It's been a wonderful day for the Australian stock market this Wednesday. But also for ASX exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

As it currently stands, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained a healthy 0.47% so far this session, pushing the index back up over 8,520 points. We've also seen new record highs from stocks like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), and Computershare Ltd (ASX: CPU).

But let's talk about why ASX ETFs are having a wonderful day as well.

ETF sector hits major milestone

It's got nothing to do with stock prices (although many ETFs are charging higher today). Rather, the ETF sector has reportedly just hit a major milestone.

According to reporting in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), the value of assets under management in Australian exchange-traded funds has just surpassed $250 billion for the first time ever to hit $257.4 billion at the end of January. According to ETF provider BetaShares, ASX ETFs have been "boosted by strong net inflows in the year to date".

The numbers are rather staggering. According to the report, investors poured in a whopping $4.6 billion into ETFs over January, up from just $600 million in January 2024.

ETFs that track ASX and international shares have been the largest beneficiaries, accounting for $3.1 billion of that $4.6 billion.

ETFs record rises in funds under management in two ways: investor inflows and rising stock markets.

As such, it certainly wouldn't have hurt that the ASX 200 Index added a healthy 4.6% in January, while the American S&P 500 Index rose by 2.7% over the same period.

This milestone is undoubtedly good news for the largest and most popular ASX funds, including the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS), the iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV), the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS), and the VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL).

In other ASX ETF news

We've also got some other ASX ETF news to cover this Wednesday, adding to the theme of the day.

Firstly, a new fund has just debuted on the ASX.

The Global X Russell 200 ETF (ASX: RSSL) tracks 2,000 small-cap US stocks and has just floated on the ASX, currently going for $9.97 per unit. This is exciting, as, until now, this has been a relatively underserviced corner of the US markets when it comes to the ASX.

Secondly, Global X has also just reduced the fee on the Global X US 100 ETF (ASX: U100). This fund offers investors exposure to 100 of the largest non-financial shares listed on the US markets.

U100 charged a fee of 0.24% per annum until today. However, effective this Wednesday, this fee has dropped to 0.18%.

So a big day for ASX exchange-traded funds all around. Let's see how long it takes to get to $300 billion in assets under management.