The Best Performing ISA ETFs This Month

October has seen a bit of rockiness in global equity markets – so we thought it a good time to check in to see which sectors are performing well by looking at the top ETFs of the last month. (These are equity ETFs screened for ISA eligibility).

Top of the tree with a nearly 20% 1m gain is the WisdomTree BioRevolution ETF.  Performance has been driven by a 56% gain for top holdingIntella Therapeutics, and a more than 350% jump for its second-largest holding, uniQure, which have both reported progress with respective gene therapy programmes. Other significant holdings include CRISPR Therapeutics, Stoke Therapeutics and Sana Biotechnology.

Boasting a similar profile of holdings and performance, the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF is the second best performer. Its main holding is gene-editing firm CRISPR, at more than 8% of the fund. Tempus AI and Intella Therapeutics each account for around 7% of the fund’s weight, with Recursion Pharmaceuticals and Personalis rounding out the top five holdings.

Sticking with this theme in third place is the Global X Genomics & Biotechnology ETF, which has risen almost 18%. Its largest holding is Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which has doubled its market cap this year. CRISPR is the second largest holding in the fund.

Fourth we can look to crypto markets despite the downturn for bitcoin in recent days – the Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain ETF is number four on the charts. Its main holdings are among the best-known names in the space – Cipher Mining, IREN, Bitfarms, Cleanspark and Galaxy Digital.

Donald Trump’s focus on rare earth metals has sent stocks in the sector higher and thereby lifted the VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF into fifth place. MP Materials, which the US administration took a stake in this year, is the top holding of this strategic fund. Lynas, Lithium Americas, Albemarle and China Northern Rare Earth are among the other major holdings.

Global X Hydrogen ETF – boasting major holdings in Bloom Energy and Plug Power - was another notably strong performer that reflects global megatrends.

We’re getting into retail favourites next with the VanEck Space Innovators ETF. Its performance is impressive since AST SpaceMobile, the top holding at 14% of the fund, has come off sharply in recent days. Barclays cut the stock to underweight, noting that valuation had run ahead of fundamentals.  Shares of AST are down 20% in the last five days but the fund remains +15% for the month. Other main holdings include Rocket Lab, ViaSat, Planet Labs and MDA Space Ltd.

Finally, looking at country performance it’s no surprise to see a South Korean-focused ETF among the top performers as the KOSPI is the best-performing major national equity index this year. There are many Korean equity ETFs but top of the list is the HSBC MSCI Korea Capped ETF. It’s about 30% Samsung but still offers diversified exposure to Korean stocks.