ETF monthly gainers/losers
Query: ETF top gainers and losers in 1 month · data as of 2026-09-15
Refreshed ETF 1-month momentum screen on 2026-09-15 data: top 15 ETF gainers (crypto/token trusts, tanker shipping, crude & gasoline commodity funds) and top 15 losers (photonics, neoclouds, drones, rare earths, memory semis, solar, space), each with 1D/1M/6M returns, top holdings, % from 52-week high and % above the 150-day SMA. All rows carry qualitative comments plus a narrative on the rotation from AI-hardware buildout toward supply-constrained commodities.
Across 861 active US-listed ETFs as of September 15, 2026, the median fund lost 1.5% over the past month while only 163 ETFs gained versus 693 that declined (average -1.4%). The leadership is narrow and macro-driven: token- and crypto-linked trusts plus commodity funds dominate the upside, a direct read on a 25% monthly surge in crude and continued digital-asset speculation. The downside is entirely speculative-growth hardware — photonics, neoclouds, drones, rare earths, memory and semis — a rotation out of the compute buildout complex and out of long-duration industrial themes.
Top ETF 1-Month Gainers
| Symbol | Fund 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 | -5.49% | 142.05% | 349.33% | — | -9.48% | 164.77% | A privacy-coin trust, not a diversified fund — a straight proxy on Zcash speculation with no underlying cash flow. Moves here are driven almost entirely by privacy-token narrative and thin liquidity, so the drawdown risk after a vertical move is as extreme as the upside. |
| BWET | Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF | theme | Tanker Shipping | -5.68% | 91.49% | 893.13% | AGPXX | -5.68% | 254.19% | Tracks freight-rate futures rather than equities, so it is a direct levered play on tanker charter economics and rerouting of global oil trade. Rate-futures curves roll contango/backwardation into returns, which can amplify or invert moves versus spot freight. |
| BHYP | Common Shares of Beneficial Interest of Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF | theme | Hyperliquid | -5.37% | 38.71% | — | — | -10.44% | — | A newly launched single-token vehicle, so its market-cap and holdings disclosure are still thin. Exposure is to the Hyperliquid perpetuals ecosystem, a higher-beta corner of crypto that tends to trade with leverage sentiment rather than fundamentals. |
| BSOL | Bitwise Solana Staking ETF | theme | Solana Staking | -5.28% | 31.45% | 5.57% | — | -47.32% | 19.61% | Staking-enabled structure that captures Solana's staking yield on top of token price — a subtle edge over non-staking peers in the same theme over time. Still fundamentally a high-volatility single-token bet. |
| GSOL | Grayscale Solana Staking ETF | other | Solana | -5.24% | 31.21% | 5.08% | — | -66.40% | 19.33% | Legacy Grayscale trust with a history of premium/discount dislocations and a structurally higher fee than newer spot ETFs, which is why its long-term track record diverges sharply from the underlying token. |
| SOLZ | Solana ETF | theme | Solana | -5.28% | 30.26% | 1.69% | — | -63.31% | 17.05% | Overlaps heavily with the other Solana wrappers, so the differentiator is only structure and fee — not exposure. Single-token concentration keeps this in the highest-volatility bucket. |
| XRPC | Canary XRP ETF | other | XRP | -11.53% | 29.68% | -15.60% | — | -44.35% | 0.68% | One of several near-identical XRP wrappers — flows rotate between them on fee and sponsor marketing rather than any portfolio difference. The whole cohort is policy-sensitive given the sector's reliance on pending US digital-asset legislation. |
| XRP | Bitwise XRP ETF | theme | XRP | -11.61% | 29.66% | -15.38% | — | -44.24% | 0.75% | Bitwise's XRP wrapper competes directly with Canary's for the same flows; sponsor fee waivers are the primary lever in this crowded cohort rather than any portfolio distinction. |
| ETH | Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF Shares | theme | Ethereum | -4.87% | 28.75% | 4.51% | — | -48.24% | 17.96% | Mini-share staking vehicle with lower per-share pricing aimed at retail accessibility; the staking component is the only structural differentiator from plain spot Ethereum exposure. |
| TETH | 21Shares Ethereum ETF | other | Ethereum | -4.81% | 28.71% | 3.68% | — | -48.90% | 17.43% | A non-staking Ethereum vehicle, so it forgoes the staking yield its peers capture — a structural drag that only shows up over longer holding periods. |
| ETHB | iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF | commodity | Ethereum Staked | -4.99% | 28.66% | 3.94% | — | -4.99% | — | Staked Ethereum wrapper under a fiat-commodity trust structure — a meaningful structural detail because the trust format affects creation/redemption mechanics and tracking versus spot. |
| ETHA | iShares Ethereum Trust ETF | commodity | Ethereum | -5.06% | 28.35% | 3.35% | — | -49.15% | 17.11% | The largest, most liquid Ethereum spot vehicle, so it is the default institutional expression of the trade and typically the first to see flows on any ETF rotation into digital assets. |
| USO | United States Oil Fund | commodity | Crude Oil | 3.32% | 27.85% | 40.71% | — | 0.00% | 31.82% | Futures-based crude vehicle where roll yield, not spot price, often determines the actual return — in a steep backwardated market the fund can underperform the headline oil move it is meant to track. |
| IBIT | iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF | theme | Bitcoin | -3.64% | 20.99% | 2.79% | — | -39.53% | 8.60% | The largest and most liquid bitcoin vehicle, and the default institutional on-ramp — its flows are now a widely watched proxy for broad risk appetite in digital assets. |
| UGA | United States Gasoline Fund LP | commodity | Gasoline | 4.46% | 20.65% | 50.64% | — | 0.00% | 34.61% | Gasoline-specific futures exposure, a narrower seasonal crack-spread trade rather than a general energy bet. Refining margins and summer/winter blend transitions drive it more than crude outright. |
Top ETF 1-Month Losers
| Symbol | Fund 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 | -0.06% | -21.49% | — | TLDR, LITE, IPGP, COHR, FN, CIEN, LASR, VIAV, MKSI, NOVT | -39.69% | — | A tiny, recently launched thematic fund concentrated in optical-component names tied to AI datacenter interconnects. Micro-asset base and thin liquidity make the price path far more violent than the underlying hardware cycle. |
| NCLD | Roundhill Neocloud ETF | theme | Neocloud | -3.59% | -18.84% | — | IREN, NBIS, CRWV, HUT, GLXY | -18.84% | — | Holds the neocloud operators that rent out GPU capacity, an intensely capital-intensive model dependent on continued financing availability. The group is the most direct casualty of a rotation away from buying compute infrastructure. |
| JEDI | Defiance Drone and Modern Warfare ETF | theme | Drone & Modern Warfare | -0.27% | -18.70% | -4.78% | UMAC, RDW, ONDS, AI, ACHR, LUNR, RCAT, RKLB, ASTS, AVAV | -39.84% | -9.63% | Defense-tech basket spanning drones, counter-UAS and space names, several of which are pre-profit and funded by government awards. Contract timing and federal budget headlines drive it far more than index or rate moves. |
| REXC | Sprott Rare Earths Ex-China ETF | theme | Rare Earths | -1.84% | -17.63% | — | MP, LYC.AX, SRL.AX, NEO.TO, USAR, ILU.AX, LIN.AX, ALOY, CRML, BRE.AX | -32.63% | — | Ex-China rare-earth and critical-minerals exposure, deliberately structured to sidestep Chinese supply-chain dominance. Prices here are policy-driven — export controls, strategic stockpiling and Western processing subsidies matter more than demand. |
| SPRX | Spear Alpha ETF | theme | Disruptive Growth | -0.38% | -15.97% | 7.99% | ALAB, COHR, NET, ARM, LITE, LRCX, SPCX, MKSI, CIEN, KLAC | -28.69% | -7.78% | Concentrated growth fund whose top positions sit squarely in the AI semiconductor and optical supply chain. High single-name concentration means a handful of earnings events can dominate the entire fund's return path. |
| AIRR | First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF | theme | American Industrial Renaissance | 0.26% | -15.79% | -4.90% | KTOS, IESC, OC, SPXC, BWXT, NXT, KRMN, SAIA, HII, RBC | -21.16% | -12.77% | Small- and mid-cap US industrial basket skewed to defense electronics and infrastructure services. The theme's sensitivity to government spending cycles and rates makes it a high-beta play on reindustrialization policy. |
| DRNZ | REX Drone ETF | theme | Drones | -1.12% | -15.54% | -26.06% | AVAV, ONDS, NXSN.TA, UMAC, RCAT, DRO.AX, 278A.T, AVEX, ELS.AX, PLTR | -30.77% | -15.37% | Narrow drone-pure-play fund with heavy weight in small defense-tech names and some non-US listings; index inclusion of foreign tickers adds currency and liquidity wrinkles to the return profile. |
| ITA | iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF | theme | Aerospace & Defense | -1.28% | -15.49% | -7.96% | GE, RTX, BA, GD, LMT, NOC, HWM, TDG, LHX, AXON | -15.49% | -7.99% | The bellwether defense fund, dominated by primes with long-duration backlogs — but it trades on budget sentiment and program timing, and has historically tracked the defense-appropriations cycle rather than the broad industrial economy. |
| LAZR | Tema Photonics & Optical ETF | theme | Photonics & Optical | -0.32% | -14.74% | — | — | -19.96% | — | Optical and photonics basket that overlaps materially with the top-of-leaderboard issue — the same AI-interconnect spending cycle that bid these names up is now being questioned. |
| HBMX | Tuttle Capital Concentrated Memory Stack ETF | theme | Memory Semiconductors | -0.76% | -14.70% | — | MU, ATEYY, ONTO, PENG, SKHY, ASML, CAMT, SNDK, LRCX, AMAT | -30.69% | — | A brand-new concentrated memory and equipment basket; memory pricing is deeply cyclical and the group's fortunes swing on DRAM/NAND contract pricing and AI-server capex cadence. |
| HUMN | Roundhill Humanoid Robotics ETF | theme | Humanoid Robotics | -0.17% | -14.36% | -6.78% | TSLA, 6324.T, 9880.HK, 277810.KQ, 108490.KQ, 688017.SS, 005380.KQ, 454910.KQ | -26.46% | -12.13% | Heavy weighting in Tesla plus a spread of Asian component makers, many Korean and Japanese small caps with limited US liquidity. That makes the fund a leveraged read on humanoid-robotics prototype news rather than near-term earnings. |
| NASA | Tema Space Innovators ETF | theme | Space | -1.18% | -14.29% | — | RKLB, ECHO, ASTS, VSAT, MDA.TO, LUNR, VNP.TO, FLY, FTC.L | -46.03% | — | Space exposure spanning launch, satellite and lunar-adjacent names, many of which are pre-revenue or contract-dependent. Government award timing is the dominant catalyst, not commercial demand. |
| ROKT | State Street SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF | theme | Final Frontiers | 0.13% | -13.73% | 4.43% | OII, FET, RTX, DCO, LMT, HEI, IRDM, TDY, HXL, BA | -22.56% | -5.33% | Picks frontier-technology names across space, subsea and defense from the Kensho index methodology, which screens for innovation-oriented revenue exposure rather than pure-play purity — a more diversified, less thematic-concentrated expression. |
| TAN | Invesco Solar ETF | theme | Solar | -2.44% | -13.24% | -20.55% | FSLR, NXT, ENLT.TA, ENPH, DORL.TA, HASI, 3800.HK, RUN, CWEN, SEDG | -39.01% | -20.01% | Solar basket hit by a combination of rate sensitivity, project-financing costs and policy uncertainty around US clean-energy incentives. Installer and manufacturer mix means it also carries significant credit and margin risk. |
| REMX | VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF | theme | Rare Earth Metals | -0.91% | -13.05% | -24.20% | PLS.AX, ALB, MP, LYC.AX, 600111.SS, ALM, SQM, 601958.SS, 600549.SS, 7610.TW | -37.64% | -22.33% | Strategic-metals exposure blending rare earths with lithium producers; the fund straddles two very different demand cycles — magnet materials tied to defense and EVs, and lithium tied to battery oversupply. |
Summary
What the ETF tape says this month
This is a market of two dislocations, not one trend. The upside is entirely about supply constraints and speculation: crude-linked commodity funds and token trusts are the only cohorts making money, while the average US equity sector is negative. The downside is the mirror image — the funds that financed, built, or bet on the AI-hardware buildout are now the funding source.
The commodity bid is real. The oil complex has decoupled from equities on a supply- and capex-driven cycle, and funds holding futures directly inherit both the price move and the shape of the curve. This is not a demand boom, which matters for how sustainable it is: energy leadership in a weak-equity tape historically persists only while inventories stay tight.
Crypto funds lead but are the most fragile. A large cluster of near-identical single-token wrappers occupies the top of the leaderboard. Flow rotation between them is a fee-and-marketing story, not a portfolio story, and the entire cohort remains hostage to pending US digital-asset legislation — a reminder that these vehicles trade on policy duration, not earnings.
The laggards share one trait. Photonics, neoclouds, memory, semis, drones, rare earths, solar and space are all capital-intensive, long-duration, narrative-priced themes. They rallied on forward spending expectations and are de-rating as the cost of capital stays elevated and capex plans get scrutinized. Several of these funds are brand new with micro asset bases, which magnifies the move.
Practical read-through. The rotation is from the tools to the output — away from hardware builders and toward whoever captures the productivity. Within the damage, the most differentiated names are those with policy or contract catalysts (defense awards, critical-minerals controls) rather than pure demand stories. Watch the curve and the oil price for the first sign of a leadership handoff.
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