The ETF market experienced some major swings over the past financial year, with artificial intelligence products surging, while cryptocurrency products fell sharply, new data compiled by InvestSMART shows.
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Cryptocurrency ASX ETFs out of favour
In fact, the best-performing ETF from 2025, the Digital Bitcoin ETF (ASX: BTXX), was the worst performer for 2026, swinging from a 95.5% return to a 48.4% fall.
The Van Eck Bitcoin ETF (ASX: VBTC) also performed poorly, swinging from a 76.5% return in 2025 – putting it in third place overall – to a 48% fall in 2026, placing it 384th out of 387 ETFs in 2026.
Video gaming ETFs also performed poorly in 2026 after a strong 2025, while gold ETFs, which took out five of the top 10 places in the 2025 ETF rankings, held up well.
InvestSMART said:
Gold miners were the standouts. The Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF (ASX: MNRS) returned 49.0%, while the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (ASX: GDX) gained 42.3%. They were the only ETFs from last year's top 10 to remain among the top 25 performers. The three gold bullion ETFs also remained in positive territory, returning about 15%, although all slipped outside the top 100.
AI the name of the game for ASX ETFs performance last financial year
When it comes to the 2026 results, AI and technology ETFs shone, along with critical minerals.
InvestSMART said:
Two words capture the clearest theme among many of the top performers: artificial intelligence. Much of that strength came through semiconductor exposure. Chips form the foundation of AI, and South Korea and Taiwan are among Asia's leaders in the industry. South Korea is a global leader in AI memory chips, led by Samsung and SK Hynix, while Taiwan is home to TSMC, whose second-quarter revenue rose 33.7% year on year to US$40.2 billion. This goes a long way to explaining why the top two performers – iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (ASX: IKO) and Global X Semiconductor ETF (ASX: SEMI) – notched up extraordinary annual returns of 170.8% and 160.8%, respectively.
The Global X Hydrogen ETF (ASX: HGEN) was the third-best performer, followed by Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA) and Betashares Energy Transition Metals ETF (ASX: XMET).
Rounding out the top 10 were the Global X S&P Biotech ETF (ASX: CURE), Global X Green Metal Miners ETF (ASX: GMTL), Global X Battery Tech & Lithium ETF (ASX: ACDC), iShares Asia 50 ETF (ASX: IAA), and VanEck MSCI International Value ETF (ASX: HVLU).
The most popular ETF in 2026 was the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS) with $3.8 billion in funds inflows.
