The new year is off to a rocky start, with many of the most popular stock and bond funds falling in the first three days of 2024. But there are still plenty of ETFs with different strategies that are seeing big returns to kick off the year. Through Jan. 4, these are the five top performing U.S. ETFs with at least $100 million in assets under management that are not leveraged or inverse funds: The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) has been by far the best performer through the first three days of the year, gaining more than double the second-place ETF. The fund buys futures contracts for natural gas, which have spiked in the opening days of 2024. However, commodity prices can be volatile, and the UNG’s return could shrink if Friday morning’s decline for natural gas proves to be a directional change. The next two funds also track a volatile sector in marijuana stocks. Both the ETFMG U.S. Alternative Harvest ETF (MJUS) and AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (MSOS) have been long-term underperformers, but do occasionally enjoy sharp rallies. And the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) , which tracks bitcoin futures, has been on a hot streak over the past few months. The rally in bitcoin futures, however, is tied to growing expectation that spot bitcoin ETFs will be allowed to launch in the U.S. Those funds could become competitors for investor cash with BITO, which has about $1.7 billion in assets under management. The most complicated fund on the list is the AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund (BTAL) , which is up 5% so far this year. The fund uses long and short positions to serve as a counterweight position in investor portfolios to broad equity funds. The fund is included on the list because it is not a pure directional bet, like many inverse sector funds positions. Alternative investments strategies like long-short funds can often shine in years where the broader market is volatile or falling. However, such funds can also be expensive over the long-term, and BTAL has a net expense ratio of 1.43%
This story originally appeared on CNBC
