The Biggest ETF Losers of 2026 H1 Were Last Year's Winners

The biggest ETF winners of last year have fallen out of favor.

After dominating ETF inflows through much of 2025, gold and spot bitcoin ETFs saw investors pull billions of dollars during the first half of 2026 as capital rotated toward AI infrastructure, semiconductor hardware and other growth-oriented themes.

According to first-half ETF flow data compiled by VettaFi, gold ETFs recorded $3 billion in net outflows, while spot bitcoin ETFs lost $4 billion, marking their weakest stretch of the year.

The reversal came even as total ETF inflows reached record levels, underscoring a sharp shift in investor sentiment rather than a broad retreat from the ETF market.

Gold ETFs Face Headwinds Despite Safe-Haven Appeal Gold ETFs struggled against a backdrop of a hawkish Federal Reserve, a stronger U.S. dollar and falling bullion prices.

Spot gold slipped below $4,000 per ounce for the first time since November, prompting investors to trim exposure after a strong run earlier in the year.

The world’s largest gold-backed funds, including the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD ) and the iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ), faced broader pressure as investors moved away from traditional defensive assets.

GLD saw outflows of an alarming $9.2 billion, and IAU, of almost $4 billion, according to ETFDb.

Interestingly, during the first half of 2025, GLD and IAU had garnered $8 billion and almost $5 billion in inflows, $23 billion and $11 billion for the whole year, respectively.

One notable exception was the SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (NYSE: GLDM ).

The low-cost ETF continued attracting assets, maintaining approximately $4 billion in year-to-date inflows as cost-conscious investors used lower gold prices to build positions.

The divergence suggests investors haven’t abandoned gold altogether but are becoming increasingly selective, favoring cheaper investment vehicles over legacy products.

Bitcoin ETF Flows Turn Negative Cryptocurrency ETFs also lost momentum.

Spot bitcoin ETFs suffered $4 billion in net outflows after bitcoin fell below the key $60,000 support level, extending an eight-month decline from its March peak.

The largest outflows came from the iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT ), which shed roughly $3 billion during the period as institutional investors reduced exposure to broad spot bitcoin products.

During the corresponding period last year, the fund has raked in more than $15 billion inflows.

However, investors didn’t completely exit the digital asset space.

Instead, flows increasingly rotated toward income-oriented crypto strategies, with the NEOS Bitcoin High Income ETF (BATS: BTCI ) attracting assets as investors sought yield in addition to bitcoin exposure.

The shift mirrors a broader trend across the ETF industry, where investors are increasingly favoring products that generate income or offer differentiated strategies rather than straightforward market exposure.

Capital Flows to AI Infrastructure ETFs While gold and bitcoin ETFs struggled, investors aggressively embraced sectors tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The Roundhill Memory ETF (BATS;DRAM) emerged as one of the biggest success stories of the year, attracting $17 billion in second-quarter inflows and rapidly growing to nearly $25 billion in assets, making it the fastest-growing ETF ever.

Semiconductor ETFs also remained in favor, collectively attracting $23 billion in net inflows during the quarter as investors expanded beyond AI software into hardware suppliers, memory chips and semiconductor manufacturing.

The AI infrastructure trade extended beyond chips.

Investors increasingly allocated capital to products such as the AdvisorShares HVAC and Industrials ETF (NYSE: HVAC ), which provides exposure to heating, cooling and industrial equipment companies expected to benefit from surging data center construction and rising power demand.

Utilities, nuclear energy and data center-related ETFs also gained traction as investors looked for ways to capitalize on the physical infrastructure needed to support the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.

Risk Appetite Returns The contrasting flow trends highlight a changing market narrative.

Instead of seeking protection in traditional safe havens such as gold or making broad directional bets on bitcoin, investors increasingly favored sectors with direct links to long-term AI investment, including semiconductors, electrification, cooling systems and energy infrastructure.

The shift also reflects improving risk appetite.

Strong corporate earnings, resilient equity markets and continued AI-driven capital spending encouraged investors to rotate out of defensive assets and into growth-oriented themes, suggesting that, for many ETF investors, AI infrastructure has become the market’s preferred long-term allocation while gold and bitcoin temporarily take a back seat.

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