5 Worst-Performing ETFs of February 2025
An aggressive Trump agenda rocked markets over the past month as the new presidential administration initiated a tariffs regime on long-standing trading partners, aggressively courted cryptocurrencies and sought the upending of decades-old defense and strategic alliances.
Investors sought alternatives as broad stock-tracking funds like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) dipped, pushing funds like to the YieldMax BABA Option Income Strategy ETF (BABO) to the top of the best-performer list.
Income funds from YieldMax as well as crypto funds performed the worst last month as some investors chose riskier assets as broad indexes fell.
This list does not include leveraged ETFs, which are short-term trading vehicles specifically engineered to double or triple the performance of an underlying stock, index or other financial instrument over a particular time frame.
No. 1: AIYY
The YieldMax AI Option Income Strategy ETF (AIYY), which aims to generate income from the performance of C3.ai Inc. (AI), was the worst-performing ETF over the past month through March 3, according to the etf.com ETF Pulse tool.
The fund plummeted 30% over the past month. Investors saw further signs of clouds gathering in its earnings report last week, which was followed by several analyst downgrades.
The fund is one of three YieldMax ETFs to land amongst the worst performers of the past month.
AIYY aims to generate monthly income while providing exposure to the price returns of C3.ai stock, subject to a cap on potential gains. The fund uses a synthetic covered call strategy through standardized exchange-traded and FLEX options.
No. 2: CONY
The YieldMax COIN Option Income Strategy ETF's (CONY) 29% drop over the past month through March 3 makes it the second-worst performer.
The second of YieldMax's ETFs in the bottom five aims to create income from the stock of Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN), the biggest public crypto exchange.
Coinbase fell nearly 30% last month, dipping in tandem with the price of Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, as markets tumbled in response to tariffs and other economic uncertainty.
Like AIYY, CONY aims to generate monthly income based upon the performance of Coinbase, using a synthetic options strategy.
No. 3: WGMI
The Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) was the past month's third-worst performer.
The fund that tracks Bitcoin miners, including Core Scientific, Inc. (CORZ) and IREN Limited (IREN), fell just over 27%, tracking not only the decline of bitcoin miners but bitcoin itself, which tumbled last month as geopolitics weighed on the cryptocurrency's performance despite cheerleading from the Trump administration.
The $147.3 million fund, which launched in 2022, is 17% allocated to CORZ.
No. 4: SQY
YieldMax's third ETF in the bottom five is the YieldMax SQ Option Income Strategy ETF (SQY), which dropped 27% in the month through March 3.
Like AIYY and CONY, SQY aims to generate income from a high-flying tech stock—Block, Inc. (XYZ) in this case—using calls and options. The fund doesn't invest directly in shares of Block, whose ticker XYZ changed in January from SQ.
The fintech company's stock dipped on concerns about user growth and fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations.
No. 5: DAPP
The VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP) dropped 26% in the past month, continuing a three-month slide.
The fund is heavily weighted to crypto industry and bitcoin mining companies, including top-three holdings Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN), Strategy Inc. (MSTR) and Block, Inc. (XYZ) Those stocks all dropped in February on a mix of earnings missing expectations, concerns about customer growth and bitcoin's tumble.
Despite the poor performance, the $180.3 million fund still pulled in $19.5 million in net inflows.
