The 10 Most Volatile ETFs of 2025
The biggest market swings of 2025 are happening inside these ETFs.
It has been a wild ride for markets in 2025. The S&P 500 started the year with solid gains, plunged into steep losses during April’s selloff, then recovered to reach fresh highs by summer.
For most investors, that kind of turbulence is unwelcome. Volatility erodes confidence, raises stress levels, and makes long-term investing harder. For traders, though, volatility is catnip. The bigger the swings, the more opportunity there is to profit.
In the ETF world, that appetite for volatility has given rise to funds that magnify swings. Some are tied to broad benchmarks, others to narrower sectors, themes, or even single stocks. All of them produce volatility numbers that are off the charts compared to traditional funds.
Here are the 10 most volatile ETFs on the market, measured by the annualized standard deviation of daily returns over the past six months.
UVIX: Volatility on Volatility
The most volatile ETF of the year so far is the 2x Long VIX Futures ETF (UVIX), which posted an annualized volatility of 179% in the latest six-month period.
The VIX—often called Wall Street’s fear gauge—is based on the pricing of S&P 500 index options and reflects what traders expect volatility to be in the future, rather than what it has been in the past.
ETFs like UVIX don’t hold the VIX itself. They track futures tied to the index, and those futures can be wildly unpredictable in their own right.
In April, the VIX surged above 50 for the first time since the pandemic. One month later it was back down to 17. Front-month VIX futures, which UVIX holds, jumped from 18 to 40 before sinking again to 18.
UVIX layered leverage on top of those swings, producing extreme day-to-day fluctuations. To put its swings in perspective, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) has six-month volatility of 23.6%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) is at 29.1%.
UVIX is six to seven times as volatile as those ETFs.
SMCI: Wild AI Stock
Close behind UVIX are two funds tied to Super Micro Computer: the Defiance Daily Target 2x Long SMCI ETF (SMCX) and the GraniteShares 2x Long SMCI ETF (SMCL). Both have volatility of about 177%.
SMCI has been one of the most turbulent stocks of the AI boom. It surged through 2023 and early 2024 on demand for its servers, then collapsed amid accounting concerns and the threat of a Nasdaq delisting. In 2025 the stock has rebounded, but it remains an extremely volatile stock, with big moves in both directions.
MSOX: Cannabis on Leverage
The arrival of single-stock leveraged ETFs has redefined volatility in the ETF space. They give traders turbocharged exposure to names already prone to big swings, producing readings that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago.
Not every leveraged fund is tied to a single stock, though. Another name high on the volatility list is the AdvisorShares MSOS Daily Leveraged ETF (MSOX), which delivers 2x exposure to U.S. cannabis stocks, a group that has been battered in recent years.
Most cannabis names trade at depressed levels, but their daily moves remain huge. MSOX layers leverage on top of those swings, giving it volatility of 174% over the past six months. That puts it on par with the wildest single-stock funds.
Volatility in Crypto Stocks
Three more names in the top 10 come from the crypto sector. The GraniteShares 2x Long COIN Daily ETF (CONL) is tied to the crypto trading platform and infrastructure provider Coinbase. The T-Rex 2x Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU) follows Bitcoin holding company MicroStrategy. And the Defiance Daily Target 2x Long RIOT ETF (RIOX) tracks Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company whose fortunes rise and fall with the economics of mining the cryptocurrency.
All three stocks swing far more than Bitcoin itself, and the leveraged ETFs magnify that further.
For comparison, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has volatility of 42.1% in the same window. The leveraged crypto-stock ETFs are roughly four times as volatile.
Unleveraged Volatility Leaders
While leveraged ETFs are the most volatile funds on the market, it’s worth taking a look at the most volatile unleveraged ETFs as well.
The Roundhill Cannabis ETF (WEED) leads the group at 90.4%, followed by the AdvisorShares Pure U.S. Cannabis ETF (MSOS), which is the unleveraged cousin of MSOX.
Two VIX futures products also appear: the ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (VIXY) and the iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX ETN (VXX). Both inherit the violent moves of VIX futures without layering on additional leverage.
Rounding out the group are Ethereum funds like the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), which posted volatility of about 79%. Ether surged to record highs this year and remains roughly twice as volatile as Bitcoin, which itself is about twice as volatile as gold. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF has a 6-month volatility of just 19.9%.
