Get the Best Bang for Your Buck: 3 Low-Cost, High-Return ETFs

An exchange-traded fund's ability to add easy, accessible diversification to a portfolio may be its strongest source of appeal to investors, but these products must typically still meet two key requirements in order to achieve significant inflows. First, an ETF must offer compelling performance—typically via strong returns, but occasionally also through dividend payments or other benefits. Second, a fund should be able to achieve those gains at a cost that is attractive to investors.

ETFs that are both low in cost and with outsized performance can be difficult to find, but three such funds stand out for investor consideration heading into the final months of 2025. All of the funds below have generated at least 67% in returns year-to-date (YTD) while requiring a compelling annual fee below 0.60%.

Global Access to the Volatile But Surging Rare Earth Metals Industry

The VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF (NYSEARCA: REMX) tracks an index of companies that produce, refine, and recycle rare earth and strategic metals like titanium and molybdenum. These metals are vital to tech products ranging from magnets and batteries, to solar power systems and smartphones, making them an essential part of many companies' supply chains.

The rare metals space is prone to volatility because of the significant role the Chinese market plays (and the resulting uncertainty given trade issues with the United States) and because of government defense demand. While this makes a pure-play global rare metals fund like REMX a higher-risk venture, it also makes it possible for the fund to return 73% YTD in 2025. The rare metals industry is not exceptionally large, and REMX captures a lot of it with its two dozen holdings, but this portfolio is nonetheless narrower than those of many other ETFs. However, investors willing to take on the risk will find a great bargain, as REMX has an expense ratio of only 0.58%, quite reasonable for a specialized strategy like this.

VanEck’s NLR ETF Taps Global Growth Ahead of 2040 Boom

The nuclear power energy industry is predicted to grow to 12% of the global energy mix by 2040, and the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Energy ETF (NYSEARCA: NLR) is poised to benefit from this increase. NLR's portfolio provides holistic exposure to the industry, including companies that produce input materials through those that operate power plants and more.

NLR's 26 holdings come from across developed markets, ensuring that the fund offers access to a breadth of regions and regulatory environments as nuclear power adoption grows. Like REMX above, NLR is operating in a space that is not particularly large, but it provides solid diversification within that fairly narrow industry. With an expense ratio of 0.56%, NLR comes in at a lower fee than some of its prominent competitors; others that are cheaper suffer from low trading volume which may offset any potential expense ratio benefits and making investing more difficult for investors.

Low-Cost Indirect Exposure to Crypto, With a Worldwide, Multi-Cap Focus

The Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF (NYSEARCA: STCE) aims to capitalize on the broad growth of the cryptocurrency space without offering direct exposure to tokens themselves. There are a range of spot crypto ETFs aiming to replicate the price movements of popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but STCE is instead focused on many of the companies that could benefit from the utilization of crypto as well as blockchain and distributed ledger tech.

This means that STCE's global, multi-cap portfolio includes mining firms, companies providing cryptocurrency exchange services, producers of mining hardware, and similar companies. With three dozen holdings in the portfolio, STCE provides a fairly balanced basket of these companies, although its focus is predominantly on the United States—nearly 81% of the portfolio is U.S.-based companies, with Canadian firms making up the bulk of the remainder. STCE is diversified across market caps, ensuring that it doesn't focus exclusively on the largest companies involved in crypto.

STCE's niche focus means it doesn't have the highest trading volume—its one-month average volume hovers below 100,000—but its low cost will likely attract investors interested in the space. Its annual fee of 0.30% is significantly lower than, for example, the benchmark Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (NYSEARCA: GBTC). This popular spot Bitcoin ETF has an annual fee five times that of STCE. STCE has also returned 76% YTD amid crypto price surges, adding to its appeal.

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