larger, deliberate duration bets lean toward the 10 to 20 year part of the curve rather than the longest bonds.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
Treasury ETFs are where RIAs manage interest rate exposure directly. A Treasury position tells a manager how an RIA is thinking about duration, and that shapes the pitch.
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Read Treasury holdings as a duration view. An RIA holding TLH or TLT has chosen to extend duration. One holding SHY or VGSH is staying short. Lead with how your strategy fits that view rather than asking the RIA to change it.
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Pitch against the core, not instead of it. Most Treasury holders also own a core bond fund. Show how your strategy adds something Treasuries don’t: credit, securitized or multi-sector exposure that improves yield without abandoning quality.
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Find the ladder builders. The 38 RIAs holding short, intermediate and long Treasury funds are actively managing the curve. They are a natural audience for active duration, target-maturity and liability-matching strategies.
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Look beyond the ETF book. 13F filings only cover exchange-listed securities. RIAs may also hold Treasuries directly or through separately managed accounts, so a light Treasury ETF position doesn’t always mean a light Treasury allocation.
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.
