The Worst Performing ETFs of 2026 So Far

We recently looked at the best-performing ETFs of 2026 so far, and that list has changed character since the spring.
 
Energy led the way earlier in the year. The top of the leaderboard is now dominated by semiconductor ETFs and other AI-related plays, as money has rotated hard into anything tied to the artificial intelligence buildout.

The worst performers tell a very different story, and it's a story that hasn't changed much since April. It's still crypto.

Crypto ETFs Still Dominate the Decliners

The hardest-hit fund is still the Grayscale Sui Staking ETF (GSUI), now down 48.5% year to date. The fund tracks Sui, a smart contract platform built with a different architecture than Ethereum or Solana. It topped the worst-performers list back in April, and it has kept sliding since.

Another Grayscale single-token staking fund sits close behind. The Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF (GAVA), which holds AVAX, is down 45.3%.

Ethereum Funds Cluster at the Bottom

The bigger story this time is Ethereum. Nearly every spot Ethereum fund on the market has landed within about a percentage point of the others, all bunched around 41% down. 

That includes the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE), off 41.5%, and the 21Shares Ethereum ETF (TETH), down 40.9%. 

In between you'll find the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), the VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV), the Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW), the Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET), and the Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF (QETH), all within a hair of one another. They track the same asset, so they've fallen as one.

Ether has had a brutal year, worse than Bitcoin, which has dropped 28%.

The most revealing names in the group are the two Ethereum option-income funds, which actually did worse than the plain spot products. The Amplify Ethereum Max Income Covered Call ETF (EHY) is down 45.7%, and the Amplify Ethereum 3% Monthly Option Income ETF (ETTY) is down 43.8%. 

The underperformance illustrates the risk of these ETFs. The funds cap their upside by writing calls, then absorb close to the full downside when the underlying keeps dropping.

A few non-Ethereum names fill out the rest of the bottom. The Canary Litecoin ETF (LTCC) is down 42.5% and the XRP ETF (XRPI) from Volatility Shares is down 42.3%.

What stands out this time is what isn't here. In April, a handful of non-crypto names cracked the bottom ranks, including software and cannabis funds and a couple of high-yield option-income equity products. Crypto has since overtaken them at the very bottom.

Every fund mentioned above is non-leveraged and non-inverse. Check out the table below for the full list of worst performers.