The new Trump Accounts are designed to give millions of American children a head start in the stock market. Besides the kids who are eligible for $1,000 in free money, there's another surprise winner: the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM). Thanks to its rock-bottom 0.02% fee, the fund has become the default investment for the new accounts — a designation that could funnel tens of billions of dollars its way and even reshape the competitive landscape for S&P 500 funds.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber explain why SPYM is the ETF of the Moment. They unpack how Trump Accounts work and how they could reshape stock ownership in the US. Then they explore SPYM's surprising backstory, its rivalry with its older sibling, State Street's legendary SPY, and why the policy could, in Balchunas's view, ultimately make the US stock market "too big to fail."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ETF wrapper has become investing's Swiss Army knife, packaging everything from stocks and bonds to gold and Bitcoin — and now, perhaps, even prediction markets. As issuers race to push the boundaries of what's possible, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission are rewriting their playbook in real time.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber sit down with Brian Daly, Director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management, to discuss the explosion of "novel" ETFs, why the agency hit pause on prediction-market funds, and what it's learned from its handling of crypto ETFs. Daly offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how ETF filings are reviewed, explains why the SEC wants a more predictable process for evaluating new products, and discusses how regulators are balancing innovation with investor protection. Bloomberg News SEC and CFTC reporter Lydia Beyoud joins the conversation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SpaceX's record IPO quickly turned into a feeding frenzy in the ETF industry. Within days, about a dozen leveraged funds tied to the company — many of them almost identical — launched at the same time, setting off a battle for assets, attention and trading volume. The frenzy is reminiscent of the rush to launch spot Bitcoin ETFs. And obviously there are many other noteworthy new ETF launches.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee — dig into some new ETFs to watch. They discuss which leveraged SpaceX fund may emerge as the winner (SPCU), how to bet against AI (AIQD), Vanguard's long-awaited entry into high-yield bonds (VCHY), another addition to Corgi's rapidly expanding lineup (CBIL), and a Bitcoin fund (BTCK) that may have arrived a little late to the party. 

(Removes incorrect reference to AIQD in podcast published June 25, 2026.)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the asset management industry, there are two undisputed heavyweights: BlackRock and Vanguard. They rival each other in almost every category, but this month Vanguard overtook BlackRock as the largest US ETF issuer — a title BlackRock had held for two decades. Despite their dominance, the two firms have very different reputations, cultures and approaches.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Manuela Sperandeo, co-head of European iShares at BlackRock, and Jonathan Cleborne, managing director for Vanguard Europe. They discuss the rise of ETFs in Europe, passive investing in a market increasingly dominated by a handful of giant companies, and what it's like to compete with one another. This episode was recorded live at the ETFs in Depth Conference at Bloomberg's London headquarters.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earlier this year, investors got hammered by the "SaaSpocalypse." The rise of AI sparked fears that software companies would need fewer workers, sell fewer licenses and spend heavily on technology with uncertain payoffs. Yet just a few months later, one little-known ETF — with only $2.5 million in assets — is quietly suggesting that software's death may have been slightly exaggerated.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Bloomberg Intelligence ETF associate Andrey Yapp about another ETF that's having a moment: Themes Cloud Computing ETF (ticker CLOD). They discuss what makes the ETF's holdings interesting, how recent earnings challenged the AI-doom narrative, and how such a tiny fund emerged as one worth watching.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SpaceX is finally going public — and at a valuation that's likely to make it one of the world's biggest companies the moment it hits the market. So what happens when a company worth as much as $2 trillion suddenly needs to be folded into indexes, ETFs, and portfolios built for a different era?

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts James Seyffart and Sharoon Francis to unpack the dawn of the mega-cap IPO. They explore how index providers are rewriting decades-old rules to accommodate SpaceX, why passive funds could become some of its biggest buyers, which ETFs and mutual funds already have exposure to the company, and what it all means as other private giants — including OpenAI and Anthropic — prepare to enter the public markets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ETF universe keeps getting bigger - and weirder. This year is already on pace to shatter records for launches and inflows; it's also producing some of the most niche, speculative and oddly specific funds the industry has ever seen. From leveraged bets on obscure semiconductor firms to thematic products targeting everything from lithography to nicotine, the race to capture investor attention is officially in overdrive.

In this "ETFs to Watch" episode, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Isabelle Lee, a cross-asset reporter with Bloomberg News, to break down a few new launches fighting for investor attention. They discuss Defiance's POET ETF (ticker POEL); Corgi's lithography and photonics fund (ticker EUV); Hexis's nicotine-focused ETF (ticker NICO); and Roundhill's "real world assets" HALO strategy (ticker LOHA). Along the way they make some detours to discuss leveraged IPO mania, Reddit skeptics, and, well, corgis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if you invested at literally the worst possible moments in market history? According to Ben Carlson, the co-host of the Animal Spirits podcast and an advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, even the world's worst market timer could still become a millionaire. Carlson's new book, Risk & Reward, explores why long-term investing remains so psychologically difficult.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Carlson about his new book, which implores you to stop panicking and just stay the course. They discuss the genius of boring index funds, "fun accounts" as a behavioral release valve, whether buffer ETFs are financial Xanax and how the ETF wrapper may help turn tax efficiency into the new alpha. They also drill into Carlson's other big launch: Goaltender (GTND), a new ETF from Ritholtz, and go over why wealth managers are becoming ETF issuers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A long-dormant trade is suddenly showing signs of life. Prices are climbing. Volumes are spiking. And in a corner of the market that’s spent years in the doldrums, one ETF is catching a fresh buzz — thanks in part to the US Justice Department’s move in April to reclassify medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber debut a new monthly segment spotlighting an ETF that’s having a moment. This time, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Andre Yapp joins to break down the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (MSOS). The only cannabis-focused ETF with more than $1 billion in assets, it uses swaps to access marijuana companies just as shifting tax rules begin to ease the industry’s burden. The setup looks promising—but is this a real turning point, or just another short-lived high?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Markets hate uncertainty — unless, it turns out, they don’t. Under US President Donald Trump, investors have endured tariff scares, geopolitical flare-ups and a steady drumbeat of headline-driven panic. Yet stocks keep climbing; April, in particular, was a blockbuster. Maybe the best way to understand this market is to stop trying to make sense of it.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Bloomberg Intelligence’s Athanasios Psarofagis about what ETF data actually says about investing during a Trump presidency. His grab bag of stats — March is cursed, Thursdays are rough and some of the biggest gains happen while you sleep — paints a picture of a market behaving very differently under pressure. Together, they unpack why it feels more volatile than ever and explore why the investors who come out ahead are often the ones who do the least.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every day, a handful of new exchange-traded funds come to market. Some rocket to instant glory. Others take their time, building assets month after month, year after year. And more than a few quietly disappear into oblivion.

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber debut a new monthly segment that sifts through the flood of launches to pick out three ETFs worth watching. Whether the funds are potential hits, future mainstays or squarely in the “good luck with that” camp, the goal is to figure out what distinguishes them — and how they might help (or hurt) investors. Isabelle Lee, a cross-asset reporter for Bloomberg News, joins to discuss a late Bitcoin arrival, a rare launch and an expensive swing at value investing.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.