The stock market tacked on 26% across all of last year, and as the S&P 500 has tacked on 13.2% from January through late July, it appears Wall Street could rival those gains again in 2024.
Thanks to this sustained optimism, “risk-on” stocks have been at the top of the heap in the current bull market environment. These investments tend to have higher risk and feature greater volatility, but they also can deliver outsized gains when the environment is in their favor.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future returns, of course, but so far these higher-risk strategies have resulted in gains significantly better than the broader stock market this year. The following list of the best-performing ETFs of 2024 all have delivered gains at least double that of the broader S&P 500, and represent what’s working on Wall Street now.
Please note, these are not the absolute top performers across the entire universe of exchange-traded products: The funds highlighted in this list exclude “leveraged” funds that deliver double or triple the daily returns on an underlying strategy, and the list only considers ETFs with at least $100 million in total assets.
| ETF | Expense Ratio | Assets Under Management | Year-to-date Performance* |
| Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (ticker: WGMI) | 0.75% | $133 million | 23.4% |
| VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP) | 0.51% | $121 million | 23.5% |
| Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ) | 0.85% | $141 million | 23.8% |
| Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO) | 0.13% | $1.9 billion | 29.8% |
| Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS) | 0.29% | $513 million | 30.9% |
| iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR) | 0.59% | $266 million | 33.8% |
| ProShares Ether Strategy ETF (EETH) | 0.95% | $102 million | 34.1% |
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) | 0.35% | $22.9 billion | 37.1% |
| ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) | 0.95% | $1.8 billion | 52.9% |
| Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) | 1.5% | $16.5 billion | 73.1% |
*As of July 25 close.
Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI)
Expense ratio: 0.75%, or $75 annually on $10,000 invested Assets under management: $133 million YTD performance: +23.4%
As the name implies, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF is a fund that is invested in the firms mining the cryptocurrency. This is an interesting way to play digital assets, and is akin to investing in gold or silver miners instead of buying precious metal directly. Obviously there are input costs to take into account — energy being the big one for any crypto miner — but there can also be significant profits for a well-run business. There are about 80 holdings that make up WGMI at present, including Iris Energy Ltd. (IREN) and Cleanspark Inc. (CLSK) which have both gained more than 60% since Jan. 1. Not every pick in the portfolio has those kinds of gains, but the collective investments of WGMI have done quite well and can provide diversification for those who don’t want to pick individual Bitcoin mining stocks.
VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP)
Expense ratio: 0.51% Assets under management: $121 million YTD performance: +23.5%
A tactical play based on the “Web 3.0” economy, this VanEck ETF holds a narrow list of about 20 companies that include mobile payments giant Block Inc. (SQ) and Bitcoin specialist Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (MARA), among others. These are not the Silicon Valley titans that dominate most other technology ETFs, so this fund is an interesting supplemental holding to get a more direct play on the future platforms that may dominate the digital economy the way that e-mail and e-commerce did roughly two decades ago. As the broader stock market seems to be doing well, then, it’s not surprising that these higher-risk but high-reward tech investments are on a roll in 2024.
Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ)
Expense ratio: 0.85% Assets under management: $141 million YTD performance: +23.8%
The name of this Bitwise fund says it all, with about 30 different stocks in its portfolio that are designed to deliver on the promise of innovation in the crypto industry. These include MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), a software firm that made a bold decision around 2020 to invest its corporate cash in Bitcoin, as well as cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN). The rise of Bitcoin and Ether lately has been great for investors who own the digital asset directly, but has also been a boon to companies like these that indirectly allow investors to profit from the crypto market’s run in 2024.
Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO)
Expense ratio: 0.13% Assets under management: $1.9 billion YTD performance: +29.8%
SPMO is a momentum-focused fund that offers a diversified and cost-effective way to play the S&P 500 via a strategy that leans toward the biggest movers in this leading index. Specifically, this ETF holds the top 100 stocks in the S&P 500 index ranked on momentum factors. The screening methodology is not perfect, primarily as it is backward-looking and is only reconstituted twice per year. However, letting your winners run is a tried-and-true strategy on Wall Street — and in 2024, it seems that this strategy continues to pay off as SPMO has delivered roughly twice the returns of the broader S&P in the same period.
Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS)
Expense ratio: 0.29% Assets under management: $513 million YTD returns: +30.9%
Some investors buy ETFs for easy access to diversification across hundreds or even thousands of stocks. Others take a more tactical approach, believing that spreading their money around might reduce your risk but also reduces focus on the biggest money-making opportunities. MAGS embraces this latter approach, which is admittedly high-risk but potentially offers a higher reward. It boasts a very limited portfolio of “Magnificent 7” stock leaders — Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Tesla Inc. (TSLA), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Meta Platforms Inc. (META) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). But for investors who want a small list of stocks with big potential, MAGS might be worth a look.
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iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR)
Expense ratio: 0.59% Assets under management: $250 million YTD performance: +36%
Turkey has not been without economic volatility over the last few years, but its central bank has recently taken aggressive efforts to beat back inflation from a pace that recently topped a 70% annual rate. Those measures seem to be connecting with businesses and investors, particularly since steady economic growth is driving a big part of that inflation rate. As a result, this leading Turkey ETF is up strongly this year. The outlook for the region remains uncertain, but the 90 or so holdings that make up this fund have been going strong. And with few other options to invest in the region, TUR is perhaps the best way to gain exposure to this nation right now.
ProShares Ether Strategy ETF (EETH)
Expense ratio: 0.95% Assets under management: $102 million YTD performance: +34.1%
Barely squeaking over the minimum threshold of $100 million in assets, this crypto fund is dedicated to Ether — unlike several of the other top-performing ETFs later on this list that have a Bitcoin bent. Formed in 2023, EETH was in fact the first U.S. exchange-traded fund to allow investors exposure to Ether, which is colloquially known as Ethereum. It does this by investing in Ether futures and does not invest directly in the cryptocurrency, so the fund does not provide precise daily returns that mirror Ether’s performance. That said, it moves in generally the same direction — and with Ether up roughly 38% year to date as of this writing, EETH has managed to put up quite a gain of its own even if the gains aren’t as dramatic as returns for the cryptocurrency itself.
VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH)
Expense ratio: 0.35% Assets under management: $22.9 billion YTD performance: +37.1% One particular corner of technology that has been red hot across the first half of 2024 is the chipmaking sector. SMH is the largest and most liquid way to invest with this as your target, with a focused list of 25 components led by giants Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM). The industry can be quite volatile, as it’s tied to the general ups and downs of the global economy, but after correcting a supply glut in 2022 the semiconductor sector is back on a roll. As a result, this fund has put up returns that are roughly three times that of the S&P 500 year to date.
ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO)
Expense ratio: 0.95%, or $95 annually on $10,000 invested Assets under management: $1.8 billion YTD performance: +52.9%
Yet another crypto-focused offering, BITO invests in Bitcoin futures. While it does not invest directly in Bitcoin, these derivatives are still tied to the general direction of the cryptocurrency — and as ETFs tied to Bitcoin futures won regulatory approval a few years earlier than other variations of crypto investments, it has a deeper market history with trading data dating back to 2021. And while the performance lags Bitcoin itself, which is up more than 50% in 2024, the returns are nevertheless among the best of all non-leveraged ETFs of reasonable size.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
Expense ratio: 1.5% Assets under management: $16.5 billion YTD performance: +73.1%
Among 11 “spot” Bitcoin ETFs approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January of this year, this Grayscale fund moved into the limelight and quickly gobbled up investor assets. It has seen significant outflows more recently as other funds with more reasonable expense structures have been gaining popularity, but GBTC remains significant in size — and a frontrunner when it comes to overall performance. While it doesn’t track Bitcoin prices exactly 1-to-1, it definitely gives more direct exposure to the cryptocurrency and has had quite a run in 2024 as a result.
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10 Best-Performing ETFs of 2024 originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 07/26/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
