ETF monthly gainers/losers
Query: ETF top gainers and losers in 1 month · data as of 2026-09-14
Built a two-table ETF 1-month performance screen (861 active ETFs): top 15 gainers led by digital-asset wrappers (Zcash, XRP, Hyperliquid, Solana/Ethereum staking) and tanker shipping/crude oil, and top 15 laggards concentrated in AI-capex derivative themes (photonics, memory semis, drones, space, defense industrials, neoclouds) plus solar. Each table has symbol, name, ETF type/theme, 1D/1M/6M returns, top holdings, % from 52W high and % above the 150D SMA; enrichments include per-row qualitative comments and a market-rotation narrative.
All active US-listed ETFs ranked by trailing 1-month return. Gainers are dominated by crypto/digital-asset vehicles (Zcash, XRP, Solana, Ethereum) and the tanker-shipping fund riding the oil/shipping spike, while laggards cluster in the AI capex derivative complex — photonics, memory equipment, drones, space, defense industrials and solar. The split maps cleanly onto a market paying for cash-flow-now commodity exposure and punishing back-end-loaded, rate-sensitive capex stories.
Top 1-Month ETF Gainers
| Symbol | Security Name | ETF Type | ETF Theme | 1D Return | 1M Return | 6M Return | Top Holdings | % from 52W High | % above 150D SMA | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZCSH | The Zcash ETF Shares | commodity | Zcash | 1.68% | 161.55% | 462.33% | — | -4.22% | 184.30% | The purest privacy-coin vehicle in the ETF wrapper; a thin, niche fund whose move is really a Zcash-specific narrative trade rather than broad crypto beta. Liquidity and creation/redemption mechanics are the risk — it can gap hard in both directions. |
| BWET | Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF | theme | Tanker Shipping | 5.89% | 108.03% | 1070.68% | AGPXX | 0.00% | 284.17% | Tanker rates are the tightest link in a global oil/shipping squeeze; this is a futures-based fund that can bleed from roll yield if the curve flips into contango. Exposure is a freight-rate call, not a spot-crude call. |
| XRP | Bitwise XRP ETF | theme | XRP | 7.56% | 45.00% | 4.40% | — | -36.92% | 13.88% | A single-asset spot XRP trust, so flow and token price are the only drivers. Fees and liquidity are better in the larger sibling (XRPC), making this a share-gain race as much as an XRP call. |
| XRPC | Canary XRP ETF | other | XRP | 7.40% | 44.87% | 4.02% | — | -37.10% | 13.70% | Canary's XRP vehicle — same underlying token, different sponsor. Duplicate listings around the same coin mean the trade is XRP itself; sponsor fee and inside-spread differences decide which one gathers assets long term. |
| BHYP | Common Shares of Beneficial Interest of Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF | theme | Hyperliquid | 0.77% | 41.78% | — | — | -5.35% | — | A brand-new Hyperliquid wrapper with the smallest asset base in the cohort; perp-DEX economics are levered to speculative trading volume, which is highly reflexive. Early-stage listings like this carry launch-date distortions in their trading history. |
| BSOL | Bitwise Solana Staking ETF | theme | Solana Staking | 1.28% | 36.37% | 19.61% | — | -44.38% | 26.41% | Staking adds a yield kicker on top of Solana beta, so it can out-earn plain spot funds in an up move — but staking mechanics also add operational and liquidity friction. |
| GSOL | Grayscale Solana Staking ETF | other | Solana | 1.16% | 36.31% | 18.96% | — | -65.32% | 26.06% | Grayscale's staking product competes head-to-head with BSOL; the fee differential matters more than the coin exposure over a multi-year hold, and asset migration between the two is a known structural headwind for the pricier share class. |
| SOLZ | Solana ETF | theme | Solana | 1.21% | 35.44% | 14.99% | — | -61.27% | 23.66% | Non-staking Solana exposure — the plainest way to own the token. Without staking yield it lags the staking wrappers during rallies, which is why it sits below them even on similar underlying moves. |
| ETHB | iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF | commodity | Ethereum Staked | 0.00% | 34.97% | 21.32% | — | 0.00% | — | Staked Ethereum inside a trust structure; the staking component is the differentiator versus plain ETH trusts, though it also adds redemption and validator complexity. |
| ETH | Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF Shares | theme | Ethereum | -0.08% | 34.82% | 21.82% | — | -45.59% | 24.13% | A mini share class from Grayscale — lower absolute price points historically widened retail access to the ETH staking trade. Trading at a sizeable discount to its high shows how violently this complex round-trips. |
| TETH | 21Shares Ethereum ETF | other | Ethereum | 0.00% | 34.79% | 20.85% | — | -46.31% | 23.49% | One of several near-identical Ethereum wrappers; in a crowded field, scale and fee become the only durable moats. Sponsor consolidation risk is real for the smallest vehicles. |
| ETHA | iShares Ethereum Trust ETF | commodity | Ethereum | 0.05% | 34.72% | 20.64% | — | -46.44% | 23.46% | The largest, most liquid spot Ethereum trust — the default institutional access point for ETH. Its flows are a useful read on whether the crypto bid is broadening beyond Bitcoin. |
| USO | United States Oil Fund | commodity | Crude Oil | 1.14% | 25.30% | 30.67% | — | -1.09% | 28.17% | Oil exposure via front-month futures, so contango drag is a persistent structural cost that makes it a poor long-hold but an effective tactical vehicle. WTI's supply-scarcity bid is the underlying driver. |
| IBIT | iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF | theme | Bitcoin | 2.22% | 24.69% | 10.82% | — | -37.24% | 12.76% | The institutional Bitcoin access point and the deepest pool in the cohort; its creation/redemption flows are the cleanest signal of allocator demand for digital assets. |
| BITO | ProShares Bitcoin ETF | commodity | Bitcoin | 2.31% | 24.08% | 9.08% | IQMM | -48.87% | 11.61% | A futures-and-strategy Bitcoin product — the covered-call overlay can cap upside during sharp rallies, so it typically trails spot trusts in a melt-up while offering some income. Note its low absolute price reflects past share-class mechanics. |
Top 1-Month ETF Laggards
| Symbol | Security Name | ETF Type | ETF Theme | 1D Return | 1M Return | 6M Return | Top Holdings | % from 52W High | % above 150D SMA | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FOTO | Tuttle Capital Pure Play Photonics ETF | theme | Photonics | -8.41% | -19.57% | — | TLDR, LITE, IPGP, COHR, FN, CIEN, LASR, VIAV, MKSI, NOVT | -39.65% | — | Pure-play photonics basket tied to optical transceivers and datacom lasers; the same AI capex digestion that punished Corning, Coherent and MACOM hits these holdings directly. Extremely small asset base amplifies both spreads and headline volatility. |
| SPRX | Spear Alpha ETF | theme | Disruptive Growth | -7.52% | -15.11% | 12.10% | ALAB, COHR, NET, ARM, LITE, LRCX, SPCX, MKSI, CIEN, KLAC | -28.42% | -7.43% | A concentrated disruptive-growth basket heavy in semiconductor equipment and optics — precisely the part of the AI supply chain being de-rated as hyperscalers signal capex pacing caution. Single-name weightings make this a high-conviction, high-dispersion vehicle. |
| JEDI | Defiance Drone and Modern Warfare ETF | theme | Drone & Modern Warfare | 0.00% | -14.90% | -3.62% | UMAC, RDW, ONDS, AI, ACHR, LUNR, RCAT, RKLB, ASTS, AVAV | -39.67% | -9.41% | Defense-tech newcomers — drones, counter-UAS, autonomy — sold off alongside the broader industrial complex. These are revenue-light, contract-milestone-driven names, so sentiment around defense budget timing dominates the tape. |
| AIRR | First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF | theme | American Industrial Renaissance | -2.34% | -14.66% | -3.42% | KTOS, IESC, OC, SPXC, BWXT, NXT, KRMN, SAIA, HII, RBC | -21.37% | -13.07% | Domestic industrial mid-caps with heavy exposure to reshoring and infrastructure spend. Long-duration capex beneficiaries get hit hardest when the 10-year yield and term premium stay elevated, which is exactly the current regime. |
| REXC | Sprott Rare Earths Ex-China ETF | theme | Rare Earths | -3.33% | -14.27% | — | MP, LYC.AX, SRL.AX, NEO.TO, USAR, ILU.AX, LIN.AX, ALOY, CRML, BRE.AX | -31.37% | — | Rare-earth and critical-minerals names outside China — a policy-driven trade as much as a commodity one. Pricing gaps in thinly traded foreign listings and a brand-new fund history both flatter and distort reported returns here. |
| HBMX | Tuttle Capital Concentrated Memory Stack ETF | theme | Memory Semiconductors | -7.22% | -13.78% | — | MU, ATEYY, ONTO, PENG, SKHY, ASML, CAMT, SNDK, LRCX, AMAT | -30.17% | — | A concentrated memory-semiconductor stack, the most cyclical corner of the chip complex. Memory pricing and inventory cycles turn fast, so the drawdown is a cycle repricing rather than a broken thesis — but storage names have no place to hide in a capex pause. |
| HUMN | Roundhill Humanoid Robotics ETF | theme | Humanoid Robotics | -3.01% | -13.75% | -4.88% | TSLA, 6324.T, 9880.HK, 277810.KQ, 108490.KQ, 688017.SS, 005380.KQ, 454910.KQ | -26.34% | -12.04% | Humanoid robotics is still pre-commercial for most holdings, leaving the basket hostage to funding conditions and demo-cycle hype. High-beta, long-duration names are the first to be sold when real rates stay high. |
| DRNZ | REX Drone ETF | theme | Drones | -0.42% | -13.25% | -24.42% | AVAV, ONDS, NXSN.TA, UMAC, RCAT, DRO.AX, 278A.T, AVEX, ELS.AX, PLTR | -29.98% | -14.53% | Drone-focused basket spanning US and international autonomy names; overlaps heavily with JEDI's holdings, so owning both concentrates the same risk rather than diversifying it. |
| NASA | Tema Space Innovators ETF | theme | Space | -2.39% | -13.20% | — | RKLB, ECHO, ASTS, VSAT, MDA.TO, LUNR, VNP.TO, FLY, FTC.L | -45.38% | — | Space and launch-adjacent exposure — a capital-hungry sector where milestones slip and financing windows can close abruptly. Small funds tracking speculative themes can show return distortions from creation-flow timing. |
| ITA | iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF | theme | Aerospace & Defense | -1.02% | -13.18% | -5.35% | GE, RTX, BA, GD, LMT, NOC, HWM, TDG, LHX, AXON | -14.39% | -6.86% | The classic prime-contractor basket — far less speculative than the drone or space funds but still caught in the industrials liquidation. Defense budgets are durable; the de-rating is about rates and multiple compression, not order books. |
| NCLD | Roundhill Neocloud ETF | theme | Neocloud | -5.57% | -12.78% | — | IREN, NBIS, CRWV, HUT, GLXY | -15.81% | — | Neoclouds are GPU-rental businesses levered to AI compute demand and to the cost of financing large hardware builds. If hyperscaler capex appetite cools, utilization and pricing assumptions for these operators come under immediate pressure. |
| ROKT | State Street SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF | theme | Final Frontiers | -1.80% | -12.71% | 5.67% | OII, FET, RTX, DCO, LMT, HEI, IRDM, TDY, HXL, BA | -22.67% | -5.44% | Frontier-tech industrial basket spanning subsea, energy equipment and aerospace. It reads as a diversified basket but its holdings are cyclical capex spenders, so it behaves like a levered industrial bet. |
| LAZR | Tema Photonics & Optical ETF | theme | Photonics & Optical | -7.32% | -12.51% | — | — | -19.70% | — | Photonics and optical again — the second fund in this screen targeting the same transceiver supply chain. Duplicative thematic exposure, and its equity base is small enough for flow-driven price dislocations. |
| GPZ | VanEck Alternative Asset Manager ETF | theme | Alternative Asset Managers | -0.52% | -12.37% | 12.04% | BX, KKR, BN.TO, APO, ARES, EQT.ST, BAM.TO, ICG.L, CG | -22.85% | -0.14% | Alternative asset managers (private equity, credit, real assets) are levered to fundraising cycles and exit markets. Higher-for-longer rates stall realizations and slow deployment, which is why this sits with the cyclical laggards despite having nothing to do with AI. |
| TAN | Invesco Solar ETF | theme | Solar | -1.97% | -11.91% | -16.54% | FSLR, NXT, ENLT.TA, ENPH, DORL.TA, HASI, 3800.HK, RUN, CWEN, SEDG | -37.48% | -18.14% | Solar sits at the intersection of two pressures: rate-sensitive project economics and policy/tariff uncertainty. The biggest holdings are increasingly diversified power-platform names rather than panel makers, but the fund still trades as a duration proxy. |
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What the 1-month ETF tape is telling you
The winners are a scarcity-and-speculation cohort, not a growth cohort. Two distinct engines are driving the leaders. First, digital assets: Zcash, XRP, Solana and Ethereum wrappers dominate the top 15, and the duplication is telling — multiple sponsors now run near-identical funds on the same tokens, which means flows and fees, not product differentiation, decide the winners. Staked variants have started to outpace plain spot funds, a sign that holders are optimizing for yield on top of beta. Second, physical scarcity: the tanker-shipping fund and the crude-oil vehicle are riding the same oil bid that has energy as the market's only positive sector over the past month. That is a freight-and-supply trade, and futures-based funds carry roll costs that quietly erode returns if the curve shifts.
The losers are almost entirely one trade — long-duration, capex-heavy AI and frontier tech. Photonics, memory semiconductors, drones, space, humanoid robotics, defense industrials and solar fill the bottom of the table. None of these companies blew up; they are being repriced by a higher-for-longer cost of capital arriving at the same moment hyperscalers are signalling caution on frontier capex. Industrials and speculative duration are the funding source for the energy and software rotation. The presence of alternative asset managers in the laggard list reinforces the point: this is a rate-and-liquidity drawdown, not an AI-specific rejection.
Three things to watch. (1) Breadth, not the index. Headline ETFs look calm while the average stock is materially weaker — several of these thematic funds hold dozens of names and their 1-month losses are broad, not idiosyncratic. (2) Discounts and distortions. Many of the largest movers run small asset bases, have short track records, or hold thinly traded foreign listings; reported returns can be amplified by creation/redemption timing rather than pure market moves. Treat extreme outliers with caution. (3) Concentration inside the theme. Duplicate funds tracking the same coins or the same transceiver supply chain mean the appearance of a diversified idea is often a doubled-up position.
Positioning takeaway. The clean, repeatable pattern is: own the cash-flow-now scarcity trade, avoid the back-end-loaded capex story until breadth in the laggard group stops deteriorating — and assume that the same rate impulse that hurt drones and solar will keep pressure on anything whose payoff sits years out.
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