GDXU Rockets to the Top as Best-Performing ETF of 2025

The title of 2025’s best-performing ETF (or ETN, in this case) keeps changing hands. At one point back in February, it belonged to the AdvisorShares Psychedelics ETF (PSIL). Then it was the GraniteShares 2x Long BABA Daily ETF (BABX). But as of now, there’s a new fund at the top: the MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN (GDXU), which has skyrocketed 163% year to date.

GDXU Rises to the Top

GDXU isn’t your typical exchange-traded fund—it’s an exchange-traded note, or ETN. That means it’s a debt instrument, backed by the credit of the issuer (in this case, the Bank of Montreal), rather than a fund holding a basket of securities. That setup allows it to offer complex exposure—in this case, three times the daily return of the S-Network MicroSectors Gold Miners Index.

That index is based on the combined, market cap-weighted performance of two of the most popular gold-mining ETFs: the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX), with $16 billion in assets under management, and the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ), with $5.8 billion. Both have had stellar years so far, rising 48% and 45%, respectively, on the back of gold’s massive rally to all-time highs near $3,300 an ounce.

Investors have flocked to GDXU, eager to amplify those gains. The fund’s AUM has nearly tripled, from $230 million at the start of the year to $628 million today. That’s despite the fund’s wild swings; GDXU routinely moves double-digits in a single session. It dropped more than 27% on April 4, only to surge 26% five days later on April 9.

For comparison, the next best-performing leveraged gold-mining product, the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares (NUGT), is up 105% year to date and holds $554 million in assets.

Leveraged ETFs Warrant Caution

Of course, the same leverage that boosts gains during rallies can destroy returns during choppy or sideways markets. Over longer periods, daily rebalancing and compounding effects have weighed on performance. 

Even after this year’s gains, GDXU is down roughly 70% over the past five years. By comparison, GDX itself is up by a similar amount over the same stretch!

Still, in this moment, no fund captures the ferocity of the gold rally quite like GDXU. For now, GDXU sits at the top of the leaderboard, but if this year has shown us anything, it’s that the crown can change hands quickly.