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 US Large Cap 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 blend
|
231
|
|
2
|
IVV
|
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF
|
US large cap blend
|
211
|
|
3
|
VOO
|
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
|
US large cap blend
|
209
|
|
4
|
VTV
|
Vanguard Value ETF
|
US large cap value
|
164
|
|
5
|
VUG
|
Vanguard Growth ETF
|
US large cap growth
|
159
|
|
6
|
IWF
|
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF
|
US large cap growth
|
131
|
|
7
|
RSP
|
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF
|
US large cap equal weight
|
116
|
|
8
|
IWD
|
iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF
|
US large cap value
|
97
|
|
9
|
SCHG
|
Schwab US Large-Cap Growth ETF
|
US large cap growth
|
96
|
|
10
|
IVE
|
iShares S&P 500 Value ETF
|
US large cap value
|
89
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What the Ranking Shows
1. The S&P 500 Is the Default Core (3 Funds, 209 to 231 RIAs Each)
The top three slots all track the same index. Of the 279 RIAs holding at least one of SPY, IVV or VOO, 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). In large cap, that building block is almost always the S&P 500, and everything else is built around it.
2. Growth and Value Are Bought Together (VTV, VUG, IWF, IWD, SCHG, IVE)
After the core, RIAs reach for style sleeves, and they split them evenly. 224 RIAs hold at least one large cap growth ETF, 214 hold at least one large cap value ETF, and 187 hold both.
Vanguard leads both sides: Vanguard Value (VTV, 164 RIAs) edges out Vanguard Growth (VUG, 159). Growth then runs through IWF (131) and SCHG (96), while value runs through IWD (97) and IVE (89).
3. Equal Weight Makes the List (RSP at 116 RIAs)
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight (RSP) is the only fund in the top 10 that is not weighted by market cap. It holds the same 500 stocks as SPY with each position weighted equally, which reduces exposure to the largest names in the index.
116 RIAs hold it, more than hold IWD or SCHG. For an RIA worried about concentration in a handful of mega-cap stocks, it is often the first step away from pure market-cap weighting.
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. The 10 funds in this ranking hold $14.4B of RIA assets 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
|
|
VUG
|
Vanguard Growth ETF
|
159
|
$1.5B
|
|
VTV
|
Vanguard Value ETF
|
164
|
$1.5B
|
|
SPLG
|
SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF
|
78
|
$1.0B
|
IVV, VOO and SPY together hold about $9.0B, roughly 62% of the top 10 total. SPY has the most holders but the smallest dollar total of the three, consistent with smaller, legacy positions spread across many firms. SPLG sits outside the top 10 at 78 RIAs, yet holds more RIA money than five of the funds ranked in it.
At the other end, factor and systematic funds draw large tickets from fewer RIAs. Avantis U.S. Equity (AVUS) holds $705M across 39 RIAs, iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor (QUAL) $666M across 84, and BlackRock U.S. Equity Factor Rotation (DYNF) $551M across 41. A handful of firms with conviction in factor investing can move more money than dozens of firms holding a style 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's large cap sleeve is the S&P 500, every other large cap 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 VOO is unlikely to swap it out. Show how your strategy complements a passive S&P 500 position: a different factor profile, lower concentration in the largest names, or an active return driver the index does not offer.
-
Use holdings to segment your list. An RIA holding VUG, IWF and SCHG has a growth tilt; one holding VTV, IWD and IVE leans value. Holdings data tells you which story to lead with before the first call.
-
Treat RSP holders as a concentration signal. An RIA that owns equal weight alongside SPY is already managing mega-cap concentration. That is a natural opening for active, quality or diversified large cap strategies.
-
Find the conviction buyers. The AVUS, QUAL and DYNF 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.
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.
