Natural Gas Leads Worst Performing ETFs of the Year
These funds have lost upwards of 75% of their value this year.
With the S&P 500 up double digits in just the first three months of the year, most U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds followed suit to the upside.
But not all of them.
Many inverse ETFs, or those that move in the opposite direction of an index or individual asset, performed poorly during Q1.
For instance, the T-Rex 2X Inverse NVIDIA Daily Target ETF (NVDQ), which moves in the opposite direction as Nvidia, lost nearly three-quarters of its value by betting against the market’s hottest stock.
Funds that made leveraged bets on stocks that underperformed sharply, like the GraniteShares 2x Long TSLA Daily ETF (TSLR), also tumbled. TSLR was the sixth worst-performing ETF of the first quarter, with a loss of 52%.
Shares of Tesla have performed the worst among the magnificent seven this year due to slowing demand for electric vehicles and increased competition from rival automakers.
Another big loser during the first quarter was the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas ETF (BOIL), which shed 55%.
This year, the price of natural gas sank below $2/mmbtu for the first time since 2020 amid an oversupplied market.
Worst ETFs of Q1 2024 (Including Leveraged)
Data as of March 31, 2024.
If you strip out leveraged and inverse ETFs, Q1’s worst performing fund is also a natural gas ETF: the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG), with a loss of 28.2%.
ETFs tied to Tesla, like the Kurv Yield Premium Strategy Tesla TSLA ETF (TSLP), and those tied to lithium, like the Sprott Lithium Miners ETF (LITP), have also lagged, with losses of 20% to 25%.
So too have clean energy ETFs, like the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW), which shed 22% in the first quarter.
Worst ETFs of Q1 2024 (Excluding Leveraged)
Name | Ticker | YTD Return |
United States Natural Gas Fund LP | -28.16% | |
Kurv Yield Premium Strategy Tesla TSLA ETF | -25.31% | |
KraneShares European Carbon AIlowance Strategy ETF | -22.93% | |
Yieldmax TSLA Option Income ETF | -21.98% | |
Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF | -21.90% | |
Sprott Lithium Miners ETF | -20.72% | |
iShares Lithium Miners and Producers ETF | -20.11% | |
Global X Hydrogen ETF | -18.38% | |
Defiance Next Gen H2 ETF | -18.29% | |
First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Trust Fund | -17.76% |
Data as of March 31, 2024