It’s a good day to be a buffer.

Last week, Goldman Sachs announced plans to acquire defined-outcome ETF provider Innovator Capital Management in a deal worth $2 billion. The move will catapult Goldman from an early-stage defined-outcome issuer, having launched its first buffer products in 2023, to the second-largest player. As new product providers continue to spring up — some 50 ETF brands have already launched this year, according to VettaFi investment strategist Cinthia Murphy — issuer consolidation is expected to become a mainstay in the industry in the years to come.

“This pace of expansion will likely lead to consolidation and M&A activity because competition in this industry is only getting fiercer,” Murphy said. “While some ETF providers may look for scale and distribution muscle through M&A, others may look to grow their footprint by acquiring unique expertise and product innovation. The Goldman Sachs-Innovator Capital deal is a great example of that.”

Stealing the Spotlight

Up until recently, much of the attention has been directed at M&A in the independent advice space, as RIA dealmaking activity continues to break records. But ETF consolidation is set to take off, particularly as wealth managers bring more niche strategies to their clients, said Greg Stumm, CEO of American Beacon Partners. “I think [there will be demand for] defined outcome [and] buffered ETFs … fixed income ETFs, as well as more truly active ETFs,” Stumm said. Push will come to shove, he added, when firms are faced with the choice of whether to build or buy. “[The Goldman deal] shows the importance of scale and breadth of product,” Stumm said. “When you’re seeing consolidation here, you’ve got specialist firms that have very unique, interesting products now partnering with bigger platforms that have broader product offerings to offer a more complete set, especially to the financial intermediary world.”

The Goldman deal will also:

• Place the bank second in terms of its defined outcome assets behind First Trust, which has $33 billion in the category.
• Bring Innovator’s more than 150 defined-outcome products and their $28 billion in assets under the Goldman Sachs name.

Get With the Times. Goldman currently has three buffer ETFs with about $36 million in assets under management. Buying up another company’s products can bring a provider’s own offerings in line with what’s popular, Murphy said. “The timing also seems opportune,” she added. “We’ve seen demand for defined-outcome ETFs grow as investors get more comfortable with the mechanics of these funds and look for downside protection in an uncertain market.”

“Hooray, Hooray. I’m your silver lining. But now, I’m gold.” (Hat tip to the indie band Rilo Kiley.)

Silver, long associated with runner-up placement, has seen a price acceleration this year putting it well ahead of the growth of precious metal’s favorite child, gold. That’s saying a lot, given how well gold has done in 2025. Year to date, silver prices are up 100%, compared with about 60% for gold. That has ramped up returns for the few silver ETFs on the market. But don’t expect them to attract a flood of new money, at least not from experienced investors.

“The appeal to gold is just bigger. Some of it’s the liquidity,” said Dan Sotiroff, senior manager research analyst for Morningstar, pointing to gold being more heavily traded than silver. “They both have the same basic narrative behind them. They’re a hedge against short-term inflation.”

Silver Surfer

Anyone riding the wave of silver’s price should be aware that it could come crashing down. The metal’s value is more volatile than gold’s, though they are both up over the long term, thanks in part to the recent price surges. Silver’s spot price is up 226% over five years compared with 180% for gold’s, according to data from Apmex.

Silver’s climb this year comes as investors have been looking for safe-haven investments. But crucially, the supply of new silver to the market is tight due to ever-lower ore grades and regulatory hurdles within the biggest producers, like Mexico, Peru and China, according to Bloomberg. And demand remains high. Like gold, silver has applications in both jewelry and industry, being a key ingredient for many electronics, including solar panels.

This Might Not Ag(e) Well: There are just four silver ETFs categorized by Morningstar as real assets products, while the remaining eight are equities funds (such as those invested in mining companies) or focused on using options:

• The largest (by far) is the roughly $30 billion iShares Silver Trust (SLV), which has attracted $1.4 billion in net flows over a month, according to VettaFi.
• The ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ) and Ultrashort Silver (ZSL) have the most extreme year-to-date returns, at 238% and -79%, respectively.

Silver’s price increases, and the category’s ETF returns, reflect “the positive side of volatility,” Sotiroff said, urging investors to proceed with caution. “Make sure you understand what you’re getting into … You can lose a lot very quickly.”

The phone calls will keep coming for shareholders in one of the world’s largest ETFs, if they haven’t voted already.

Invesco is in the process of turning its flagship $400B QQQ fund from a unit investment trust to an open-end fund, and it needs shareholders’ proxy votes to do it. If approved, the change would also make Invesco the trustee, a switch from current trustee BNY Mellon, and approve an investment advisory agreement between the ETF and Invesco. Much of the fund’s fee revenue goes to BNY and Nasdaq, and about a quarter goes to its extremely generous marketing budget (hence its prominence placements in sports advertising like March Madness).

Invesco has long been sitting on top of a potential gold mine, without much of an adze.

Why Investors Care

Asking fund shareholders to vote on any proxy measure is an arduous process. And many may not care much whether Invesco can control where the fee revenue goes. But there are two big reasons why they would want to vote in favor of the modernization proposal:

• Invesco is floating a 10% fee reduction as part of the package, lowering it to just 18 basis points from 20.
• The calls and notices from third-party solicitors urging investors to vote will stop once they have cast that ballot, according to Invesco. That’s no small issue, as one MarketWatch columnist wrote that she’s been called at least two dozen times.

Try Again: The proxy process lets the ETF adjourn meetings to solicit and collect more votes, so it’s probably just a matter of time before the measure passes. According to Friday’s SEC filing, the proposal had support of 50%, though it needs 51% to be approved. Of those who voted, 92% supported the measure, which indicates that somewhere north of 54% of shares have cast votes.

So, the calls will eventually stop for all shareholders, and people will likely see fewer QQQ ads soon. According to the proxy materials, Invesco plans to chop ad spend on the ETF by at least half. “However, Invesco believes that at the trust’s current size and scale, any potential negative impacts associated with less marketing of the trust will be more than offset by the benefits realized by shareholders through the lower expense ratio,” the firm said in the proposal.