Reuters / Brendan McDermid
- The best-performing exchange-traded products in 2018 included funds geared toward shorting stocks, going long volatility, and fighting cyber crime.
- Investors who were positioned for higher volatility were rewarded. The top performer, the exchange-traded note (ETN) VXX, exposes investors to futures contracts on the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), which reflects implied volatility in the S&P 500.
- Business Insider compiled the 11 best-performing exchange-traded products (which include ETFs and ETNs, like the VXX) with at least $500 million of assets under management.
Even as the market plunged this year, some passive investors were rewarded.
The best-performing US-listed large exchange-traded products included those exposed to going long the US dollar, health care stocks, and volatility, in addition to shorting US stocks. One of the best performers, too, was a fund with exposure to companies focused on providing cybersecurity as a service.
The major US averages were all down meaningfully from their respective record highs hit earlier this year, with the S&P 500 (-18%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (-17%), and Nasdaq Composite (-21%) all in, or near, bear-market territory.
Globally, investors have poured nearly $338 billion into exchange-traded funds in 2018 through the end of last week, Bank of America Merrill Lynch told clients in a report.
Here are the top-performing vehicles, ranked by their 2018 returns through Thursday morning.