Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares

NUGT

Market cap $1.09B

The first rate cut of the year added further fuel to the gold rally flame that continues to burn. Additional cuts can only push gold, as well as gold miners, to record levels.

The top annual ETF performers share a common trait, the firm behind them and investors who are ready to trade no matter which direction the market goes.

While innovative sectors such as artificial intelligence consistently grab headlines, few industries have been as holistically profitable as gold. Heading into the tail end of summer, the yellow metal was already a star asset, trading around $3,400.

Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares ETF has surged over 269% in 2025, turbocharging gains from the gold mining sector. NUGT amplifies VanEck Gold Miners ETF's performance, but its leverage introduces significant risk, time decay, and is unsuitable for long-term investing. Gold's ongoing bull market has driven both senior - GDX - and junior - GDXJ - mining ETFs to outperform gold itself in 2025.

Amid additional dollar weakness, gold prices again flirted with all-time highs Monday. It has extended its status as one of this year's best-performing assets.

Top Performing Leveraged/Inverse ETFs Last Week These were last week's top performing leveraged and inverse ETFs. Note that because of leverage, these kinds of funds can move quickly.

In this risk-on market, levered themes have gathered inflows along with some outsized YTD returns. Many of today's levered ETFs are single-stock ETFs focused on high-flying companies such as Palantir.

NUGT offers 2x daily exposure to gold miners, making it suitable only for short-term, actively monitored trades due to compounding effects. A weakening US dollar and supportive Trump administration policies are expected to benefit gold prices and, by extension, the Fund's performance. Elevated equity market volatility should drive capital into gold, further supporting gold miners and leveraged ETFs like NUGT in the near term.

After a tense showdown following President Donald Trump's decision to use U.S. forces to bomb key Iranian nuclear sites, another twist in the geopolitical narrative shines the spotlight on gold. When Israel initially launched an attack against Iran, the precious metals market soared as investors sought a reliable safe haven.

The market temperature for risk may be shifting, with markets back in positive territory for the year after some positive news on the tariff front. But year to date, clearly there have been three themes that have dominated from a performance perspective: gold, defense, and Europe.