The top performing Betashares ETFs of 2025

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Please note all past performance figures are as of 31 December 2025 and are not an indicator of future performance. One year does not represent the typical holding period for a Fund. Past performance figures for periods greater than one year are available at betashares.com.au. All performance figures quoted in AUD.

1 – Betashares Global Gold Miners Currency Hedged ETF (ASX: MNRS) | 148.8%

3 – Betashares Gold Bullion Currency Hedged ETF (ASX: QAU) | 62.7%

• Our investment team has written countless articles about the gold price rally over recent years since the price was below US$2,000 an ounce. The latest was in October after gold hit US$4,000 an ounce, discussing why the bull case remains and ways to get exposure through both MNRS and QAU.
• Heading into 2026 it is hard to ignore the substantial gains experienced by gold in recent years. However, the structural and cyclical cases for the yellow metal remain largely intact.
• Central bank buying, particularly from emerging market countries diversifying reserves, remains structurally elevated. Since 2022, central bank net purchases have averaged over 1,000 tonnes per year – double the 500 tonnes averaged from 2011 to 2021¹. The most recent data suggests 2025 will likely end with around 800 tonnes of buying, still heightened compared to pre-2022 but a reduction from recent years’ worth monitoring.²
• Further US dollar weakness, declining US government bond yields, alongside heightened geopolitical tensions and looming government debt fears can also continue to provide cyclical support.
• While exposure to physical gold through QAU delivered stellar returns in 2025, gold miners surged even further. As we flagged in our mid-year 2025 performance update, miners had significant catch-up potential, and this materialised throughout the second half of the year. MNRS ended 2025 as our top-performing ETF, returning just shy of 150%.

2 – Betashares Energy Transition Metals ETF (ASX: XMET) | 96.3%

• In a very strong second half of the year for resources critical minerals had some of the strongest returns as they sat in the crosshairs of geopolitical tensions and technological investment. Returns were led by copper’s 41% annual surge to record highs near US$13,000 per tonne and lithium’s 34% rally from October lows following major mine closures.
• While significant price volatility amongst critical minerals is being driven by supply side disruptions, strong structural demand from electrification, AI infrastructure, and battery energy storage combined remain the bedrock of the rally.
• Within XMET’s portfolio of 30 global producers of copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, manganese, silver and rare earth elements only two recorded negative returns during 2025 (Ivanhoe Mines and Lifezone Metals)³.
• Nine companies in the portfolio had total returns over 100% in 2025, diversified across three lithium producers (Ganfeng, Tianqi, Liontown), two silver producers (Silvercorp, Endeavour), one recycler (Sibanye-Stillwater), one copper producer (Antofagasta), one rare earths producer (MP Materials), and one diversified precious metals producer (Buenaventura)⁴.
• Critical minerals will likely remain central in AI’s rollout, the energy transition and geopolitical tensions throughout 2026.

4 – Betashares Global Defence ETF (ASX: ARMR) | 47.9%

• Increasing geopolitical tension and uncertainty, regional conflicts, and challenged strategic alliances have triggered a rapid and significant increase in global defence spending that is set to continue for years to come.
• In what will be another record year for defence spending, 2025 also marked a year in which several governments committed to higher levels of ongoing investment – the most notable being NATO members pledging to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP over the next 10 years.
• Global defence equities surged during the first three quarters of the year on the back of these increased commitments and as order books grew to record levels⁵. Although returns consolidated in Q4 ARMR still ended the year with a 47.9% return making it our 4^th best performing ETF for the calendar year.
• Returns were driven by defence companies across regions with Palantir (US), Rheinmetall (Germany), BAE Systems (UK), Safran (France), and RTX (US) making up the top 5 contributors to performance.
• ARMR has had a strong start to 2026, up 6% in the first week, which may be the start of a larger rebound. President Trump unveiled two significant developments for US defence companies at the start of the year: a proposed $1.5 trillion defence budget for FY2027, representing an unprecedented ~50% year-over-year increase, alongside the potential for new restrictions on share buybacks, dividends, and executive compensation.

5 – Betashares Global Banks Currency Hedged ETF (ASX: BNKS) | 45.5%

• The combination of macroeconomic resilience, policy tailwinds, strong capital markets activity, and operational improvements created a very favourable environment for global banks in 2025. Gains were broad across and within regions with 58 of the 60 holdings in BNKS posting positive returns for the calendar year⁶.
• Expectations are for this strength to continue as more significant regulatory changes are anticipated in the US under the Trump administration, namely the re-proposal of Basel III Endgame requirements that could unlock US$118 billion of excess capital currently held by large US banks⁷, alongside a continued investment banking resurgence globally.
• US banks also returned significant capital to shareholders in 2025 through US$111 billion in buybacks, but 2026 could see even stronger returns with buybacks forecast to increase to over US$150 billion alongside further dividend growth as regulatory clarity enables capital deployment⁸.

6 – Betashares Asian Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA) | 43.7%

• Asian technology is another theme we covered heavily throughout 2025 with a constructive outlook piece at the start of the year and more recently making the case for the rally to continue after discussing Asia’s importance for AI investing. The sectors second consecutive year of strong performance has seen ASIA return 93.1% over the past 2 years⁹.
• Throughout 2025 Asian technology companies, particularly the large Chinese consumer facing technology companies like Alibaba and Tencent, have shown they have the potential to compete with their mega-cap US counterparts in delivering their own set of AI tools.
• Further to this a lot of the sectors gains have come directly from the US’s own significant capital expenditure with several Asian companies like, Taiwanese Semiconductor (TSMC) and SK Hynix, central to the global AI infrastructure rollout.
• China’s resilience in recent trade tensions with the US highlights its strategic advantages, particularly in critical mineral mining and processing, whilst its dominance in batteries, renewable energy, and electric mobility creates alternative paths to tech leadership.
• Supported by government initiatives, expanding capex by Chinese hyperscalers seeking to rival US counterparts, and strong fundamentals from key Asian AI infrastructure suppliers, the region’s technology sector offers a compelling complement to US holdings and remains well positioned for further growth and re-rating in 2026.

7 – Betashares Australian Small Companies Select ETF (ASX: SMLL) | 36.0%

• 2025 marked the first year since 2020 of small cap outperformance in the Australian market¹⁰. Following years of large cap earnings stability and pricing power during the higher-than-normal interest rate environment 2025 gave way to a rate cutting cycle supporting mid and small caps.
• Mid and small cap in Australia also reported much stronger earnings growth throughout 2025 further driving the performance turnaround¹¹. Lower funding costs and easing input pressures are lifting margins and free cash flow across these segments.
• SMLLs approach, which seeks to invest in high-quality and profitable small caps listed on the ASX, garnered even greater results returning 36% in 2025 and outperforming the S&P/ASX Small Ords by 11%.
• SMLL’s outperformance over the benchmark small cap index was driven primarily by the materials sector which, due to both having a higher overall weight and allocation to better performing companies, drove 7.2% of the overall 11% outperformance for the year¹².

8 – Betashares Australian Resources Sector ETF (ASX: QRE) | 34.3%

• Given the strong representation of resources already covered in our top performers list it should come as no surprise that our Australian resources sector ETF, QRE, also made the list in 2025.
• Holding the companies that make up the materials and energy sectors in the ASX 200, QRE posted strong returns from performance from the Materials names despite the lacklustre returns from the energy sector in 2025.
• Iron ore has rallied and is holding above US$100 per tonne supporting strong profitability for Australia’s large cap miners.
• Copper demand is being driven by the AI infrastructure buildout and energy transition, with BHP now the world’s largest producer deriving 45% of its earnings from copper – up from 29% a year ago¹³. Rio Tinto is targeting 1 million tonnes of annual production by 2030, up from 620,000 tonnes in 2023¹⁴.
• Meanwhile Australia’s gold exports grew 42% in FY24/25 and expectations are for a further 28% gain in 25/26. This trajectory would take the value of exports to $60bn which would make gold Australia’s second largest export after iron ore¹⁵.

9 – Betashares Global Uranium ETF (ASX: URNM) | 33.1%

• Nuclear energy has been at the centre of several major market narratives in recent years including decarbonisation, energy security, AI energy requirements, and critical mineral importance amongst geopolitical tensions.
• Most recently uranium was added to the list of critical minerals in the US and the government announced US$80bn strategic partnership to build new reactors¹⁶.
• However, as we covered during the year, the US is just the tip of the iceberg as Asia is expected to be a much bigger driver for uranium demand in the coming decades as the region has several major players, including China and Japan, significantly increasing nuclear as a share of their energy mixes.
• URNM’s portfolio constituents had mixed returns in 2025 but with each of the ten largest positions recording positive returns, including nine of the ten recording gains of over 25%, it was one of our top performing ETFs¹⁷.
• URNM contains leading global companies involved in the mining, exploration, development and production of uranium, modern nuclear energy, or that hold physical uranium or uranium royalties.

10 – Betashares Video Games and Esports ETF (ASX: GAME) | 27.8%

• GAME featured as the top performing ETF for FY24/25 on the back of growing adoption and monetisation and some standout individual portfolio performers.
• While still making the top performing list for 2025 the sector recently consolidated some of its strong returns during the broader market sell off in the final quarter.
• However, it is worth reiterating from our note earlier in the year that gaming is no longer a niche, it has become a foundational pillar of the digital economy with games evolving to represent social platforms, fitness, educational and productivity tools, creator-driven economies, and sources of high-quality advertising and data collection. The structural growth story of the gaming sector remains strong for years to come.

11 Betashares Global Royalties ETF (ASX: ROYL) | 25.8%

• ROYL is another ETF we have covered throughout the year looking to highlight to investors the unique attributes of royalty companies that make them very compelling investments.
• Selecting companies based on their business structure rather than a specific sector allows ROYL to benefit from catalysts across investment themes.
• In 2025 strong gains from materials and health care sectors royalty companies, with 26 out of the 27 in ROYL’s portfolio across these two sectors generating positive returns, led the ETF to be one of our top performing¹⁸.
• ROYL also begun paying out smoothed monthly distributions in August of 2025 aiming to reflect the average cash flow yield of its underlying companies over the past year. The prior 12-month cash flow yield of ROYL’s portfolio was 6.05% p.a. (31 July 2025) and this level can be expected to be paid out monthly equating to approximately 0.50% per month¹⁹.

Sources:

1. Source: World Gold Council. 6 January 2026. ↑

2. Source: World Gold Council. 6 January 2026. ↑

3. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

4. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

5. Source: Bloomberg, Betashares. Backlog order book value of select global defence contractors 2015 to 2024. ↑

6. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

7. Source: Morgan Stanley. As at 31 July 2025. ↑

8. Source: Morgan Stanley. As at 3 December 2025. ↑

9. 31 December 2023 to 31 December 2025. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. ↑

10. Source: Bloomberg. Performance comparison of S&P/ASX 200 and S&P ASX Small Ordinaries indices. ↑

11. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

12. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

13. Source: BHP FY25 Financial Results ↑

14. Source: Rio Tinto, fourth quarter 2023 production results (January 15, 2024) and 2024 Capital Markets Day presentation (December 9, 2024). ↑

15. Source: Minerals Council of Australia. 10 October 2025. ↑

16. Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, “Interior Department releases final 2025 List of Critical Minerals,” news release, November 6, 2025. Westinghouse Electric Company, “Strategic Partnership,” accessed January 13, 2026 ↑

17. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

18. Source: Bloomberg. As at 31 December 2025. ↑

19. As at 31 July 2025. ↑