The smallest fund firms' net inflows slipped last month, even as overall industry inflows doubled.

James Garrett Stevens Exchange Traded Concepts CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2020 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. More specifically, this article focuses on the 510 firms (down from 515 in April) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund and ETF AUM. 212 of those firms gained net inflows in May, down from 224 in April.

Exchange Traded Concepts took the lead last month with an estimated $358 million in net May inflows, up from $34 million in April. Other big May inflows winners included: Axonic, $148 million (down from $185 million); Liberty Street, $119 million (down from $138 million); Amplify ETFs, $102 million (down from $128 million); and O'Shares, $81 million (up from $43 million in net outflows).

Proportionately, not counting apparent newcomers, Marmont Funds led the pack with estimated net May inflows equivalent to 52.9 percent of its AUM, up from 51.1 percent in April. Other big May inflows winners included: Issachar, 48.3 percent (up from 5.2 percent); Exchange Traded Concepts, 47.2 percent (up from 9.3 percent); TrueMark, 45.3 percent (up from 33.6 percent); and Axonic, 44.2 percent (down from 99.8 percent).

There were two apparent newcomer fund firms in May: LeaderShares and Little Harbor Advisors.

On the flip side, May was a rough month for Tuttle, which suffered an estimated $126 million in net outflows, more than any other micro fund firm and up from $1 million in April. Other big May outflows sufferers included: 361, $103 million (up from $13 million); Chiron, $74 million (down from $77 million); Lyrical, $73 million (down from $16 million in net inflows); and Acadian, $71 million (down from $64 million in net inflows).

Proportionately, Tuttle also led with estimated net May outflows equivalent to 5,793.9 percent of its AUM (i.e. its net outflows for the month were almost 58 times bigger than the AUM it had left over afterwards), up from 1 percent in April. Other big May outflows sufferers included: AC One, 966.8 percent (down from 0.8 percent inflows); Miller/Howard, 512.7 percent (up from 17.1 percent); Ladder Capital, 97.3 percent 9down from 1.2 percent in net inflows); and Alpha Fiduciary, 83.2 percent (down from 0.1 percent in net inflows).

As a group, the 510 fund firms with less than $1 billion each in long-term mutual fund and ETF AUM brought in an estimated $664 million in net May inflows, equivalent to about 0.71 percent of their combined AUM and 2.01 percent of industrywide inflows. That's down from $879 million in net micro fund firm inflows in April.

Across the entire industry, the 763 fund firms (up three since April) tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $33.001` billion in net May inflows, equivalent to 0.17 percent of their combined AUM. (That's up from $16.388 billion in net April inflows.) Active funds brought in an estimated $17.995 billion in net May inflows (up from $21.202 billion in net April outflows), while passive funds brought in an estimated $15.006 billion in net May inflows (down from $37.598 billion in April). 

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