10 Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of 2025

Last week we looked at the year’s best-performing ETFs—excluding leveraged and single-stock funds, which would have otherwise dominated the list. This week we’re flipping the filter off. The result is a top 10 made up entirely of leveraged products.

Palantir at the Top

Leading the way are two funds tied to one of the year’s hottest stocks, Palantir. The GraniteShares 2x Long PLTR Daily ETF (PTIR) and the Direxion Daily PLTR Bull 2X Shares (PLTU) have each surged about 262% through Aug. 15. That’s nearly double Palantir’s own 134% gain. 

Palantir’s surge has been fueled by blockbuster earnings. Revenue in the second quarter jumped 48% year over year to $1.01 billion, its fastest growth in four years. 

Positioned at the intersection of two powerful themes—artificial intelligence and defense—Palantir has captured investors’ imagination.

The sticking point is valuation. At 80x forward sales and more than 200x forward earnings, Palantir trades at levels few stocks can match. Analysts remain cautious, but for now, leveraged ETF holders are reaping the rewards.

Miners With Leverage

Slots three through five are all gold miner funds: the MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN (GDXU), the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares (NUGT), and the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares (JNUG), up 249%, 161%, and 158%, respectively.

As we covered last week, gold and silver miners have surged this year. Add leverage on top of those returns and you get the eye-popping gains seen here. 

Gold prices are up 27% to record highs, but miners have outpaced the metal, a reversal of the recent pattern. If it holds, 2025 will be the first year since 2019 that miners finish ahead of gold itself. 

Korea Rebounds

At No. 6 is the Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares (KORU). Korean equities have rebounded after a disastrous 2024, when the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) dropped 20.5%. Political instability, including the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Samsung’s stumble in AI chips weighed heavily on the market last year.

This year, there’s been more stability, and SK Hynix, EWY’s second-largest holding, has surged on demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI applications. EWY has regained all of last year’s losses and tacked on another 10%, pushing it to its highest level since 2022. 

KORU, which tracks the same index as EWY but with leverage, is up 143% this year.  

Defense Stocks Stay Strong

Defense makes an appearance at No. 7 with the Direxion Daily Aerospace & Defense Bull 3X (DFEN), up 105%. The fund tracks the same index as the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA), just with three times the exposure.

Defense stocks were also a theme in the unleveraged top-performers list, where the Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense ETF (EUAD) made the cut. Rising defense budgets and heightened geopolitical tensions have been powerful tailwinds, and DFEN has magnified those gains.

Uber Joins the List

In the eighth spot, the GraniteShares 2x Long UBER Daily ETF (UBRL) is up 101% this year. Some of the surge comes down to timing: Uber ended 2024 near the bottom of its range on fears that autonomous vehicles could disrupt its business. 

Those concerns have since faded, the stock has climbed to record highs, and leverage turned that rebound into triple-digit returns.

Mexico’s Recovery Trade

Ninth is the Direxion Daily MSCI Mexico Bull 3X Shares (MEXX), up 98%. Like Uber, the rally stems from a rebound off depressed levels. Mexican equities slumped last year amid trade uncertainty tied to President Trump’s tariff rhetoric.

So far, the impact has been less severe than feared, and Mexican equities have clawed back much of their losses. 

A Hybrid Gold Play

Rounding out the top 10 is something a bit different: the WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Gold Miners Strategy Fund (GDMN). The fund pairs gold miner equities with gold futures for about 1.8x exposure to the theme. It’s up 95% so far this year. 

Flows Tell a Different Story

Despite the stellar performance, investors haven’t been piling in. Outside of PLTU, which saw modest inflows of $17 million, every one of the top 10 leveraged ETFs has either flat flows or net outflows this year. 

PTIR has bled $255 million, NUGT and JNUG have lost a combined $600 million, and KORU is down another $70 million. 

The only product attracting real demand sits just outside the list: the YieldMax PLTR Option Income Strategy ETF (PLTY), up 81% in 2025 with $550 million of inflows—far more popular than the leveraged funds topping the charts.

For a full list of the 10 best performing leveraged ETFs of 2025, see the table below.