If your portfolio is invested in exchange-traded funds, you may have had a very good 2025. The S&P 500 — the index tracked by the three largest ETFs on the market, per ETF Database – returned about 16% in 2025.
But in theory, depending on which funds you held, you could have done quite a bit better.
The MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN, a fund which tracks the price of a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, finished the year up 796% — the best of any U.S. traded ETF, according to data from FactSet analyzed by CNBC. You could have also earned a huge return had you bought other ETFs focused on metal mining or Korean stocks.
While it can be fun to fantasize about what your returns could have looked like had you chosen one of last year’s big winners, you should think twice before choosing one as a major building block of your investing strategy, says Jeff Ptak, managing director for Morningstar Research Services.
“They should play very little, if any, role in your portfolio,” he says. “Most of what you see at the top of these lists is niche, hyper-volatile, gimmicky. These aren’t words I would associate with prudent, long-term investing.”
