## [# The 20 Worst-Performing ETFs of 2025](/sections/features/20-worst-performing-etfs-2025)
# The 20 Worst-Performing ETFs of 2025
Not all ETFs shared in 2025’s market rally.
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[By Sumit Roy ](/authors/sumit-roy)
Dec 29, 2025
Edited by: ETF.com Staff
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Last week, we looked at the best-performing ETFs of the year, a list dominated by gold, silver, and gold- and silver-mining funds.
This week, we’re flipping the script.
Below are the worst-performing ETFs of 2025, excluding leveraged, inverse, and single-stock products. It’s a very different and far more eclectic group. These are funds that sharply underperformed in a year when global stock markets delivered strong gains for investors.
All performance figures are year-to-date through December 26.
## Crypto ETFs Lead the Decliners
The worst performers of the year were a pair of crypto ETFs from Grayscale: the [**Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF (GLNK)**](/glnk) and the [**Grayscale Solana Trust ETF (GSOL)**](/gsol). GLNK is down 87% on the year, while GSOL has fallen 59.9%.
Those eye-popping losses aren’t primarily a reflection of crypto prices. Instead, they stem from Grayscale’s conversion of these products from quasi–closed-end trusts into ETFs, similar to what it did last year with the [**Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)**](/gbtc) and [**Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE)**](/ethe).
Heading into 2025, GSOL traded at a 56% premium to net asset value, while GLNK carried an astonishing 365% premium. The ETF conversions forced those premiums to collapse, snapping prices back to NAV and crushing returns in the process.
GLNK and GSOL weren’t the only crypto-related ETFs on the worst-performers list. Ethereum-linked funds also showed up, including the [**ProShares Ether ETF (EETH)**](/eeth), which holds futures contracts and is down 16.7%, and the [**Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE)**](/ethe), a spot product that fell 14.2%.
ETHE lagged other spot Ethereum ETFs, such as the [**iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA)**](/etha), which was down 12.5%, largely due to ETHE’s significantly higher expense ratio.
Other crypto laggards included the [**Simplify Bitcoin Strategy PLUS Income ETF (MAXI)**](/maxi), down 26.8%. While not formally leveraged, MAXI can run Bitcoin exposure anywhere from 50% to 200%, then writes put spreads to generate cash. It’s an approach that hasn’t paid off this year.
The [**Bitwise Trendwise Bitcoin and Treasuries Rotation Strategy ETF (BITC)**](/bitc) also landed on the list, down 20.5%. As the name suggests, BITC is a trend-following strategy that rotates between Bitcoin and Treasuries. That approach struggled in a year when Bitcoin itself was down only about 6.5%.
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## Volatility ETFs Sink as Calm Prevails
A pair of volatility ETFs also ranked among the year’s worst performers. The [**ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (VIXY)**](/vixy) and the [**iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX)**](/vxx) both dropped more than 41%.
The VIX fell from 17.4 at the start of the year to about 14.2 recently, reflecting a relatively calm equity market, aside from April’s tariff-related swoon. Persistent contango in VIX futures further weighed on long volatility products, creating a steady performance drag.
## Most Commodities Miss the Rally
While precious metals surged in 2025, most other commodities failed to keep up, and several commodity ETFs made the worst-performers list.
The [**United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG)**](/ung) fell 23.8%. The [**Teucrium Wheat Fund (WEAT)**](/weat) dropped 15.2%, while the [**Teucrium Sugar Fund (CANE)**](/cane) lost 13.8%. The [**United States 12 Month Oil Fund (USL)**](/usl) declined 13% on the year.
These results underscore how narrow the commodity rally has been, with gold, silver, platinum, and palladium standing in stark contrast to the rest of the complex.
## Hedge-Fund-Like ETFs Come Up Short
Rounding out the list are several hedge-fund-style ETFs that failed to deliver on their objectives.
The [**TradersAI Large Cap Equity & Cash ETF (HFSP)**](/hfsp), which trades long and short S&P 500 futures contracts, fell 23.3%.
The [**AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund (BTAL)**](/btal) dropped 21.8%—almost by design. BTAL seeks to provide consistent negative beta to U.S. equities by going long low-beta stocks and short high-beta stocks. While that profile may appeal to certain investors, the fund’s long-term track record has been poor, with dismal performance since its 2011 inception.
Perhaps the most striking disappointment came from the [**Simplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF (QIS)**](/qis), which plunged 36.1%.
QIS invests primarily through total return swaps tied to a diversified basket of third-party quantitative investment strategies spanning equities, interest rates, commodities, and currencies. The idea is to blend 10 to 20 quantitative strategies in pursuit of attractive risk-adjusted returns and diversification benefits.
In practice, the strategy has failed badly. Instead of smoothing returns and mitigating risk, QIS delivered steep losses and fell well short of its stated investment goals.
*Note: Data measures returns for the year-to-date period through Dec. 26 and excludes leveraged, inverse, and single-stock ETFs*
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[ Sumit Roy Senior ETF Analyst ](/authors/sumit-roy)
Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com and author of (Don't) Invest Like a Pro. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including… [View Bio](/authors/sumit-roy)
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