After a strong 2024, Fidelity ETFs gathered approximately $10 billion in the first four months of 2025. Demand for actively managed products has been a key driver as Fidelity leans further into the ETF market.
“Clients are increasingly turning to active management through ETFs looking for alpha and outcomes,” explained Greg Friedman, head of ETF Management and Strategy at Fidelity Investments, to VettaFi in an exclusive interview. “Our goal is to be a top-three active ETF provider.”
With $46 billion in AUM, Fidelity was the sixth-largest provider of active ETFs as of April 2025, according to the JPMorgan Guide to ETFs. Impressively, nearly half of that money came in during the last 12 months. Dimensional Fund Advisors, JPMorgan, and First Trust are the current three largest active ETF providers. Like some of its peers, Fidelity also offers some index ETFs.
Fidelity’s Active ETFs in Demand
Fidelity’s largest ETFs include the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC ) and the Fidelity Total Bond ETF (FBND ). However, two other Fidelity active ETFs were more popular this year than FBND. The Fidelity Investment Grade Securitized ETF (FSEC ) and the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth ETF (FBCG ) gathered $2.2 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively.
Meanwhile, Fidelity expanded its active ETF lineup in the past 12 months. In November 2024, the firm added five active core equity ETFs. Four of them were focused on international equities, including the Fidelity Enhanced Emerging Markets ETF (FEMR) and the Fidelity Fundamental Emerging Markets ETF (FFEM).
We see Fidelity’s enhanced ETF suite as low-cost building block products. They incorporate a quantitative active approach with low tracking error. Meanwhile, we think Fidelity’s fundamental ETF offerings have higher tracking error and leverage the in-house multi-managers’ top ideas in a transparent manner.
Some of the enhanced and fundamental ETFs have been in vogue this year. For example, the Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF (FESM ) and the Fidelity Fundamental Small-Mid Cap ETF (FFSM ) gathered $855 million and $592 million, respectively, to start 2025. We believe advisors and investors have sought to diversify their U.S. equity exposure. Large-cap growth strategies were strong performers in recent years. However, many have sought to spread assets around to smaller companies.
The Addition of Tax-Free ETF Strategies
In April 2025, Fidelity added two municipal bond ETFs to its ETF offerings. “We heard from the investment community on the need to include municipal bonds in ETF models,” explained Friedman.
One of the new ETFs was the Fidelity Municipal Bond Opportunities ETF (FMUB). FMUB was featured during the VettaFi Income Symposium last week.
“I think professional investors are identifying that this is a good market for munis, but you need to be active and understand the opportunity zones and where to go,” said Craig Ebeling, VP, ETF strategist for Fidelity Investments.
Active ETFs gathered 39% share of the U.S. industry’s assets in the first four months of 2025. VettaFi believes demand is likely to remain strong given the market volatility. Fidelity is well positioned to continue to be a leader in this space, as the firm further commits to ETF education.
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