See which ETF strategies are leading the way and why across AI, cybersecurity, income, and energy year-to-date.
To obtain standardized performance, click on the ticker below:
| Fixed Income Yields | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ticker | Distribution Rate | 30-Day SEC Yield |
| TLTP Prospectus |
13.22% | 4.65% |
| LQDM Prospectus |
12.16% | 4.35% |
| HYGM Prospectus |
10.09% | 5.69% |
| YYYM Prospectus |
7.05% | 6.70% |
| SOFR Prospectus |
3.65% | 3.65% |
| Equity Yields | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ticker | Distribution Rate | 30-Day SEC Yield |
| SLJY Prospectus |
23.04% | 0.67% |
| HAKY Prospectus |
15.19% | -0.14% |
| YYY Prospectus |
12.83% | 12.55% |
| NDIV Prospectus |
11.99% | 5.30% |
| QDVO Prospectus |
11.02% | 0.43% |
| Digital Asset Yields | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ticker | Distribution Rate | 30-Day SEC Yield |
| EHY Prospectus |
51.22% | 1.63% |
| ETTY Prospectus |
36.60% | 1.28% |
| XRPM Prospectus |
36.45% | 2.04% |
| SOLM Prospectus |
33.59% | 1.22% |
| BAGY Prospectus |
30.45% | 3.01% |
Data as of 08/31/2026. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. There is no guarantee the ETF will pay a distribution. Distributions may include income, capital gains, or return of capital and may vary during the year, details in the Fund’s Form 19a‑1
Distribution Rate is the normalized current distribution (annualized) over NAV per share. 30-Day SEC Yield is a standard yield calculation developed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that allows for fairer comparisons among bond funds. It is based on the most recent month end. This figure reflects the income earned from dividends – excluding option income – during the period after deducting the Fund's expenses for the period.
To view standardized performance, please click on the fund ticker links above.
[0:00]
Hi, it’s Christian Magoon from Amplify ETFs. Welcome back to ETF Watch. We’ve been on a bit of a hiatus for the summer, but we’re back strong here to start September.
We’ve got some great things to talk about that are adding alpha to investor and advisor portfolios. We want to kick it off with our five best-performing ETFs. Many people ask us, “What’s working for you this year across your product lineup?” This is a way to quickly get you up to speed on some of our best-performing ETFs.
Incidentally, if you go to the front page of our website and scroll down slightly, you’ll see the five best-performing ETFs year to date and the five highest-yielding ETFs year to date. Depending on your goal, whether capital appreciation or income, you can see many of our leading ETFs highlighted every business day.
But right now, let’s focus on total return and get into five of our strongest-performing ETFs of 2026.
[1:01]
Let’s start with our number one performer, the Amplify Equal Weight AI ETF, ticker AIVC. This ETF is up more than 64%. It’s one of the leading-performing ETFs focused on AI.
What’s unique about it is that it takes an equal-weighted approach to the space. Many other AI ETFs are very concentrated in areas like semiconductors or potentially memory.
Instead, the equal-weight ETF owns everything from semiconductor companies to companies creating AI applications and software, as well as some of the equipment and infrastructure plays within AI.
That has really been one of the best ways to participate this year. Take a look at AIVC, as it’s one of the leading-performing ETFs in its peer group.
Shifting gears to a product that’s up more than 45% this year, we have the Amplify Cybersecurity ETF, ticker HACK.
[2:03]
HACK is the original cybersecurity ETF and, we believe, has a chance to be one of the purest cybersecurity ETFs in the marketplace. It has delivered peer-group-leading returns this year as cybersecurity has elevated its profile in the age of AI emergence.
We need more investment in cybersecurity because of what’s happening with AI and agents transacting on the internet. We’ve seen projections that there will be more internet traffic from AI agents than from humans in the near future.
That creates more demand for AI-related cybersecurity defenses, and that’s where HACK and its portfolio fit in. Take a look at HACK as one of the leading cybersecurity ETFs in the marketplace today.
Now, let’s shift away from technology to our third-best-performing ETF, NDIV. It’s our Energy and Natural Resources Covered Call ETF.
[3:01]
This is an index-based ETF that owns energy and natural resources companies involved in oil, gas, and chemicals. It also has a covered call overlay that targets 10% annual option income.
NDIV has gained 40% this year, making it a healthy way to participate in the emergence of energy and natural resources, as well as some of the geopolitical issues influencing those markets.
NDIV received 4 stars among 121 funds in the Natural Resources category for the overall and 3-year periods ending 6/30/26. Target annualized option premium may vary significantly and will depend on the NAV of the Fund each time the Fund sells the option contracts; actual premiums may be materially higher or lower than the stated target. Distributions are not guaranteed.
It’s also an ETF that isn’t focused solely on capital appreciation. Its 10% option-income target provides a source of return generated from option income, which we think is quite unique in this space.
Shifting gears again to our fourth-best-performing ETF, it’s another covered call ETF, HAKY. This is the Amplify Cybersecurity Covered Call ETF.
[4:00]
HAKY is very similar to HACK, except that it writes covered calls on the underlying securities found in HACK and seeks to generate a 15% annual option-income target.
This ETF has gained 37% this year, not that far behind the beta product, HACK, which has generated a 45% total return.
Target annualized option premium may vary significantly and will depend on the NAV of the Fund each time the Fund sells the option contracts; actual premiums may be materially higher or lower than the stated target. Distributions are not guaranteed.
This is evidence of how Amplify’s YieldSmart™ covered call suite works. We’re trying to generate income, but not at the total expense of the capital appreciation that may be available by not covering the entire portfolio.
We want to take a balanced approach when seeking income through covered calls, and HAKY is a great example of the YieldSmart™ approach.
Finally, our fifth-best-performing ETF of the year stays in the energy space. It’s USNG, which has gained 26% this year.
[5:02]
USNG is our natural gas infrastructure ETF. It’s actively managed by our partners at Samsung Asset Management, which specializes in analyzing the natural gas sphere.
Natural gas is still the biggest power source for AI data centers in the U.S. and is expected to remain important in the future. This is a way to participate in the demand for increased electricity created by the growth of AI.
We think natural gas infrastructure has some great prospects going forward, and we’re seeing some very healthy returns.
So that’s a look at five of our strongest-performing ETFs. We’re close to 50 ETFs now at Amplify ETFs, and we have many more with compelling investment cases and performance.
We wanted to highlight these five, spanning technology, income, energy, and natural resources. We offer unique products that could be additive to an existing portfolio or serve as new or replacement strategies designed to add alpha in this ever-changing market.
Alpha: Return generated above a benchmark's performance. Indexes are unmanaged and it’s not possible to invest directly in an index. The S&P 500 Total Return Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies. The Nasdaq-100 Index is a modified market-capitalization-weighted index of 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Covered call risk is the risk that the Fund will forgo, during the option’s life, the opportunity to profit from increases in the market value of the security covering the call option above the sum of the premium and the strike price of the call, but has retained the risk of loss should the price of the underlying security decline. Covered call strategies may limit upside potential while still exposing the Fund to downside risk. Monthly distributions may include return of capital, which lowers the investor’s cost basis and could result in higher loss.
There is no guarantee distributions will be made. The Funds may not achieve their desired outcomes.
© 2026 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or “star rating”, is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.
USNG: As an actively managed fund, there is no guarantee the investment objective will be met. Being new, the fund has a limited operating history to evaluate. As a non-diversified fund, its performance and Share price are more prone to volatility from individual investments. Investments in energy companies can be influenced by cyclical markets, price fluctuations, regulation, economic shifts, technology, and geopolitical instability. Risks for natural gas companies include alternative fuels, price volatility, interest rates, and developments like renewable energy growth and evolving regulations. Utilities companies include risks related to financing, environmental costs, market factors, and political influences. Materials companies are impacted by commodity price fluctuations, economic cycles, environmental liabilities, and regulations, all of which can affect their returns. Small and mid-cap companies may face higher market risk, greater price volatility, and lower liquidity than larger firms.
Investments in MLPs involve unique risks, such as price volatility, illiquidity, limited investor control, potential conflicts of interest, dilution risks, and insufficient cash flow to meet operating requirements. MLPs may also face industry-specific challenges and macroeconomic pressures. The Fund’s returns depend on MLPs being taxed as partnerships, not corporations. Changes in tax laws or policies can reduce MLP cash distributions and negatively affect the Fund’s investments.
NDIV: NDIV received 4 stars among 121 funds in the Natural Resources category for the overall and 3-year periods ending 6/30/26.
There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. Because the Fund is non-diversified the Fund is subject to the risks associated with companies in the natural resources and commodities-related industries, energy and materials sectors which can cause volatility and affect its value. These industries can be significantly affected by rapid changes in supply and demand, changes in interest rates, government policies and regulations, environmental concerns, worldwide politics and economic conditions. The Fund will invest in ADRs which may be subject to certain risks associated with direct investments in the securities of non-U.S. companies, such as currency, political, economic and market risks because their values depend on the performance of the non-dollar denominated underlying non-U.S. securities.
Dividend-Paying Companies are not obligated to pay or continue to pay dividends on their securities. Therefore, there is a possibility that a company could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future, which could negatively affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund employs a “passive management” or indexing investment approach that seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the performance of its underlying index. Differences in timing of trades and valuation as well as fees and expenses, may cause the fund to not exactly replicate the index known as tracking error.
This information does not constitute, and should not be considered a substitute for any specific legal, tax or accounting advice. Please consult with qualified professionals for this type of advice.
HACK: The Fund’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the Index. To the extent the Fund utilizes a sampling approach, it may experience tracking error to a greater extent than if the Fund had sought to replicate the Index.
AIVC, HACK & HAKY: Narrowly focused investments often exhibit higher volatility. The funds concentrate in technology companies facing intense global competition and various competitive risks, which may pressure margins. Technology companies rely heavily on patents and intellectual property; loss or impairment of these rights can harm profitability. Foreign securities carry political, economic, and currency risks, greater volatility, lower liquidity, regulatory uncertainty, and differing accounting standards. The funds are non-diversified, meaning it may hold fewer securities than diversified funds. Smaller companies generally have less liquidity and greater price volatility than large-cap firms.
HAKY: The Fund is actively-managed, and its performance reflects investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund.
This information does not constitute, and should not be considered a substitute for any specific legal, tax or accounting advice. Please consult with qualified professionals for this type of advice.