The Best-Performing Active ETFs of the Year

There are 3,853 exchange-traded funds listed in the U.S. today, according to etf.com’s ETF screener. Of those, around 44%, or 1,696 of them, are categorized as active ETFs. In this article, we’re going to highlight some of the best-performing active ETFs of the year. 

As you would expect, in a year in which stocks and other risk assets have surged, active funds have performed extremely well.

The top active ETFs have more than doubled their investors’ money. Funds tied to Nvidia and bitcoin have done particularly well, but there are a handful of ETFs targeting other assets on the list of top-performing active ETFs also.  

The YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF (NVDY) leads the pack. Currently the best-performing active ETF of 2024 with a 126% gain, this fund has benefited from the meteoric rise in shares of the AI chip giant Nvidia.

NVDY sells covered calls on Nvidia with the aim of generating monthly income for investors. While the fund’s 126% return is fantastic, it lags the 187% jump in shares of Nvidia, highlighting the trade-off that the ETF is making: giving up upside in Nvidia’s stock in exchange for monthly income. 

Crypto ETFs Surge 

Just behind NVDY on the top performing active ETFs list is the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO), with a 121% return this year.

BITO was the first bitcoin ETF to launch in the U.S. back in 2021. Unlike the competing iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), BITO isn’t a spot bitcoin ETF, but rather holds bitcoin futures contracts. 

Still the fund remains popular, with almost $3 billion in assets under management.

BITO is one of 15 crypto-related ETFs on the list of top 20 active ETFs of the year. Others include the First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry & Digital Economy ETF (CRPT), the Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF (BTOP), and the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI).

Options Strategies Deliver 

With crypto ETFs taking up 15 slots in our list, that leaves space for five non-crypto ETFs. One is the aforementioned NVDY.

The others are the Simplify Volt TSLA Revolution ETF (VCAR), the YieldMax NFLX Option Income Strategy ETF (NFLY), the Kurv Yield Premium Strategy Netflix Income ETF (NFLP), and the Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF (UTES).

VCAR is a fund that invests in a combination of Tesla stock, leveraged Tesla ETFs, Tesla swap contracts, and Tesla put/call options. 

Currently, the ETF holds a 30% position in Tesla’s common stock and 60% of its portfolio in the Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (TSLL).

Year-to-date, VCAR is up 102% versus a gain of 60% for TSLL and 42% for Tesla stock, suggesting that its active strategy has boosted returns. 

Meanwhile, NFLY and NFLP are single stock covered call ETFs tied to Netflix. The funds have returned 68% and 54%, respectively, versus 84% for Netflix stock, reflecting the tradeoff between price appreciation and income that investors in options-based ETFs are making.

A Utilities Outperformer 

Finally, UTES is up 57% so far this year, a sharp outperformance versus the 32% gain for the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU).

Fund managers for UTES use qualitative and quantitative analysis to pick which utilities stocks to hold. The strategy has delivered over the long-term; UTES is up 237% since inception versus 159% for XLU.

10 Best Performing Active ETFs of 2024