# Do theme ETFs beat the S&P 500?

> As of Nov 4, 2026, 127 of 329 theme ETFs beat the S&P 500 over a full year, and 32% of the median theme fund is already in it. Plain words, dated numbers.

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

## Do theme ETFs beat the S&P 500?

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

As of Nov 4, 2026, 127 of 329 theme ETFs beat the S&P 500 over a full year, and 32% of the median theme fund is already in it.

### In plain words

Theme funds pick companies by an idea instead of market size, and many readers compare them with the S&P 500 to see whether the idea paid off. ETFIQ makes that comparison for every theme fund over the same year.

Of 329 theme funds with a full year, 127 finished ahead of the index. The median theme fund also has 32% of its weight in companies the S&P 500 owns, so some of the result comes from the same large firms. A fund that mostly copies the index adds little new; 130 pairs of theme funds are close enough to be called twins.

### Questions

How is ahead measured? By total return minus the S&P 500’s total return over the same year.

Why compare with the S&P 500? It is the broad market most theme funds are set against. ETFIQ also shows a Nasdaq-100 comparison where it fits.

Where do I see each fund? On the themes page and each fund page.

### Where to next

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, Do theme ETFs beat the S&P 500?, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/learn/do-theme-etfs-beat-the-s-and-p-500
Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.
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