On September 23, the total scale of all ETF funds in China's public fund market reached the 5 trillion yuan mark.

Among them, bond ETFs broke through the 1 trillion yuan threshold, accounting for approximately 20% of the total scale.

The scale of bond ETFs increased by 173.207 billion yuan compared to the beginning of the year, making it the category with the largest incremental growth among all ETF types.

Nevertheless, since the start of 2026, no new bond ETFs have been listed.

Currently, there are 53 bond ETFs in the entire market, with products such as the Short-Term Financing ETF managed by HFT Investment Management, the Convertible Bond ETF managed by Bosera Fund, and the Urban Investment Bond ETF managed by HFT Investment Management ranking among the largest, with the Short-Term Financing ETF managed by HFT Investment Management having a latest scale of 84.036 billion yuan.

At present, bond ETFs in China primarily track 25 indices, with 2 indices having linked ETF assets under management exceeding 100 billion yuan, namely the AAA Science and Technology Innovation Bond Index and the Shanghai Market-Making Corporate Bond Index.

Recently, against the backdrop of domestic expectations for monetary easing and declining risk appetite for funds, the allocation value of fixed-income assets has become prominent.

Wind data shows that as of September 23, the total scale of all domestic ETF funds was approximately 5 trillion yuan.

Although the overall figure decreased by more than 1 trillion yuan compared to the beginning of the year, bond ETFs grew against the trend, with an increment of approximately 173.207 billion yuan, bringing the total scale to 1 trillion yuan, accounting for about 20% of all ETF scale.

Source: Wind screenshot. As of September 23, this also marked the first time bond ETFs surpassed the 1 trillion yuan mark.

From the perspective of individual products, the Short-Term Financing ETF managed by HFT Investment Management, the Convertible Bond ETF managed by Bosera Fund, and the Urban Investment Bond ETF managed by HFT Investment Management rank among the largest, with the Short-Term Financing ETF managed by HFT Investment Management having a latest scale of 84.036 billion yuan, making it the largest single product currently.

It is worth noting that these top-ranking products generally invest in credit bond assets, which is also a microcosm of the current scale distribution of bond ETFs.

Wind statistics show that among the 1 trillion yuan scale of bond ETFs, credit bond index ETFs have reached 716.577 billion yuan, accounting for over 70% of bond ETFs and 14.34% of all ETF scale, second only to thematic index ETFs within equity ETFs.

From the perspective of fund managers, HFT Investment Management currently manages the most bond ETFs, with a total of 6; Bosera Fund, Fullgoal Fund, and China AMC rank among the top in terms of number of funds under management.

It should be noted that compared to the total number of funds under their management, the proportion of bond ETFs, or even ETFs, under management by each fund company is relatively small.

Taking HFT Investment Management as an example, its bond ETF count accounts for only 5.83% of its total.

It is understood that the total scale of bond ETFs under HFT Investment Management reached 184.826 billion yuan, while the total scale of bond ETFs under Bosera Fund reached 108.069 billion yuan.

These two are currently the public fund managers with bond ETF assets under management exceeding 100 billion yuan.

Statistics on top-ranking bond ETFs. Source: Wind. On September 24, Wang Fanglin, Assistant Analyst at the Morningstar (China) Fund Research Center, said in an interview with a reporter that against the current backdrop of low interest rates coupled with asset scarcity, bond ETFs offer high portfolio transparency and excellent liquidity.

Combined with the index's screening constraints on individual bond qualifications, they align with investors' demands for asset safety and liquidity.

At the same time, ETFs have a high degree of portfolio diversification, which can mitigate the impact of a single bond default on the portfolio.

Investors can gain exposure to a specific bond sector through just one bond ETF and can also trade it on the secondary market like a stock.

With tool advantages such as low fees, pledgeability, and diverse categories, they can both capture stable coupon income and serve as liquidity management tools, enhancing capital turnover efficiency.

In fact, institutions have always dominated bond asset allocation.

Recently, in the fixed-income market, this allocation demand is still strengthening.

In particular, the restart of applications for amortized cost bond funds and the concentrated filing of the first batch of over-the-counter science and technology innovation bond index funds have both brought incremental capital expectations to the bond investment sector.

However, no new bond ETFs have been issued or listed during the year.

Among existing bond ETFs, the number of tracked indices totals 25, of which 2 indices have linked ETF assets under management exceeding 100 billion yuan, namely the AAA Science and Technology Innovation Bond Index and the Shanghai Market-Making Corporate Bond Index, linked to 16 and 4 ETF funds respectively.

Some indices tracked by bond ETFs. Source: Wind. In terms of holder structure, institutional investors are the main participants in bond ETFs.

Wind statistics show that 24 companies have bond ETFs with institutional investor holding proportions exceeding 90%; the highest is Yinhua Fund at 99.97%, and the lowest is Pengyang Fund at 83.13%.

Industry insiders believe that institutional investors allocating to bond assets and related products focus more on obtaining stable enhanced equity returns under controllable risk conditions, while individual investors have a different allocation logic, with their core demand centered on wealth management substitution.

In terms of fund performance since the beginning of this year, the highest return has approached 5%.

Wind statistics show that as of September 23, the Pengyang China Bond 30-Year Treasury Bond ETF has achieved a year-to-date return of 4.87%, ranking first among the 53 funds of the same type during the same period; the Bosera SSE 30-Year Treasury Bond ETF and the HFT Investment Management SSE 10-Year Local Government Bond ETF closely followed.

It can be seen that the aforementioned credit bond-related products have the best scale effect, while the top performers during the year are still some interest rate bond products.

Wang Fanglin, Assistant Analyst at the Morningstar (China) Fund Research Center, stated that the advantages of credit bonds are reflected in their ability to enhance coupon income and their unique risk-return characteristics.

"Convertible bonds combine bond floor protection with equity elasticity, while urban investment bonds, under debt resolution policies, have improved credit risk and compressed spreads, providing relatively certain coupon returns.

At the same time, credit bond ETFs, through diversified basket holdings, reduce single-entity credit risk and meet institutional allocation demands that balance stable return enhancement with high liquidity management," Wang Fanglin said.

Looking ahead, the Cash Investment Department of Penghua Fund stated that recently the bond market has been oscillating upward.

Against the backdrop of central bank liquidity support and a balanced-to-loose funding environment, allocation strength continues to increase, and short-to-medium term credit bonds are performing steadily.

Currently, the market lacks obvious bearish signals, and participants are more inclined to hold bonds steadily through the holiday; combined with pre-holiday ETF position building and the concentrated deployment of products such as amortized cost bond funds in the coming period, this brings relatively clear incremental allocation demand for credit bonds.

As interest rate bond yields continue to decline, the market's allocation approach is shifting from "betting on long duration" to "anchoring with stable short-to-medium term, higher-coupon assets."