Top performing ETFs (2026)
The 50 ETFs below have a combined assets under management of $1.7T; the best performer of 2026 is USO (+94.7% YTD). The year's best ETF returns, leveraged and inverse funds excluded. Not investment advice.
End of day 2026-08-21 · 50 entries · digits update live during market hours
Top 50 ETFs by 2026 return
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Methodology
The 50 best year-to-date total returns among the ETFs we track, measured over our own adjusted closes so distributions count. Leveraged and inverse funds are excluded: a 3x daily-reset fund tops any performance screen in a rising market by construction, and its compounding makes the number mean something different from every other row. Funds that listed this year have no prior-year close and are left out rather than shown on a partial year. Expense ratios are curated; net assets come from filings.
Returns are total returns (dividends reinvested), computed over adjusted closes we derive ourselves from SEC-filed dividends and splits. Fundamentals come from company filings via our EDGAR pipeline. Past performance does not predict future returns; this is not investment advice.
FAQ#
- What is the best performing ETF of 2026?
- The best performing ETF of 2026 so far is United States Oil Fund (USO), up +94.7% year-to-date — a total return, so distributions are counted.
- What are the top 10 performing ETFs of 2026?
- The top 10 ETF performers of 2026 year-to-date: 1. USO +94.7%, 2. EWY +83.4%, 3. SOXX +72.8%, 4. EWT +64.1%, 5. SMH +55.6%, 6. VDE +44.4%, 7. XLE +44.3%, 8. DBC +39.8%, 9. XBI +36.0%, 10. CIBR +33.1%.
- Why are leveraged ETFs not on this list?
- Because they would always win it, and for a reason that says nothing about the market. A 3x fund is built to move three times its index each day, so in any rising year it tops a performance screen by construction — and daily resetting means its return over months is not three times the index's, it is a path-dependent number that is not comparable to any other row. Inverse funds are excluded for the same reason. If you want them, the screener will show them.
- Does a great year make an ETF a good buy?
- Not by itself. Much of what tops this list in any given year is a single sector or country having a good run — semiconductors, energy, one national market — and sector leadership rotates. The expense ratio and assets columns are here because they are the parts of the decision that do not change with the year: what the fund costs to hold, and whether it is large enough to trade cheaply.
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