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| By Michael A. Robinson |
On the surface, betting against cryptocurrencies has its appeal.
The asset class is notoriously volatile. If you bet against a digital coin when it drops, you can rake in the profits.
At least, that’s how betting bearishly is supposed to work.
That’s why investors poured nearly $2 million into an ETF that promised this path to fortune.
You see, this ETF launched in July 2024 and enticed investors to bet against crypto.
Just a few weeks ago, it closed down. Many investors wound up in the red — some lost more than half their money.
No wonder the ETF’s ticker symbol was “REKT.”
Unfortunately, Wall Street keeps rolling out similar ETFs that invert the concept of safe, passive investing.
Last year alone, we saw an average of 22 new funds a week.
In my view, most investors should give these funds a wide berth.
That doesn’t mean you should avoid ALL ETFs.
Today, I’ll show why one tech-centric fund with AI holdings handily beat the broad market in the last three months, with plenty of upside ahead.
When ETFs Went Mainstream
In simple terms, ETFs are baskets of investments — stocks, bonds or commodities — packaged into single funds that trade like stocks.
The ETF boom began with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), in 1993.
At the time, the idea was considered experimental. Today, SPY is one of the most widely traded ETFs in the world.
The growth of the industry has been staggering.
ETFs evolved from a $6.5 million experiment into a roughly $13.5 trillion U.S. market.
Nearly $1.5 trillion flowed into U.S.-listed ETFs during 2025 alone, the second consecutive year inflows topped $1 trillion.
Investors embrace ETFs because they’re generally diversified, tax-efficient and easy to trade.
An estimated 19.8 million U.S. households owned ETFs in 2025, while Charles Schwab found that 27% of American investors now hold them.
But somewhere along the way, Wall Street realized ETFs could be used for much more than long-term investing.
And that’s where things got weird.
Wacky, Weird & Wild ETFs
A new breed of ETF is transforming a once conservative investing product into something closer to speculative gambling.
These funds often use leverage, options or concentrated bets on single stocks, cryptos or niche themes.
Rather than helping investors build diversified portfolios, many are designed for short-term trading and speculation.
The numbers are eye-popping. A record 1,167 new ETFs launched in 2025 alone.
According to Morningstar, about 27% focused on leveraged, short exposure or single-stock strategies.
Roughly 600 of these so-called “trading-tool” ETFs now exist.
Some border on absurd.
The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted the UFO Disclosure ETF, which invests in companies that could theoretically benefit from the disclosure of alien technology.
Others focus on leveraged crypto bets, including the 21Shares 2x Long Dogecoin ETF, which Morningstar labeled “the worst new ETF of 2025.”
The risks are enormous.
Leveraged ETFs amplify gains and losses, and many reset daily.
This means long-term returns can diverge dramatically from the underlying asset.
During the 2020 market crash, nearly 30% of leveraged ETFs shut down entirely.
Meanwhile, management fees on these products can run four times higher than traditional index ETFs.
That’s why I recommend steering clear of them.
But not all ETFs deserve the same skepticism.
A Simpler Way to Play AI
One rising ETF among tech-focused investors is the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index (ONEQ).
Managed by Fidelity Investments, ONEQ tracks the performance of the Nasdaq Composite Index — a stock index heavily weighted toward technology and innovation-driven companies.
ONEQ offers a simple way to participate in the market’s biggest technological trends, including AI, cloud computing, semiconductors, software and digital infrastructure.
Rather than trying to identify the next Nvidia or the next breakout AI winner, investors can buy a single ETF that provides broad exposure to the tech sector as a whole.
That diversification is important.
Picking individual tech stocks can be risky, especially in fast-moving industries where yesterday’s leader can quickly become tomorrow’s laggard.
ONEQ helps reduce some of that risk by spreading investments across hundreds of Nasdaq-listed businesses.
For investors looking to capture the long-term momentum of AI and technology — without constantly trading individual stocks — ONEQ has become an increasingly attractive option.
Fees & Returns
ONEQ gives investors exposure to many of the companies shaping the future of AI — without forcing them to constantly trade individual stocks.
And unlike many trendy ETFs flooding the market today, ONEQ remains relatively inexpensive. Its management fee is just 0.21%.
In the last three months, ONEQ crushed the S&P 500. And that was during one of the broad index’s strongest periods in years.
With investors clamoring for access to AI stocks and other tech leaders, ONEQ is on pace to keep beating the broad market over the long haul.
Best,
Michael
P.S. Did you miss this?
On Tuesday, John Burke hosted our “Summer ’26 Private Investment Summit.”
The main guest was your own Chris Graebe. And what he had to share was revolutionary. I urge you to watch the replay here.
