ASX ETF Momentum Leaders 2026: Top 10 by Quarterly Return
- Christopher Hall
- Jun 22
- 11 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | Updated August 2026
Data current as of 21 August 2026.
The top-performing ASX-listed ETF over the past quarter is the Global X S&P Biotech ETF (CURE), up 21.27% in total return to 21 August 2026. It reached first place from eighth without doing much: CURE rose 3.42% over the week, and every fund that had been ranked above it fell. The cybersecurity and cloud software complex that held the top of this board for six consecutive weeks came apart in a single week — BUGG fell 11.55%, HACK 10.13% and CLDD 6.57% — and two gold miner funds entered the Top 10 from quarterly returns that were negative seven days ago. This page ranks the ASX ETF universe by quarterly momentum and is updated weekly.
This Week's Top 10 ASX ETFs by Quarterly Momentum
# | Ticker | ETF | Theme | Quarterly total return | Last week |
1 | CURE | Global X S&P Biotech | US biotechnology (equal weight) | +21.27% | 8 |
2 | LHGG | Lakehouse Global Growth | Global growth equities (active) | +19.15% | 5 |
3 | CLDD | Betashares Cloud Computing | Global cloud & SaaS software | +18.61% | 2 |
4 | BUGG | Global X Cybersecurity | Global pure-play cybersecurity | +16.96% | 1 |
5 | MNRS | Betashares Global Gold Miners – Currency Hedged | Global gold miners | +15.15% | new |
6 | TECH | Global X Global Technology | Global technology | +14.40% | 4 |
7 | XX20 | First Sentier ex-20 Australian Share | Australian shares outside the ASX 20 (active) | +13.59% | new |
8 | MKAX | Montaka Global Extension | Global long/short equities (active) | +13.09% | new |
9 | IXJ | iShares Global Healthcare | Global healthcare | +12.66% | new |
10 | GDX | VanEck Gold Miners | Global gold miners | +12.50% | new |
Price and performance data sourced from the Australian Warrant Exchange (AXW), an ASX market, via Finer Market Points' ASX-listed ETF watchlist ranked by quarterly total return to the settled close of Friday 21 August 2026. Individual company shares and index rows that appear in the same watchlist export are excluded. Fund identities, holdings and fees are provider data, dated in the Sources table. LHGG's unit price was unchanged over the week, so its weekly return is 0.00%.
The whole board came down, and the entry bar came down with it. First place last week required a quarterly return of 39.83%; this week it requires 21.27%. Tenth place required 15.91%; this week it requires 12.50%. Five funds entered the Top 10 — MNRS, XX20, MKAX, IXJ and GDX — and none of them entered by accelerating past a strong field. CURE was the only fund in last week's Top 10 whose quarterly return improved at all, from 17.33% to 21.27%.
Which Theme Is Leading ASX ETFs This Week?
No single theme leads the board. That is itself the finding, and it is the first time this ranking has produced it.
For six weeks the top of this board was one continuous story: cybersecurity, then the cloud-delivered software next to it. This week that story ended, and what replaced it at the top are two unrelated sectors — health care and gold — plus two actively managed funds whose returns come from stock selection rather than from any sector at all.
Fund | Theme | Week | Month | Quarter |
MNRS | Global gold miners | +16.41% | +29.54% | +15.15% |
GDX | Global gold miners | +12.77% | +26.56% | +12.50% |
LHGG | Global growth (active) | 0.00% | +15.78% | +19.15% |
MKAX | Global long/short (active) | −0.30% | +11.96% | +13.09% |
CLDD | Cloud & SaaS software | −6.57% | +11.94% | +18.61% |
XX20 | Australian shares ex-ASX 20 | +0.36% | +9.49% | +13.59% |
TECH | Global technology | −4.54% | +6.19% | +14.40% |
IXJ | Global health care | +1.78% | +4.59% | +12.66% |
CURE | US biotechnology | +3.42% | +4.80% | +21.27% |
BUGG | Pure-play cybersecurity | −11.55% | +0.38% | +16.96% |
Read the first two columns rather than the last. The quarterly ranking is a 90-day measure and moves slowly; the weekly and monthly columns show where money actually went this week, and it went into gold miners. Health care is the quieter half of the same rotation: CURE leads the quarterly board and IXJ has entered it, with the Betashares Global Health ETF (DRUG, +11.25%) and the VanEck Global Healthcare Leaders ETF (HLTH, +9.32%) sitting just outside — four health care funds clustered at the top of a board that carried none of them a month ago.
Why Did the Cybersecurity and Cloud ETFs Fall Out of the Lead?
They did not fall out of the lead so much as fall, full stop. Every fund in the software complex lost ground over the week and shed a large part of its quarterly return with it.
Fund | Quarter to 14 Aug | Quarter to 21 Aug | Change | Week |
BUGG | +39.83% | +16.96% | −22.87 pp | −11.55% |
HACK | +30.52% | +12.05% | −18.47 pp | −10.13% |
CLDD | +31.46% | +18.61% | −12.86 pp | −6.57% |
TECH | +25.48% | +14.40% | −11.08 pp | −4.54% |
Two separate things happened at once. The funds fell in the week, and a very strong week from thirteen weeks ago dropped out of the back of the 90-day measurement window. The second effect is arithmetic rather than news, but it is the larger of the two: BUGG's quarterly return fell by 22.87 percentage points on a weekly fall of 11.55%. HACK left the Top 10 entirely, finishing fourteenth, having been ranked third a week earlier and second for most of the preceding month.
Why Did Gold Miner ETFs Rise So Much More Than Gold Bullion ETFs?
Because a miner's profit moves further than the gold price does. The ASX physical gold funds and the gold miner funds are exposed to the same metal, and over the week they moved very differently:
Fund | What it holds | Week | Month |
MNRS | Gold miners (currency hedged) | +16.41% | +29.54% |
GDX | Gold miners (unhedged) | +12.77% | +26.56% |
GLDN | Physical gold bullion | +3.89% | +7.63% |
GOLD | Physical gold bullion | +3.87% | +7.45% |
GXLD | Physical gold bullion | +3.80% | +7.59% |
PMGOLD | Physical gold bullion | +3.65% | +7.55% |
NUGG | Physical gold bullion | +3.65% | +7.46% |
The five physical gold funds cluster tightly between 3.65% and 3.89% for the week, which is the gold price itself. The two miner funds returned three to four times that. A gold miner's costs are largely fixed, so a rise in the gold price flows disproportionately into its margin — the effect works in both directions and is the reason miner funds are more volatile than bullion funds. The move was not confined to gold: the Global X Silver ETF rose 6.53% over the week and the Global X Platinum ETF 7.01%, and the broad Australian resources funds followed, with the Betashares Australian Resources ETF (QRE) up 5.72% and the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Resources Fund (OZR) up 5.48%.
Do the Top Three ASX ETFs Hold Any of the Same Companies?
None that can be confirmed, and this is the first week on record where that is true. CURE and CLDD both publish full holdings by company, and between them they have no company in common. LHGG cannot be checked at company level: Lakehouse Capital discloses its portfolio by GICS sub-industry, country and weight band rather than by company name. The closest that disclosure comes is two United States Systems Software positions at midpoint weights of 8.85% and 5.91% — the classification that contains ServiceNow, which CLDD holds at 4.0%. An overlap there is plausible, and it is not confirmable.
That is a sharp break from the six weeks before it, when the leading funds were bound together by a shared spine of cyber and cloud names and the board could be explained by a handful of companies. Three funds now lead on three unrelated engines: a thinly spread US biotech index, a fifteen-stock actively managed growth portfolio, and a cloud software index. The full comparison, including what Lakehouse does and does not disclose, is set out in how the three leading funds compare.
One caution about the fund at the top. CURE tracks a modified equal-weight index, and its ten largest holdings were only 13.99% of the fund. Those ten averaged roughly +68% over the recent measurable window, far ahead of the fund's own +21.27% — because in an equal-weight index the largest positions are large precisely because they have already risen since the last rebalance. Moderna is the clearest case: it nearly tripled over the window, and that is exactly why it is CURE's biggest holding at 2.65% — a weight at which even a tripling adds under two percentage points to the fund. The top-10 list of such a fund records what has worked; it does not explain the return. CURE's ranking is better read as a breadth signal about US biotechnology than as a bet on any of the companies named in it.
What This List Measures
This page ranks ASX-listed ETFs by quarterly total return — the same 90-day momentum lens Finer Market Points applies to individual ASX stocks, adapted to the ETF universe. It is a record of which themes are leading over the period, not a recommendation to buy any fund. The list refreshes weekly so the leading themes stay current.
This list ranks individual funds. It does not rank the ETF market by category. A fund can top this table while the category it belongs to ranks modestly, because a category average is diluted by every other fund in it. That group-level view is maintained separately in the category-level ETF board.
Related FMP Coverage
This week's deep dive: how the three leading funds compare
The cyber and cloud funds that led until this week: BUGG, CLDD and HACK compared side by side
Earlier in the same run: the board when cybersecurity still led
The semiconductor theme in depth: the three routes into the semiconductor trade
The category-level view: the category-level ETF board
Individual stock momentum: how individual ASX stocks are ranked on the same 90-day measure
Access the Research Behind This List
Finer Market Points publishes the weekly Top 30 ASX momentum data — the same proprietary research framework behind this ETF list. Members receive the underlying educational data and weekly analysis discussed in reports like this one through the FMP YouTube Membership.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best performing ASX ETF right now?
As at the settled close of 21 August 2026, the Global X S&P Biotech ETF (CURE) leads the ASX-listed ETF universe with a quarterly total return of 21.27%, having been ranked eighth a week earlier. Second is the Lakehouse Global Growth Fund Active ETF (LHGG, +19.15%) and third the Betashares Cloud Computing ETF (CLDD, +18.61%). CURE was the only fund in the previous week's Top 10 whose quarterly return improved. Performance data is sourced from the Australian Warrant Exchange (AXW), an ASX market.
Which theme is leading ASX ETFs this week?
No single theme. For six consecutive weeks the top of this board was cybersecurity and then cloud-delivered software; that run ended this week. The quarterly board is now led by health care and gold, with two actively managed funds between them, and there is no company held by all three of the leading funds. On the shorter measures gold miners are clearly in front — the Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF (MNRS) returned 16.41% over the week and 29.54% over the month, and the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) 12.77% and 26.56%.
Why did the cybersecurity and cloud ETFs fall out of the lead?
They fell sharply over the week and also lost a very strong week from thirteen weeks earlier out of the back of the 90-day measurement window. BUGG fell 11.55% over the week and its quarterly return dropped 22.87 percentage points to 16.96%; HACK fell 10.13% and dropped 18.47 points to 12.05%, leaving the Top 10 entirely at fourteenth; CLDD fell 6.57% and dropped 12.86 points to 18.61%; the Global X Global Technology ETF (TECH) fell 4.54% and dropped 11.08 points to 14.40%.
Which ASX ETFs are new to the Top 10 this week?
Five funds entered: the Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF – Currency Hedged (MNRS) at fifth with +15.15%, the First Sentier ex-20 Australian Share Fund Active ETF (XX20) at seventh with +13.59%, the Montaka Global Extension Fund (MKAX) at eighth with +13.09%, the iShares Global Healthcare ETF (IXJ) at ninth with +12.66%, and the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) at tenth with +12.50%. MNRS and GDX both entered from negative quarterly returns a week earlier, of −10.82% and −7.72% respectively. They displaced HACK, BNKS, ATEC, CFLO and MOAT.
Why did gold miner ETFs rise so much more than gold bullion ETFs?
Because a gold miner's costs are largely fixed, so a movement in the gold price flows disproportionately into its profit margin, in both directions. Over the week to 21 August 2026 the five ASX physical gold funds returned between 3.65% and 3.89% — GLDN 3.89%, GOLD 3.87%, GXLD 3.80%, PMGOLD 3.65% and NUGG 3.65% — while the two gold miner funds returned 16.41% (MNRS) and 12.77% (GDX), three to four times as much. This operating leverage also makes miner funds more volatile than bullion funds when the metal falls.
Do the top three ASX ETFs hold any of the same companies?
None that can be confirmed. CURE and CLDD both publish full holdings by company and have no company in common. LHGG cannot be checked at company level, because Lakehouse Capital discloses its portfolio by GICS sub-industry, country and weight band rather than by company name. The closest the disclosure comes is that LHGG holds two United States Systems Software positions at midpoint weights of 8.85% and 5.91%, the classification that contains ServiceNow, which CLDD holds at 4.0% — plausible, but not confirmable. This is the first week on this board where the three leading funds have had no confirmable common holding, and it reflects three unrelated engines: a modified equal-weight US biotechnology index, a fifteen-stock actively managed global growth portfolio, and a cloud software index.
How is this ASX ETF momentum list calculated?
ASX-listed ETFs are ranked by quarterly total return over the most recent 90 days, using Finer Market Points' watchlist of the ASX ETF universe with price and performance data from the Australian Warrant Exchange (AXW), an ASX market. The list is updated weekly from the settled Friday close. Individual company shares that appear in the same watchlist export are excluded, as are index and benchmark rows and any row returning no data for the period.
Are these ETFs available to Australian investors?
Yes — all ten are listed and traded on the ASX. Two of them, LHGG and MKAX, are actively managed funds quoted as Active ETFs rather than index trackers, and one, MNRS, is hedged into Australian dollars while the others are unhedged. This page is general, educational information only and does not consider any individual's objectives, financial situation or needs.
Sources
# | Source | Detail | Accessed |
1 | Australian Warrant Exchange (AXW), an ASX market | ASX-listed ETF price and weekly, monthly and quarterly total return data, settled close 21 Aug 2026 | 22 Aug 2026 |
2 | Global X — CURE fund page | CURE index, management fee, fund size, inception and full holdings with weights (holdings as at 21 Aug 2026); BUGG and TECH fund identity | 22 Aug 2026 |
3 | Betashares | MNRS index, management cost, fund size, holdings and inception; CLDD, HACK, DRUG and QRE fund identity | 22 Aug 2026 |
4 | VanEck | GDX index, management fee, fund size, holdings count and inception; HLTH fund identity | 22 Aug 2026 |
5 | Lakehouse Capital — LHGG fund page | Fund size (31 Jul 2026), holdings count, inception and investment approach | 22 Aug 2026 |
6 | Lakehouse Capital — Material Portfolio Information (LHGG20260821) | LHGG portfolio disclosure by GICS sub-industry, country, currency and weight band, as at 21 Aug 2026 | 22 Aug 2026 |
7 | stockanalysis.com | Constituent closing prices only (Moderna, Twist Bioscience, Oruka, Apogee, Kymera, Praxis, Halozyme, Natera, Revolution Medicines, Dianthus), 11 Jun – 21 Aug 2026 | 22 Aug 2026 |
8 | S&P Dow Jones Indices | S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index methodology (modified equal weight, quarterly rebalance) | 22 Aug 2026 |
9 | Finer Market Points | Momentum research framework and ETF watchlist methodology | 22 Aug 2026 |
All fund facts on this page come from each provider's own fund page or portfolio disclosure; third-party sources are used for share closing prices only. Constituent price movements are directional, computed from stockanalysis.com dated daily closes between 11 June and 21 August 2026 — a window roughly three weeks shorter than the funds' own 90-day measurement period.
Educational Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Consider your financial situation and seek professional advice before making investment decisions.
Finer Market Points Pty Ltd, CAR 1304002, AFSL 526688, ABN 87 645 284 680. This general information is educational only and not financial advice, recommendation, forecast or solicitation. Consider your objectives, financial situation and needs before acting. Seek appropriate professional advice. We accept no liability for any loss or damages arising from use. Authors and presenters may hold positions in discussed companies and investment products.
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