Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF

BWET

Market cap $23.7M

For Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF (BWET), it's all about tracking tanker freight futures. Freight futures are heavily impacted by geopolitical events.

While the S&P 500 has slipped roughly 4% over the past month, two natural gas ETFs have quietly put up some of the strongest returns in the market.

Amplify Commodity Trust (BWET) is up 289% year to date using leverage to amplify crude moves, while Credit Suisse Crude Oil Covered Call ETN (USOI) is up only 21% year to date by selling call options for income, and United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) has lost 89% over the past decade due to futures contango drag despite potential upside from supply disruptions.

I recommend selling Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF due to an unattractive risk-return profile after its dramatic 2026 surge. BWET's performance is tightly linked to the Middle East maritime oil freight, especially the Strait of Hormuz, making it highly sensitive to geopolitical disruptions. Oil shipping prices and BWET have already soared to levels not seen since the 2000s; further upside appears limited as conflict escalation is not in major powers' interests.

AI fears, geopolitical tensions and strong earnings shaped February markets, but select ETFs surged, led by tanker shipping, Korea and energy plays.

Market predictions are not easy to make and looking at the YTD winners, there are some head-scratchers.  Let's take a closer look and make some sense out of the recent performance winners: wet and dry shipping; South Korea; and oil services ETFs.

Oil, shipping and niche thematic ETFs rallied last week as Middle East tensions lifted crude prices, while silver and uranium funds gained on macro and supply trends.

As the market settles into 2026, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remain as popular an investment as ever. U.S. ETFs gobbled up an incredible $1.48 trillion in total inflows in 2025 as hundreds of new products launched, further broadening the scope and depth of strategies available to investors through these tools.

Natural gas, shipping and Meta-focused ETFs led last week as Fed jitters, cold weather and sector rotation drove gains.

Metals, shipping and rare earth ETFs like SLVP, BWET and SETM led 2025, and SPY has gained 14.8% YTD despite AI, tariff and rate jitters.