Although there was a considerable amount of volatility on world stock markets last month, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) still managed to gather new assets.

While stock markets were heaving in August, British research firm ETFGI says that ETFs and other exchange-traded products still gained another $20.8 billion globally in net assets. This is the 19th consecutive month that these types of investments have recorded positive net inflows. Over the first eight months of 2015, worldwide net inflows into ETFs reached $219.7 billion, which is 16% higher than the same period last year.

ETFGI says that year-to-date results in the United States were 19% higher than 2014 with net inflows of $127.5 billion, while in Europe net inflows for the period reached $59.7 billion, which is 17% more than the same period last year. Year-to-date net inflows in Japan were particularly high at $28.9 billion, which is 74% higher than the amount recorded in the first eight months of 2014.