These are among the best-performing ETFs in 2025. Are they still buys for 2026?

When looking at investment strategies for 2026, it’s important not to overlook exchange-traded funds (ETFs). While ETFs may lack the dramatic growth stories of high-flying stocks like Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) or Nvidia (NVDA), these types of investments are the best ways to add instant diversification to your portfolio, and often at a low price.

Currently, there are over 14,000 ETFs to choose from, meaning you can buy an index fund that tracks the total market, or you can find thematic ETFs that focus on a specific industry, theme, or market segment. Basically, there is a background for anyone; You just have to know where to look.

Three of the best-performing ETFs of the last year fit into this latter category. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), the Physical Platinum ETF (PPLT), and the Vaneck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) are each up more than 50% in the last 12 months. And, interestingly, two of them don’t even own shares. But they are all great options to give your portfolio some diversity right now.

The SPDR Gold Shares ETF is managed by State Street Global Advisors, a leading asset manager and operator of several ETFs. The fund has $148.2 billion in assets under management and has an expense ratio of 0.4%, or $40 annually for every $10,000 invested.

This background couldn’t be simpler. It exclusively owns gold and seeks to reflect the performance of the gold bullion price. In short, as the price of gold increases, the value of the ETF also increases.

Therefore, it is important for investors to understand that this fund is physically backed by gold, rather than gold futures. If you want to invest in gold, this is a more convenient way to do it because you don’t need to worry about holding on to coins or bars and risk them being lost or stolen. It’s also much easier to get in and out of the GLD ETF than trying to buy or sell gold bars on your own.

The downside is that this fund will always slightly underperform the price of gold due to the expense ratio charged by the fund managers. That’s the compensation.

Shares are up 67% in the last 12 months.

This is very similar to the GLD ETF. The Abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF is managed by UK asset manager Aberdeen, which reverted from Abrdn to its original name in March 2025 because its unfortunate “breakup” rebranding became a major distraction.

This fund, which has $3.1 billion in assets under management, holds physical platinum bars and is designed for investors who want to invest in platinum without taking the physical risk of holding onto the precious metal.

The PPLT ETF has a higher expense ratio than the GLD ETF, at 0.6%. However, shares in the last 12 months have risen 138%, so that expense ratio is more than offset by the fund’s recent performance.

Both the PPLT ETF and the GLD ETF are good buys for investing in precious metals, which are typically a safe landing place for investors in times of market instability.

This is probably more similar to what would be considered a “typical” ETF. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is operated by a family-owned investment management firm, Van Eck Associates. It seeks to replicate the performance of the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 index, which includes the 25 largest companies listed in the United States that derive at least half of their revenue from the semiconductor industry.

The fund has $40.2 billion in assets under management and an expense ratio of 0.35%. Top holdings include Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), Broadcom (AVGO), Micron Technology (MU), and ASML Holdings (ASML), which together account for 49% of the fund. Nvidia alone represents a 20% weighting of the SMH ETF.

Semiconductors have been one of the biggest drivers of the stock market over the past two years, and that’s likely to continue into 2026. The SMH ETF is an ideal investment if you’re interested in Nvidia but also want to hedge that bet by getting exposure to other major semiconductor companies.

SMH shares are up 52% ​​in the last 12 months.

At the date of publication, Patrick Sanders held a position at: NVDA. All information and data in this article are for informational purposes only. This article was originally published on Barchart.com