What are the best performing ETFS of 2023?

Bryce: [00:00:31] Welcome back to another episode of Get Started Investing feed, a podcast where we're answering the most common money questions in an attempt to become better investors. Now, if you are joining us for the first time, a huge welcome. We strongly recommend that you scroll up and start at episode one. A reminder before we get going that we are licensed, but we are not aware of your personal circumstances. All information on this show is for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice. But with that said, my name is Bryce and as always, I am joined by my equity buddy, Ren. How are you going?

Alec: [00:01:00] I'm very good, Bryce. Very excited for this episode. Today we are answering the question What have been the best performing ETFs to start the year? We're a quarter of the year down. It feels like it's really flown by. 

Bryce: [00:01:15] I know it is.

Alec: [00:01:15] Flowing, but we've got three quarters to go. That's how quarters work. And we want to answer what have been the best performing ETFs? Yeah. What I'm particularly excited about is the extent of the prep I have done for this. 

Bryce: [00:01:30] So yeah, same here. So we'll leave it there. Yes. Now, Ren has done no preparation. I've gone and pulled, pulled the data, run the spreadsheets, spoken to some ETF providers to find out what are the best performing ETFs of 2023.

Alec: [00:01:47] And before people get the wrong idea, you told me not to do any prep.

Bryce: [00:01:51] I did tell you not to do any prep because I. You often spring me with the odd quiz here and there. So it's time that I throw it back to you and see if you can guess what they are. Now, there's over 400 listed ETF products in Australia, I think.

Alec: [00:02:08] Okay.

Bryce: [00:02:09] I'm not expecting us to go through all 400 of them until you get the top five. But we'll start with a stab in the dark. And then I think depending on how close you are, I might give you the top five and we can see if you can order them for us.

Alec: [00:02:21] Yeah. Nice. I like that. 

Bryce: [00:02:23] Like worst from fifth through to the best performing over the last three months. Great. Now, before we kick off Equity Mates dot com slash shop is where you're going to find the newest Equity Mates merch. There's three t-shirts now available, all white with a different logo and h. We've got the Equity Mates logo embroidered on the left pocket. Premium Beautiful embroidery, one of our favourites. We've got the unicorn from Finn first with the guy drinking a beer on it. Yep. Also a very popular T on the left breast. And then we have the OG Equity Mates logo with Red and I riding the Wall Street Bull, The very first logo we created back in 2017. That one is running off the shelves.

Alec: [00:03:10] Yeah, a piece of Equity Mates history right there. 

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Alec: [00:03:34] Yes. Well, Bryce they are going to be the best performing clothing items of 2023. But we're here to talk about the best performing ETFs of 2023. I am a little bit apprehensive. I normally have a set of notes in front of me. I don't know what to do in my hands right now.

Bryce: [00:03:50] All right. So I guess if you want to have a stab in the dark, go for. 

Alec: [00:03:55] It. Okay. 

Bryce: [00:03:55] But talk us through the process. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Alec: [00:03:57] So surprisingly, a lot of the assets that haven't done well that didn't do well in 2022 are doing okay this year. So Bitcoin and crypto are surprisingly up. And then I had a look I didn't look at ETFs deliberately for this, but I had a look at individual stocks for an Instagram post we did a couple of days ago on, you know, how the court has gone. And surprisingly it's a lot of the growth names that are up. So in America, Coinbase Global is up more than 100%. Spotify is up about 60%, Roadblocks is up about 60%. Few other names that I can't remember, but it was a lot of those growth names. So last year it was a lot of the commodity producers. It was things like coal and oil that were the best performers. This year. I feel like it's going to be some of the names that were the worst performers in 2022 that have started the year strongly. Okay. Given that Coinbase was the best performing large American company in the first three months of 2023, I'm going to stick on the crypto theme. There's a few crypto ETFs out there, but I can't remember which ones closed down last year because I know there were those Bitcoin and Ethereum tracking ETFs that closed down. So I assume it's not there. So I'm going to. Go crypto adjacent and the British as well. 

Bryce: [00:05:35] As the best performing. 

Alec: [00:05:37] Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:05:38] Of all time. 

Alec: [00:05:39] What is it like cryp CRYP? 

Bryce: [00:05:42] Betashares crypto ETF is our CRYP CRYP betashares crypto innovators. Now that's not tracking a cryptocurrency.

Alec: [00:05:51] No, no. But it has. It has Coinbase in it and it has those companies in it. 

Bryce: [00:05:57] Yeah. Now you've absolutely ruined the entire episode and, and the baited hook that I was going to do the ad break because it is the number one performing ETF. 

Alec: [00:06:12] However, running the episode though. 

Bryce: [00:06:13] Well, because now there's no point doing two, three, four or five. 

Alec: [00:06:16] Oh no. Let's do it. Oh well. 

Bryce: [00:06:21] But you're so your logic is right. 

Alec: [00:06:24] Look to be fair, I maybe shouldn't have done that Instagram post. [00:06:28][3.7]

Bryce: [00:06:29] Okay. Because it doesn't matter. You've done it. So. So you were right. But your other. So. Yes. So. Betashares Crypto Innovators CRYP. Now, I want to point out that this is just through the data sources I use. There may be some other nondescript ETF out there that hasn't come across the radar, but this is using ETF track income today and ticker to data sources that are you know a pretty pretty comprehensive so betashares crypto crypto innovators is up 69% for the from the start of the year. So do you want to have a crack at two, three, four, five? There are, you did mention two ETFs in there that track the price of Etherium and Bitcoin. They also do fall in the top five. 

Alec: [00:07:18] So shut down or am I thinking of a different. 

Bryce: [00:07:21] Yeah. So like GlobalX 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF. Which is still active and it is the second. Best performing at 66% up. And then the GlobalX 21 Shares Ethereum ETF came in at number four. EETF is the ticker. It's up 46%. 

Alec: [00:07:41] Okay. So I'm not going to order them. 

Bryce: [00:07:44] Well, it's kind of a bit. 

Alec: [00:07:46] Okay. Yeah. Yeah, right. Okay. So there still are ETFs that track the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum in Australia, but some are shot down. 

Bryce: [00:07:56] I think you're thinking of the. I can't remember the cosmos. 

Alec: [00:08:01] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So I think it's worth putting this in context because I've just googled the Crypto Innovators ETF up 67% in the past three months in the past quarter. Not bad. Yeah, zoom out a little bit further down 59% over the past year. So even with the recent bump, it's still down almost 60%.

Bryce: [00:08:26] Yeah. So we've got the top two, both Bitcoin and crypto related. And number four is Ethereum. Why is this the case? Bitcoin since the start of the year is up 74%? Etherium Since the start of the year is up 61%. So no surprises as to why ETFs that track the price of both of those assets have performed incredibly well.

Alec: [00:08:51] Yeah. So Bryce, I think we've spoken enough about the crypto ETFs. I'm curious as to what the others are. Maybe on the other side of this break, I get another crack at guessing. 

Bryce: [00:09:02] Definitely. 

Alec: [00:09:03] On this and then you can tell me what the best performing Non-crypto ETFs have been for the first three months of 2023. 

Bryce: [00:09:12] Let's do it. All right, Ren. So we've established that crypto innovators Global X is 21 shares Bitcoin and Global X is 21 shares Etherium make up positions one, two and four. Because Bitcoin and Ethereum have both been surging since the start of 2023, that leaves position three and five up for grabs. And let me tell you that both ETFs are up over 38% since the start of the year. 

Alec: [00:09:40] Curious. Okay, so let me talk you through where I'm thinking. Yes, I think the same is going to repeat that the biggest beaten down stocks of 2022 are the ones that have had a bit of a bump to start 2023. And alongside a lot of the crypto companies, the other part of the market that was beaten down was unprofitable tech. And so I was thinking maybe it's a I was trying to think if there are like smaller tech ETFs, but they don't really exist, it's not like there's a tech ETF that doesn't have the big names in it. So then I was thinking maybe like a Global x FANG plus, which is like a pretty concentrated ETF for ten American tech companies. But then I realised I was missing the obvious thing, which is that there are ETFs that are levered. It means that for every dollar you invest, they then go and borrow a couple of dollars and invest, you know, two or $3 in that ETF. So the risk is higher, but the returns are also potentially higher. 

Bryce: [00:10:51] Because you have more exposure.

Alec: [00:10:51] Because you have more exposure. Yeah. So I am going to guess I don't know what who issues this, but I am going to guess a triple leveraged NASDAQ 100 ETF. 

Bryce: [00:11:02] In what position. 

Alec: [00:11:04] The next highest. Yeah, a third. 

Bryce: [00:11:07] So coming in at number three is the global X. So mind you, Global X have taken out the top four of the top five and kind of gave away one global x ultra long Nasdaq 100 Hedge the ticker is LNAS and I think ultra long this ETF is levered it gives exposure between 2 to 2.75 times the return. Now, everything that you said has played out in this situation, you've had the Nasdaq rip while some of the companies that were beaten down in the Nasdaq have ripped since the start of January. And then you're also getting the results of having a leveraged exposure. So this ETF is actually up 49% since the start of the year. Yeah. So if you're sitting at home and you have access to a non-covid Nasdaq, you might want to have a look at how it's performed because, you know, as as rent sort of illustrated, it's been a pretty decent year for some of the companies that were beaten down. All right. So let's recap. Number one, we had betashares crypto innovators up 69%, GlobalX 21 shares Bitcoin ETF up 66%. Then we had the global x ultra long NASDAQ 100 hedge fund up 49%, then the global x 21 shares Etherium up 46%, leaving one.

Alec: [00:12:35] I was going to say don't we haven't. 

Bryce: [00:12:38] Leaving number five, which is still up 39% for the year. [00:12:41][3.7]

Alec: [00:12:41] Can I just make a point just before we guess the fifth one, I just looked up that ultra long NASDAQ ETF. So as you said, up 47% over the past three months. Even with that, it's still down 45% over the past 12 months. Yeah. So the theme is repeating again. Yeah, these ETFs and the companies in those ETFs are making up some of the losses from last year, but they're not close to making up all of the losses.

Bryce: [00:13:11] No.

Alec: [00:13:12] Okay. Number five, I don't know if I've got this in me. All right. I'm going to guess that it's a different theme this time. They've doubled down on the beaten down rebound. Now I just need to think about what else has done. Well, so gold is the head of liquid gold. Inverse finance? Is that a thing? 

Bryce: [00:13:44] Three? I need an answer. Come on. 

Alec: [00:13:48] All right, Bryce. I'm going to say I have no idea. So maybe there is an inflation hedge play and there's a liquid gold ETF out there. 

Bryce: [00:14:08] I'm not sure that there probably is a liquid gold ETF out there. I think you're trying to be too cute. You've already mentioned it's the GlobalX FANG plus. 

Alec: [00:14:15] Oh, really? So it's just. 

Bryce: [00:14:17] The same theme. The ticker is FANG. So as you as you said with the long Nasdaq, FANG Plus holds ten companies listed in America who are on the cutting edge of technology. So they're not the largest tech companies, but they're some of the biggest, some of the biggest tech companies in America. 

Alec: [00:14:35] So to recap, Betashares and then four Global X, there you go. 

Bryce: [00:14:40] Yeah. So that's up 39% since the start of the year. 

Alec: [00:14:44] A complete coincidence that we're going to start a sponsor. So we've just started a sponsored series with them on this fight. 

Bryce: [00:14:50] Complete coincidence. Yeah. Under the hood. Make sure you tune in on Friday because it will be kicking off and it's a ten part series where we go under the hood to answer some of the biggest questions when it comes to analysing ETFs. 

Alec: [00:15:03] They're sponsoring those episodes, they're not sponsoring this one, but have it as a bonus for global ETFs. Well, Don, your ETFs are doing well. 

Bryce: [00:15:10] Now I think briefly to close out. It's all well and good to say these have been the best performing ETFs for the last three months, done incredibly well, top performing up almost 70%. It doesn't mean that that's going to continue for the next three months.

Alec: [00:15:23] Yeah, and I think that's why we've wanted to stress the three months performance and then put it in context of the past 12 months performance, because the story really shows that looking at short term performance can often mask what's happening long term. Do you want to tell me what's going to be the best performing for the next three months? 

Bryce: [00:15:44] No, Ren I don't look into. I don't forecast forecasting is for fools. I stick to my strategy. What I could say is that three of the top five are cryptocurrency related, and crypto, as we know, is incredibly volatile. It had a great month last month because of what happened over in the States with the run on the banks and in times of financial turmoil, a lot of people turn to crypto as all the crypto bulls come out to play. So if that sort of simmers and calms down a little bit over the next quarter, who knows what's going to happen with crypto? 

Alec: [00:16:15] Who knows what's going to happen with crypto, Who knows what's going to happen with the broader market? Exactly. All I know is that what I'm going to be doing is every time I get paid, I'll be dollar cost averaging into market tracking ETFs love it. 

Bryce: [00:16:29] Plus probably a few little side purchases here as high as you did. But that's a great place to leave it. We'll put these up on our Instagram and we'll put them in the Facebook community as well. And and we'll leave it there. But before we go, please, if you could leave us a five star review on Apple, that would be really appreciated. It helps us in the charts, helps us get in front of new get started investing community members. It shouldn't take long and it's something that you can do to easily support Equity Mates media. We do very much appreciate you tuning in each week and welcome if you are with us for the first time. And just a reminder to tune in to the Under the Hood series that is now live and we'll be going for the next nine weeks. It is in conjunction with Global X and we unpack ten questions when it comes to analysing ETFs, but then we'll leave it there, pick it up next week. 

Alec: [00:17:19] Sounds good.