BUGG vs HACK vs CLDD: When Cloud Overtook Cybersecurity on the ASX ETF Board
Updated: Aug 14
Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | Updated August 2026
Data current as of 14 August 2026.
The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUGG), the Betashares Cloud Computing ETF (CLDD) and the Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (HACK) were the three best-performing ASX-listed ETFs over the quarter to 14 August 2026, returning +39.83%, +31.46% and +30.52% respectively (Australian Warrant Exchange data). These are the same three funds that led the board on 17 July 2026 — in a different order. Four weeks ago the cloud fund finished a distant third, 24.5 percentage points behind BUGG. It now sits second, 8.4 points behind. This page compares how the three funds are built, where their holdings overlap, and which companies changed hands at the top.
What Each ETF Is Built to Do
All three are technology-tilted, but they are built differently:
BUGG — global pure-play cybersecurity. Tracks the Indxx Cybersecurity Index: a concentrated basket of roughly 30 companies whose principal business is cybersecurity — endpoint, network, identity and cloud security software, predominantly US-listed. Little sits in the book that is not cyber.
HACK — global cybersecurity, broad build. Tracks the Nasdaq Consumer Technology Association Cybersecurity Index. It holds the same cyber platform leaders at the top, but its wider book also carries large-cap technology and IT-services names — Cisco, Broadcom, Microsoft, Alphabet, Accenture, IBM and Infosys among them.
CLDD — global cloud computing. Tracks the Indxx Global Cloud Computing Index: leading software-as-a-service, cloud-infrastructure and platform companies (Datadog, Snowflake, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday). It touches cybersecurity only through cloud-security and edge names.
Side-by-Side Comparison
BUGG | CLDD | HACK | |
Provider | Global X | Betashares | Betashares |
Index tracked | Indxx Cybersecurity | Indxx Global Cloud Computing | Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity |
What it holds | ~30 pure-play cyber stocks | ~38 cloud & SaaS software names | ~42 cyber + large-cap IT names |
Structure | Physical index ETF | Physical index ETF | Physical index ETF |
Management fee & costs (p.a.) | 0.47% | 0.67% | 0.67% |
Fund size | A$34.2M | A$41.4M | A$1.56B |
Currency | Unhedged | Unhedged | Unhedged |
Inception (ASX) | Sep 2023 | Feb 2021 | Aug 2016 |
Quarterly total return | +39.83% | +31.46% | +30.52% |
Monthly return | +9.59% | +16.65% | +8.93% |
Quarterly and monthly total returns sourced from the Australian Warrant Exchange (AXW), an ASX market, to 14 August 2026. Provider data (index, holdings, fees, fund size) from Global X and Betashares as at 16 July 2026. Fees are management fees and costs per annum as published by the provider, and do not, on their own, indicate suitability.
How the Board Order Changed in Four Weeks
The same trio, measured four weeks apart, moved like this:
Fund | Quarter to 17 Jul 2026 | Quarter to 14 Aug 2026 | Change |
BUGG | +46.24% | +39.83% | −6.41 pp |
CLDD | +21.75% | +31.46% | +9.71 pp |
HACK | +34.27% | +30.52% | −3.75 pp |
CLDD is the only one of the three whose quarterly return rose, and the gap between first and second place narrowed from 24.49 percentage points to 8.37. The order changed because one fund's holdings kept working while the other two lost their strongest contributors out of the back of the 90-day window.
Where the Three Funds Overlap
Comparing each fund's top-20 holdings, only two names sit in all three: Zscaler and Akamai — both cloud-security names that legitimately belong in a cybersecurity index and a cloud index at once.
Held by all three | BUGG | CLDD | HACK |
Zscaler | 4.44% | 3.8% | 3.1% |
Akamai | 4.57% | 3.9% | 2.8% |
The heavier overlap is between the two cybersecurity funds. BUGG and HACK share a cyber platform core that CLDD does not hold:
Held by BUGG + HACK | BUGG | HACK |
Palo Alto Networks | 7.83% | 9.8% |
Fortinet | 7.56% | 9.1% |
CrowdStrike | 7.25% | 8.7% |
Okta | 7.95% | 3.7% |
Rubrik | 4.46% | 2.6% |
Gen Digital | 4.16% | 2.3% |
Check Point | 3.61% | 2.2% |
CLDD's links to the two cyber funds are thinner and sit in the cloud-security bridge — Cloudflare and Datadog (shared with HACK) and Qualys (shared with BUGG). Everything else in CLDD — Snowflake, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday, Twilio — is cloud software the cyber funds do not hold.
What Actually Led This Quarter
Holding a stock and being driven by it are different things. Pulling the constituents' own price performance shows a different picture from four weeks ago:
Company | Held by | Recent quarter window | Last month |
Qualys | BUGG + CLDD | +76% | +19% |
SentinelOne | BUGG only | +46% | +20% |
Palo Alto Networks | BUGG + HACK | +41% | +12% |
Workday | CLDD only | +41% | +48% |
Zscaler | all three | +40% | +24% |
Snowflake | CLDD only | +40% | +22% |
Cloudflare | CLDD + HACK | +25% | +17% |
Okta | BUGG + HACK | +24% | +0.2% |
CrowdStrike | BUGG + HACK | +21% | +7% |
Fortinet | BUGG + HACK | +13% | −0.8% |
ServiceNow | CLDD only | +8% | +21% |
Datadog | CLDD + HACK | +1% | −7% |
Cisco | HACK only | −10% | +2% |
Broadcom | HACK only | −13% | +7% |
Akamai | all three | −22% | +4% |
Constituent closing prices from stockanalysis.com dated daily tables. The window (3 June to 13 August 2026) is roughly two and a half weeks shorter than the funds' 90-day total-return period, so treat these moves as directional rather than exact.
Why the Order Reversed
Four weeks ago this page recorded a specific finding: the names shared by all three funds carried no signal, and the return came from the cyber platform leaders that BUGG and HACK hold heavily. Both halves of that finding have now inverted, which is why the board reordered.
The shared spine split in two. Zscaler, which rose just 8% into mid-July, is up about 40% over the recent window and 24% in the past month alone. Akamai, the other holding common to all three funds, fell about 22%. The two names that structurally connect these funds are now pulling in opposite directions — the cloud-native security name running, the legacy edge-delivery name falling.
The platform leaders slowed. Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and CrowdStrike rose between roughly 74% and 95% in the window to mid-July. Over the recent window they returned about 41%, 13% and 21%, and over the past month Fortinet was slightly negative. That group is roughly 22.6% of BUGG and 27.6% of HACK, so its deceleration cost both funds directly.
CLDD's own engine accelerated. The cloud and data-platform names the cyber funds do not hold produced the strongest recent month on the board: Workday +48%, Snowflake +22%, ServiceNow +21%. Combined with Qualys (+76% over the window, shared with BUGG) and Cloudflare (+17% over the month, shared with HACK), the fund's monthly return of +16.65% was nearly double HACK's +8.93%.
HACK's ballast dragged again, for a different reason. Its 13.6% combined weight in Cisco and Broadcom fell about 10% and 13% over the window. Through July HACK's problem was dilution by names that stood still; this quarter those names went backwards.
BUGG kept first place because the group it holds most heavily — the identity, vulnerability and exposure-management names at roughly 33% of the fund — delivered the strongest returns across the full window, even though three of the six eased over the final month. Index construction and weightings are factual comparison points and do not, on their own, indicate suitability.
The wider lesson is about what an overlap analysis can and cannot tell in isolation. The Venn diagram of these three funds has not changed since July — the same two names still sit in the centre. What changed is which of those names is working. A crossover map is only meaningful when read together with the constituents' own returns, which is why this comparison is rebuilt from the holdings each time rather than carried forward.
Weekly rankings for every ASX-listed ETF are on the ASX ETF momentum board updated each week, the group-level view is in how the ETF market ranks by category, and the same 90-day lens applied to shares is on the weekly ASX share momentum board. The July version of this trio's story, when cybersecurity was still the driver, sits alongside when a theme reaches beyond its own funds.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What do BUGG, CLDD and HACK have in common?
They were the three best-performing ASX-listed ETFs over the quarter to 14 August 2026, returning +39.83%, +31.46% and +30.52% respectively (Australian Warrant Exchange data). BUGG and HACK are both global cybersecurity funds and share a core of platform leaders — Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, CrowdStrike and Okta. CLDD is a cloud-computing fund and overlaps only through cloud-security names such as Zscaler, Akamai, Cloudflare and Qualys. The same three funds also led the board on 17 July 2026, in the order BUGG, HACK, CLDD.
Why did CLDD overtake HACK this quarter?
CLDD returned 16.65% over the month to 14 August 2026 against HACK's 8.93%, which was enough to move it from third place to second. The cloud and data-platform names CLDD holds and the cyber funds do not were the strongest performers on the board over that month — Workday about +48%, Snowflake about +22% and ServiceNow about +21%. HACK's heaviest positions are the network-security incumbents Palo Alto Networks (9.8%), Fortinet (9.1%) and CrowdStrike (8.7%), which slowed, plus 13.6% of the fund in Cisco and Broadcom, which fell about 10% and 13% over the window.
Was cybersecurity or cloud the driver of the top ASX ETFs this quarter?
Cloud-delivered software, which is a change from the quarter to 17 July 2026 when the driver was cybersecurity at the platform-leader level. Over the recent window Zscaler rose about 40%, Qualys about 76%, Workday about 41% and Snowflake about 40%, while Fortinet rose about 13% and Akamai fell about 22% (directional figures from stockanalysis.com, 3 June to 13 August 2026). The clearest single signal is Zscaler, the only holding common to all three funds that rose.
What is the difference between BUGG and HACK?
Both are ASX-listed global cybersecurity ETFs, but they track different indices and are built differently. BUGG (Global X, Indxx Cybersecurity Index) is a concentrated pure-play basket of about 30 cyber names with a 0.47% management fee. HACK (Betashares, Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index) is a broader basket of about 42 names that adds large-cap technology and IT-services companies, with a 0.67% fee and a much larger fund size of about A$1.56 billion against BUGG's A$34.2 million.
Which companies do BUGG, CLDD and HACK all hold?
Two: Zscaler and Akamai, both cloud-security names that sit legitimately in a cybersecurity index and a cloud index at once. Zscaler is held at 4.44% by BUGG, 3.8% by CLDD and 3.1% by HACK; Akamai at 4.57%, 3.9% and 2.8%. Over the recent window the two moved in opposite directions — Zscaler up about 40%, Akamai down about 22%.
How much do BUGG, HACK and CLDD cost?
As published by the providers, BUGG charges management fees and costs of 0.47% per annum, and HACK and CLDD each charge 0.67% per annum. Fees are one factor among several and do not, on their own, indicate suitability.
Sources
# | Source | Detail | Accessed |
1 | Australian Warrant Exchange (AXW), an ASX market | ASX-listed ETF price, monthly and quarterly total return data | 14 Aug 2026 |
2 | Global X | BUGG index, holdings, management fee, fund size, inception | 16 Jul 2026 |
3 | Betashares | HACK and CLDD index, holdings, management fee, fund size, inception | 16 Jul 2026 |
4 | stockanalysis.com | Constituent closing prices (Qualys, SentinelOne, Palo Alto Networks, Workday, Zscaler, Snowflake, Cloudflare, Okta, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, ServiceNow, Datadog, Cisco, Broadcom, Akamai), 3 Jun – 13 Aug 2026 | 14 Aug 2026 |
5 | stockanalysis.com | Constituent closing prices for the comparison window, 6 May – 17 Jul 2026 | 17 Jul 2026 |
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