SpaceX IPO Fever Lifts Space ETFs to $1.3B in Monthly Inflows

Space investing has officially left Earth’s atmosphere. Space-themed ETFs pulled in $1.3B in fresh cash in a single month, lifting total assets to $3.3B as investors position for SpaceX’s expected mid-June IPO. The rally comes amid a broader ETF boom, with 466 new ETFs launched through mid-May as Wall Street keeps finding new ways to package investor hype.

• Space ETFs have grown from one to seven in three years, with two more coming around SpaceX’s debut as Rocket LabRKLB
  and AST SpaceMobileASTS
  fuel the trade.
• The $1.27B Tema Space Innovators ETF gathered more assets in seven weeks than the $972M Procure Space ETF did in seven years.

Beyond the launch hype: Amid the ETF boom, only 16% of this year’s launches are index funds, while over a quarter hinge on a single stock, commodity, or asset. Strategas’ Todd Sohn says overlap makes differentiation hard “except through marketing.” As niche funds get weirder, WSJ’s Jason Zweig notes parts of the ETF frenzy are starting to look like “investment junk food” — fun in moderation, but hazardous in bulk.