How do you read Fund flows?

Flows say what other investors do, not how the fund will do. Large inflows often follow a good year. In a small fund, steady outflows can lead the manager to close it. The report notes funds with net assets under 50 million dollars.

Fund flows

ETFs and bonds

How much money came into a fund from investors minus what went out, over a period.

How it is worked out

From the monthly lines of the N-PORT filing: sales of new shares minus redemptions. Changes in the prices of the holdings do not count, so a fund can grow from a rising market while losing investors.

How to read it

Flows say what other investors do, not how the fund will do. Large inflows often follow a good year.
In a small fund, steady outflows can lead the manager to close it. The report notes funds with net assets under 50 million dollars.

Example

A $1bn fund with $300m of inflows and $100m of outflows in three months: a net inflow of $200m, 20% of its size.

Related terms

The other pages on US stocks, free to read. On the company pages, the last three fiscal years are open to everyone, five with a free account, and every year with Ploutos Investor.

US stocksThe market today, the sectors, the largest companies and the week's results.The market's sectorsThe 11 sectors side by side: returns, share of the market, median P/E and dividend.Compare stocksTwo companies side by side: price over up to ten years, with and without dividends, and every figure.US dividend stocksEach dividend's yield next to whether the company's cash covers it and whether it was ever cut.

Explanations of terms for learning, with examples from SEC filings.