AUM for the Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry now stands at $215.6 billion – a new all-time high, new data from Betashares has revealed.

According to Betashares’ latest Australian ETF review, the industry grew 5 percent in July, with total market capitalization increasing by $10.3 billion. Total industry assets now stand at $215.6 billion.

Record growth also continued for industry flows, which read $3.5 billion for the month. It marked the first time monthly inflows topped $3 billion and accounted for about 33 percent of July’s growth, with the rest coming from market appreciation and conversion activity.

Betashares said this latest data shows the continuing trend for investors to use the new financial year as an opportunity to add to their portfolios.

"In July, the ETF industry continued the strong momentum from the first half of 2024 as record net flows and strong market performance lifted the industry to a new all-time high," the ETF provider said.

"While these numbers reflect the ETF industry prior to the market downturn in August, early indications suggest that ETF investors are benefiting from the current high levels of volatility with nearly $1 billion in net flows already recorded for August."

Over the past 12 months, the Australian ETF industry has grown by 43.7 per cent, or $65.6 billion.

Looking at inflows by category, international equity products were the standout, accounting for $1.6 billion of all inflows.

International equities almost doubled the amount of net flows received by secondary Australian Equities products ($891 million), while fixed income was third with $746 million.

Meanwhile, outflows were limited to modest amounts of cash ($32 million) and listed property funds ($14 million).

In terms of product launches, six new funds were launched in July, including a new currency-hedged exposure to the Equal Weight S&P 500 and a new Australian share ETF.

Magellan also converted its closed-end Magellan Global Fund to units in the Magellan Global Fund (Open-Ended) (Managed Fund), further adding to the industry's FUM figure.

What's more, the best performing ETFs this month were exposures to US small caps, cryptocurrencies and gold mining companies.

Namely, the iShares S&P Small-Cap ETF emerged as the best performer with a return of 13.5% in July, followed closely by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF with a return of 13.4%.

Meanwhile, the Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF gained 11.6% and the Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF - Currency Hedged returned 11.4%.

At the end of July, there were 388 exchange-traded products traded on the ASX and Cboe.