ETFs Are All Over The Place In 2026

This is my third weekly blog about ETFs. Last week, I discussed how ETFs are up a lot, and they still are.

A Look at the Market

I follow 83 ETFs very closely right now, and they cover stocks, bonds and precious metals and bitcoins. Their market caps range from $672 million to $865 billion. The average is $95 billion. 21 of these ETFs (25%) are up more than 10% in price, with the S&P 500 up only 1.1%. A dozen are down, with only one down more than 5% (IBIT, which is down 22.6%).

Looking at the ETFs that are up more than 10%, I really like a few of them still, even at the elevated price. Here is the complete list of good performers, sorted by return. I have highlighted the ones that I like that are on this list:

I have written about SMDV at Seeking Alpha, most recently in January, when I reiterated my Buy rating. I have a Hold rating on REGL, though I do like that ETF, which I wrote about earlier this month, recommending that readers of my Seeking Alpha article <a href="seekingalpha.com/article/4864919-reduce-vti-and-extend-your-equity-exposure-with-regl">replace VTI</a> with it. I also wrote about two other ETFs recently that are up almost 10%, FNDA and VBR.

Of the dozen that are down, I have written negatively about a few of them and continue to be cautious. Here they are:

I actually bought and sold IBIT profitably for my own account twice recently, and I just added it back on Friday. I wrote a piece here a week ago, but TalkMarkets has experienced a problem with its website subsequently. It's not available now, but hopefully my article "Why I Bit At IBIT" will return.

The themes that I have addressed show out here, with large-cap struggling and growth stocks struggling too.

ETF Model Portfolio Update

This ETF, which is measured against 60% SPY and 40% AGG, is up considerably relative to its benchmark. This week, I did several trades, all of which are published on my Seeking Alpha blog. I had added State Street Utilities Select SPDR ETF (XLU) on 2/11 at $44.51, reducing RSP to add it. It rallied substantially for such a short period of time, and I exited it at a profit.

Going into the week, my equity exposure totaled just 41.1%, spread out across four ETFs. Here is what I did this week:

• Tuesday: I sold some LTPZ, VGSH and XLU to start a new position in VXF

• Wednesday:I sold the rest of XLU and added to VTIP

• Friday: I reduced RSP and added to LTPZ (a little bit lower than where I had reduced it earlier in the week)

Here is the current model portfolio, which now has 43.6% equity exposure in 4 ETFs and fixed income exposure in 3 ETFs that totals 56.3%:

How Can I Help You?

I enjoy analyzing ETFs and stocks, and I like sharing my thinking in writing. I am working on starting a subscription service at Seeking Alpha. What things would you as an investor like to see offered?

If you are an investment professional, I would like to work with you as well. I can help educate financial consultants about the ETFs, and I can work with management at investment firms to help create model portfolios or potential ETF investments. Please let me know if your firm would be interested in this.