Best-Performing Active ETFs of 1H25

The investing world has been witnessing tectonic shifts over the past few years due to changing global economic fundamentals. Investor sentiment has evolved, shaped by experiences such as the 2008 financial meltdown, the Eurozone debt crisis, and the COVID-19 crisis. These events made clear the need for continuous adaptation to a shifting macroeconomic environment.

Earlier, the investing domain used to be dominated by passively managed or index-tracking funds. Their low cost and transparent structure have made them highly coveted. But the changing investing backdrop has forced ETF issuers to become more agile.

Agreed, active funds are arguably expensive, as these involve research expenses associated with the manager’s due diligence and additional costs in the form of a wide bid/ask spread beyond the expense ratio. But issuers are still turning more innovative and intend to come up with products that are more dynamic and suit the current improving but volatile market conditions.

Inside The Growth of Active ETFs

ETFGI reported that assets invested in actively managed ETFs listed globally reached a new all-time high of $1.39 trillion at the end of May 2025, surpassing the previous record of $1.30 trillion set just a month earlier in April.

Year-to-date (YTD) net inflows in actively-managed ETFs have reached a record high of $220.25 billion in 2025, surpassing the previous high of $124.63 billion in 2024. The third-highest YTD net inflow was recorded in 2021 at $72.01 billion.

Investors poured money into the active ETFs for 62 successive months. At the current level, active ETFs have carved a significant niche within the U.S. market. Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services predicts assets under management (AUM) for active ETFs in the United States to grow from $856 billion in 2024 to $11 trillion by the end of 2035, a 13x rise. By then, active ETF AUM is expected to account for 27% of total ETF AUM and 17% of total open-ended long-term fund AUM.

There are now 3,671 actively managed ETFs listed globally, with 4,757 listings, assets of $1.39 Trillion, from 563 providers listed on 42 exchanges in 33 countries at the end of May, per ETFGI. There are about  2164 actively managed ETFs listed in the United States.The year 2025 only has so far seen 363 launches of active ETFs in the United States, outnumbering 55 passive launches so far this year.

Some of the most-loved U.S.-based active ETFs are JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF JEPQ with assets over $26 billion, JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF JEPI with assets around $40 billion and iShares U.S. Thematic Rotation Active ETF THRO with assets over $4 billion.

Wining Actively-managed ETFs of 1H2025

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning actively-managed ETFs that won in the first half of 2025.

ARK Next Generation Internet ETF ARKW – Up 31.8%

ARK Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF – Up 28.8%

Cambria Global Value ETF GVAL – Up 26.3%

First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry & Digital Economy ETF CRPT – Up 23%

Kurv Yield Prem Stratgey Netflix ETF NFLP – Up 21%

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research