Sprott Energy Transition Materials ETF

SETM

Market cap $341M

It's been a year since the debut of the Sprott Silver Miners & Physical Silver ETF (SLVR) and the fund is more lustrous than ever. With over $730 million in assets and about $450 million inflows in 2025, the index fund accomplished this feat in a year of fever-pitched demand for active.

In 2025, top-performing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) often capitalized on an angle related to innovation or to metals. With demand for data centers to power AI applications surging, funds focused on the infrastructure and materials necessary to fuel this industry thrived.

Gold and silver were not the only metals to see breakout performances in the later half of 2025.  Much like these other metals, copper also closed out last year in a highly favorable position.

Given gold's stratospheric rally last year, it might seem that ETF provider Sprott would see the most inflows in their funds related to the precious metal. However, after 2025 was said and done, it was the Sprott Silver Miners & Physical Silver ETF (SLVR) at the top spot with about $450 million inflows.

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.

SETM tracks the Nasdaq Sprott Critical Materials™ Index (NSETM™) with a TER of 0.65%. The result of this selection leads to 86 issuers, pure-plays, linked to the uranium, lithium, copper, rare earths, silver, and other critical materials segments. The price return is an aggregate of the performance of these segments, which is why in 2025 performance exceeded 80%.

Moves from both the federal government and private sector could empower more investment opportunities in the critical materials sector.  What U.S. Equity Stakes Mean for the Mining Industry Steven Schoffstall, director, ETF product management at Sprott Asset Management, recently discussed this during an episode of Metals in Motion.

Gold prices hit an apex in October before taking a breather as 2025 winds down — a chance for investors to buy the dip. This could be a golden opportunity to get exposure to a pair of ETFs before another rally ensues: the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) and the Sprott Gold Miners ETF (SGDM).

REMX jumps as global demand for rare earths surges and investors eye Arctic resources amid rising geopolitical interest.

The holiday season not only presents an opportunity to spend time with loved ones, it also allows investors to tilt their portfolios towards assets that can capture short-term upside. One of those is gold.