October is a notorious month for market volatility and declines—the Wall Street crash of 1929, Black Monday on Oct. 19, 1987, and more recently, the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. This year, however, it has been a month of bullish moves. Although September’s choppiness initially extended into early October, the equity market bounced back into an uptrend thanks to mostly encouraging quarterly reports.
Today we review exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that were clear winners and losers in October. Understandably, our list provides just a glimpse on funds’ performances and does not include leveraged and inverse ETFs.
A number of these funds could inspire readers to put together long-term diversified portfolios within their risk/return parameters. We've covered a large number of these funds previously, and we plan to discuss others in the future.
3 ETFs Following The 3 Major US Indices
As always, before we move on to best- and worst-performing ETFs, let's take a look at funds that give exposure to the three most-followed US indices—the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite.
Despite short-term fluctuations, these three ETFs continue to offer steady year-to-date (YTD) returns.
SPDR® Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA), which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average: up 3.9% in October and up 17.1% YTD.
SPDR® S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index: up 5.5% in October and up 22.8% YTD.
Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the NASDAQ 100 index: up 6.9% in October and up 23.1% YTD.
50 Winners
Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF (NYSE:VCLO): up 37.3% in October and up 58.5% YTD
Invesco Solar ETF (NYSE:TAN): up 25.10% in October but down 3.5% YTD
Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSE:BLOK): up 23.67% in October and up 58.5% YTD
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (NASDAQ:QCLN): up 22.8% in October and up 8.71% YTD
VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ): up 19.1% in October but down 20.1% YTD
ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SILJ): up 18.8% in October but down 19.1% YTD
North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF (NYSE:URNM): up 16.9% in October and up 104.5% YTD
VanEck Low Carbon Energy ETF (NYSE:SMOG): up 18.2% in October and up 6.3% YTD
US Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE:GOAU): up 16.5% in October but down 9.1% YTD
Amplify Lithium & Battery Technology ETF (NYSE:BATT): up 16.1% in October and up 26.4% YTD
KraneShares MSCI China Clean Technology ETF (NYSE:KGRN): up 14.6% in October and up 10.4% YTD
VanEck Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE:REMX): up 14.3% in October and up 79.5% YTD
KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index (NYSE:KARS): up 14.1% in October and up 30.1% YTD
iShares MSCI Peru ETF (NYSE:EPU): up 14.00% in October but down 13.4% YTD
ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE:ARKW): up 13.8% in October and up 7.2% YTD
iShares Transportation Average ETF (NYSE:IYT): up 11.3% in October and up 22.8% YTD
SPDR S&P® North American Natural Resources ETF (NYSE:NANR): up 10.5% in October and up 32.4% YTD
SPDR® S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSE:XOP): up 10.3% in October and up 81.8% YTD
Siren NASDAQ NexGen Economy ETF (NASDAQ:BLCN): up 10.4% in October and up 22.5% YTD
Invesco DWA Financial Momentum ETF (NASDAQ:PFI): up 10.3% in October and up 35.9% YTD
Invesco Global Listed Private Equity ETF (NYSE:PSP): up 10.1% in October and up 21.6% YTD
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund (NASDAQ:GRID): up 10.0% in October and up 25.8% YTD
SPDR® S&P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE:KCE): up 9.8% in October and up 41.7% YTD
Global X MSCI China Consumer Disc ETF (NYSE:CHIQ): up 9.7% in October but down 16.1% YTD
iShares MSCI Norway ETF (NYSE:ENOR): up 9.5% in October and up 23.3% YTD
iShares MSCI Russia ETF (NYSE:ERUS): up 8.4% in October and up 35.3% YTD
Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF (NASDAQ:PSCE): up 8.3% in October and up 85.1% YTD
Barclays iPath Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return (NYSE:JJN): up 8.0% in October and up 16.6% YTD
VanEck Vectors Real Asset Allocation (NYSE:RAAX): up 7.6% in October and up 23.3% YTD
iShares MSCI Colombia ETF (NYSE:ICOL): up 7.3% in October but down 3.5% YTD
iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF (NYSE:REZ): up 7.3% in October and up 35.4% YTD
iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF (NASDAQ:EUFN): up 7.2% in October and up 20.0% YTD
United States Copper Index Fund (NYSE:CPER): up 7.1% in October and up 23.5% YTD
Tortoise North American Pipeline Fund (NYSE:TPYP): up 7.0% in October and up 33.3% YTD
SPDR® S&P Insurance ETF (NYSE:KIE): up 6.9% in October and up 20.1% YTD
United States Commodity Index Fund (NYSE:USCI): up 6.9% in October and up 33.7% YTD
VanEck Retail ETF (NASDAQ:RTH): up 6.6% in October and up 18.7% YTD
iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSE:FXI): up 6.5% in October but down 13.1% YTD
iShares Global 100 ETF (NYSE:IOO): up 6.3% in October and up 20.2% YTD
VictoryShares NASDAQ Next 50 ETF (NASDAQ:QQQN): up 6.1% in October and up 30.2% YTD
Barron's 400 ETF (NYSE:BFOR): up 5.9% in October and up 26.0% YTD
Goldman Sachs JUST US Large Cap Equity ETF (NYSE:JUST): up 5.9% in October and up 21.8% YTD
iShares MSCI World ETF (NYSE:URTH): up 5.8% in October and up 19.1% YTD
Invesco Dynamic Building & Construction ETF (NYSE:PKB): up 5.8% in October and up 21.9% YTD
iShares MSCI Italy ETF (NYSE:EWI): up 5.7% in October and up 13.7% YTD
First Trust Materials AlphaDEX® Fund (NYSE:FXZ): up 5.5% in October and up 25.0% YTD
ProShares Equities for Rising Rates ETF (NASDAQ:EQRR): up 5.2% in October and up 35.4% YTD
Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSE:VB): up 4.9% in October and up 17.9% YTD
Utilities Select Sector SPDR® Fund (NYSE:XLU): up 4.7% in October and up 6.7% YTD
SPDR® S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE): up 3.7% in October and up 36.5% YTD
10 Losers
Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF (NYSE:BDRY): down 14.9% in October but up 290.1% YTD
AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (NYSE:MSOS): down 12.9% in October and down 25.8% YTD
Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF (NASDAQ:CNCR): down 6.1% in October and down 9.0% YTD
US Global Jets ETF (NYSE:JETS): down 5.8% in October and down 0.7% YTD
KraneShares Emerging Markets Healthcare Index ETF (NYSE:KMED): down 4.2% in October and down 19.1% YTD
iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF (NYSE:SCJ): down 3.7% in October but up 1.1% YTD
iShares Latin America 40 ETF (NYSE:ILF): down 3.3% in October and down 14.4% YTD
ETFMG Prime Mobile Payments ETF (NYSE:IPAY): down 3.3% in October and down 1.9% YTD
iPath® Series B Bloomberg Livestock Subindex Total Return (NYSE:COW): down 2.2% in October but up 3.4% YTD
Amplify International Online Retail ETF (NYSE:XBUY): down 1.7% in October and down 15.11% YTD
SPDR® S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSE:XAR): down 0.8% in October but up 4.0% YTD