The Best-Performing ETF This Year Has Nothing To Do With AI Or Bitcoin — It's Linked To Crude Tanker Futures And Is Up 2,900%

The BWET fund primarily tracks tanker rates on the Middle East Gulf-to-China route through the Strait of Hormuz.

• BWET holds crude-tanker freight futures rather than oil, ships or shipping-company shares.
• Hormuz disruption drove some tanker rates from $75,000-$100,000 per day to nearly $470,000.
• Failed reopening efforts and renewed tanker attacks have kept vessels scarce and freight costs elevated.

One of 2026’s biggest investment winners does not own technology stocks, cryptocurrency or even crude oil. However, it does track the cost of getting oil onto a ship and through increasingly dangerous waters.

The Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF (BWET) has surged 2,928% this year as months of disruption around the Strait of Hormuz sent freight costs soaring, eclipsing even leveraged bets on semiconductor and energy stocks.

BWET Leaves Rival ETFs Behind

BWET’s year-to-date percentage gain is nearly 12 times the 244% advance in the MicroSectors U.S. Big Oil Index 3X ETN (NRGU) and almost 15 times the 199% rise in the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares ETF (SOXL).

Other strong energy performers lag far behind. The MicroSectors Oil & Gas Exploration & Production 3X Leveraged ETN (OILU) has gained about 148%, while the Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Bull 2X Shares ETF (GUSH) has risen 119%.