Active ETFs in 2025: ARK takes gold and silver

ARK Investment Management – the Florida-based firm founded and run by Cathie Wood – occupies the top two positions for European active ETF performance in 2025 (all figures to 19/12/25). Elsewhere in the top five performers, it was European-focused funds that delivered the best returns – by David Batchelor

Both ARK funds are technology and innovation focused. ARK Innovation ETF, the firm’s flagship strategy, led the way with a gain of 32.6%, as this year’s stock market rally benefitted its list of companies targeting disruptive innovation. The fund defines this disruptive innovation as technologically enabled advancements that have the potential to change the world. Its research and selection process focuses on companies involved in cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, automation and manufacturing, genomics, energy storage, blockchain and financial technology. The fund’s largest holding, with over 12% weighting, is Tesla, with the remainer of the top five being Coinbase, Roku, Roblox and Crispr Therapeutics.

The second fund is ARK Artificial Intelligence & Robotics ETF, which gained 31.7%. The fund’s core theme is the long-term adoption of AI and robotics across industries, through a focused, high-conviction portfolio. The top five holdings are Tesla (again), Teradyne, Kratos Defence & Security Solutions, Palentir and Rocket Lab. The five have had a year ranging from very good to exceptional, with the latter three all registering triple digit gains, as the AI and robotics revolutions continued to power ahead.

The top five in the overall performance list for 2025 was completed by ETFs run by JP Morgan and iShares that benefitted from the strong equity performance seen in Europe this year. In third place overall was JP Morgan Eurozone Research Enhanced Index Equity Active ETF, one of many funds run under the ‘Research Enhanced’ banner by the behemoth of the European active ETF sector. The fund, benchmarked against the MSCI EMU Index, returned 31.2%. The largest holding is ASML, which has had a bumper year driven by surging global demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Other top five holdings include Siemens and Allianz, which have also enjoyed a very strong year.

iShares Europe Equity Enhanced Active ETF returned 27.3%. Its benchmark is the MSCI Europe Index which, unlike the EMU index, includes non-eurozone countries, most importantly the UK. Again, ASML is the largest holding, with AstraZeneca, Novartis, SAP and Nestle completing the top five. The portfolio is constructed using quantitative models designed to select securities expected to contribute positively to returns after considering risk and transaction costs.

The top five is rounded out by JP Morgan Europe Research Enhanced Index Equity Active ETF. Another in the JP Morgan Research Enhanced stable, like the iShares fund this is benchmarked against MSCI Europe. Its top five is similar but not identical to its iShares counterpart: ASML, AstraZeneca, Shell, Nestle and Siemens. As across JP Morgan’s Research Enhanced funds, systematic research and analyst conviction tilts weights towards those securities judged to have the highest potential to outperform.

Congratulations to all five funds; let’s see if their strong performance can be maintained into 2026.

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