The Worst Performing ETFs of 2024

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Today, etf.com’s Jeff Benjamin looked at some of the ETF turkeys of 2024. He chose seven categories and found the worst performing ETF in each one. It’s an interesting list, so check it out if you haven’t already.  

Sticking with the turkeys theme, I thought it would be interesting to consider some of the worst-performing ETFs of the year overall.

The worst performer (excluding leveraged and inverse ETFs) has been the Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF (BDRY), with a 36% loss. 

It’s followed by the iShares Lithium Miners and Producers ETF (ILIT) and the Amplify Alternative Harvest ETF (MJUS), both down around 36% as well.

The failure of a cannabis legalization effort in Florida earlier this month weighed heavily on marijuana ETFs, while lithium prices have sagged amid tepid demand for electric vehicles. 

There are a few other lithium, cannabis, and shipping exchange-traded funds sprinkled among the worst performers, with losses in the mid-30% range.  

Alt Energy ETFs Dim

Another group that’s declined is alternative energy ETFs.

For instance, the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) and the Global X CleanTech ETF (CTEC) have both dropped 33% so far this year as the political landscape has shifted against them following Donald Trump’s election.

All of these ETF turkeys have performed poorly this year, but their losses look even worse when measured against the big rally in the stock market overall.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), for instance, is up around 26% on a year-to-date basis, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) is higher by 23%. 

In fact, of the 3009 non-inverse, non-leveraged U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds on the market, only 203 of them are down at all in 2024. And only 69 of those have losses exceeding 10%.

In other words, these are some really big turkeys!