Key Takeaways
- • Dakota Marketplace analysis of 13F filings finds US equity is the anchor of family office ETF books, with SPY, IVV, and VOO among the most commonly held ETFs.
- • Family offices follow a core-and-satellite approach: broad beta as the base, with fixed income, sector, smart beta, gold, and energy exposure layered around it.
- • Digital asset exposure is present but limited, with a handful of family offices holding crypto-linked ETFs, a category that barely registers in most institutional ETF programs.
- • Account-level examples range from Soros Fund Management's energy tilt to Hantz Group's 15-asset-class book, illustrating how offices use multi-provider ETF programs.
- • The data reflects reported 13F positions only, covers a subset of the family office universe, and may carry forward stale positions from prior filings.
Summary
Dakota Marketplace, a global LP and GP intelligence platform, examined family office ETF positions drawn from 13F filings and matched them to enriched family office account records. According to the analysis, US equity forms the largest category by balance across the matched offices, and the S&P 500 products from State Street (SPY), iShares (IVV), and Vanguard (VOO) are among the most commonly held ETFs. Fixed income, sector, and smart beta ETFs appear across roughly half of the offices, typically surrounding the equity core.
Real assets serve as a regular satellite allocation. Gold is among the most widely held single ETFs, and energy and natural resources exposure appears more frequently in larger accounts. International and emerging markets exposure is used selectively, generally through broad developed market funds, emerging markets ex-China, or single-country ETFs. Digital assets are present in a small number of offices, with crypto-linked ETFs held by a handful of family offices.
At the account level, the source highlights several examples. Soros Fund Management pairs its largest position in the SPDR S&P 500 with the Energy Select Sector SPDR and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF, and also holds emerging markets ex-China, municipal bond, and semiconductor ETFs. Hantz Group holds the broadest ETF book in the set, spanning 15 asset classes, including active ETFs from Congress, Segall Bryant & Hamill, and Brandes alongside core iShares products. The Connable Office runs a seven-asset-class program anchored by the SPDR S&P 500 with providers including Vanguard, iShares, FlexShares, and WisdomTree. Euclidean Capital maintains a compact, Vanguard-heavy book led by the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF and Vanguard Value ETF, and RBF Capital blends core S&P 500 and mid cap exposure with Dimensional international funds and several crypto-linked ETFs.
The source cautions that 13F data reflects reported positions rather than full portfolios, and that balances may carry forward from prior filing periods when no new filing replaces them. The examples therefore illustrate patterns within the matched dataset rather than the broader market. The article characterizes the overall pattern as family offices using ETFs to build a core and then express views around it.
Real assets serve as a regular satellite allocation. Gold is among the most widely held single ETFs, and energy and natural resources exposure appears more frequently in larger accounts. International and emerging markets exposure is used selectively, generally through broad developed market funds, emerging markets ex-China, or single-country ETFs. Digital assets are present in a small number of offices, with crypto-linked ETFs held by a handful of family offices.
At the account level, the source highlights several examples. Soros Fund Management pairs its largest position in the SPDR S&P 500 with the Energy Select Sector SPDR and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF, and also holds emerging markets ex-China, municipal bond, and semiconductor ETFs. Hantz Group holds the broadest ETF book in the set, spanning 15 asset classes, including active ETFs from Congress, Segall Bryant & Hamill, and Brandes alongside core iShares products. The Connable Office runs a seven-asset-class program anchored by the SPDR S&P 500 with providers including Vanguard, iShares, FlexShares, and WisdomTree. Euclidean Capital maintains a compact, Vanguard-heavy book led by the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF and Vanguard Value ETF, and RBF Capital blends core S&P 500 and mid cap exposure with Dimensional international funds and several crypto-linked ETFs.
The source cautions that 13F data reflects reported positions rather than full portfolios, and that balances may carry forward from prior filing periods when no new filing replaces them. The examples therefore illustrate patterns within the matched dataset rather than the broader market. The article characterizes the overall pattern as family offices using ETFs to build a core and then express views around it.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.