-
Leveraged ETFs that have shorted some of the year’s winningest sectors have lost more than 80% of their value.
-
Strategy (MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, has seen its bubble burst in 2025.
-
Gold miners and semiconductors have been among the year’s biggest winners, making -2x versions of them among the biggest losers.
As of early December, U.S. stocks are on pace to deliver a third straight year of double digit gains. Through Dec. 5, the S&P 500 is up 16.8% year to date, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 has gained 22.3%.
Not every equity has been a winner, though. Not surprisingly, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that go short or bet against a particular stock, sector, or index have fared particularly poorly.
Here are the five worst-performing ETFs of 2025 so far.
Year-to-date performance: Down 89.2%
Gold prices have had one of their best calendar years ever and are up around 60%. Gold mining stocks have done even better, more than doubling in value as a group in 2025. Junior gold miners, which are the smaller companies within that group, have been the leaders.
So you can imagine how the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 2x Shares ETF (NYSEMKT: JDST), which not only shorts those stocks but does it with 2x leverage, is doing the worst on the ETF performance list. It’s fallen nearly 90% this year.
Year-to-date performance: Down 87%
The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 2x Shares ETF (NYSEMKT: DUST) does essentially the same thing as JDST but with the larger gold miner stocks. Its risk/reward profile looks very similar to that of the junior miners, with perhaps a little less volatility.
Because of the daily resetting of leveraged positions that comes with many of these products, the cost of implementing the strategy, along with the inherent volatility, can really damage returns.
Year-to-date performance: Down 85.8%
The artificial intelligence (AI) boom helped lift plenty of tech stock share prices, but it’s been especially bullish for chip stocks. Given how semiconductors are one of the base-level components of AI development, demand has increased exponentially.
Therefore, a triple-leveraged inverse position in this winning sector, which the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares ETF (NYSEMKT: SOXS) aims for, inevitably delivered abysmal performance. In addition to huge losses, this has been one of the most volatile ETFs available today.
Year-to-date performance: Down 82.8%
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, had been one of the darlings of the cryptocurrency boom. Since it’s essentially just become a Bitcoin holding company, the Defiance Daily Target 2x Long MSTR ETF (NASDAQ: MSTX) has been a leveraged play on its performance.
2025 flipped the script on crypto. As a result, Strategy stock is down more than 45% year to date, and this fund has delivered nearly double the losses.
Year-to-date performance: Down 82.7%
The T-Rex 2x Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (NYSEMKT: MSTU) is essentially a carbon copy of MSTX, just from a different issuer. MSTU has a slightly lower expense ratio, which has saved shareholders 0.1% in returns year to date if that’s any consolation.
Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.
On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:
-
Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $481,266!*
-
Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $52,866!*
-
Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $521,982!*
Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.
*Stock Advisor returns as of December 8, 2025
David Dierking has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
5 Worst Performing ETFs of 2025 So Far was originally published by The Motley Fool