How much of a theme is already the index
By their latest holdings filings, the typical thematic ETF has 32% of its weight in stocks the S&P 500 already holds. 72 of 389 funds are more than sixty percent index names.
Across 54 themes and 414 funds, the median fee is 0.60%; measured against only the part of each fund that differs from the S&P 500, the median fee for the difference is 0.60%. 129 pairs of funds hold portfolios that are more than half identical by weight.
61 of 164 thematic ETFs with a full year beat the S&P 500 over the year to Oct 27, 2026.
Across 414 thematic ETFs on Oct 27, 2026, each bar is a theme’s median weight already in the S&P 500.
By theme, largest assets first
| Theme | Funds | Median in the S&P 500 | Median active share | Median fee | Median fee for the difference | Beat the S&P 500, one year | Median total return, one year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semiconductors | 11 | 66% | 85% | 0.30% | 0.40% | 9 of 9 | +60.9% |
| Defense | 22 | 42% | 98% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0 of 14 | −6.6% |
| Artificial intelligence | 36 | 59% | 80% | 0.70% | 0.80% | 17 of 25 | +16.7% |
| Gold miners | 10 | 6% | 100% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 8 of 9 | +19.9% |
| Infrastructure | 18 | 40% | 98% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 14 | +8.9% |
| Biotech | 10 | 31% | 99% | 0.40% | 0.40% | 8 of 8 | +39.0% |
| Memory and storage | 5 | 29% | 97% | 0.70% | 0.80% | 0 of 0 | · |
| Cybersecurity | 7 | 32% | 99% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 7 of 7 | +46.9% |
| Cloud and software | 8 | 45% | 92% | 0.40% | 0.40% | 4 of 7 | +21.8% |
| Broad innovation and megatrends | 30 | 50% | 92% | 0.50% | 0.60% | 13 of 27 | +11.0% |
| Internet and e-commerce | 13 | 29% | 95% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0 of 13 | −16.4% |
| Electrification and the grid | 12 | 51% | 97% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 8 | +5.7% |
| Nuclear and uranium | 10 | 16% | 100% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0 of 8 | −22.6% |
| Reshoring and manufacturing | 8 | 45% | 96% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 2 of 5 | +11.3% |
| Copper | 6 | 10% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 6 of 6 | +30.7% |
| Silver miners | 4 | 3% | 100% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 3 of 4 | +22.7% |
| Robotics and automation | 10 | 22% | 91% | 0.70% | 0.80% | 1 of 6 | +3.4% |
| Miners and metals | 6 | 13% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 2 of 6 | +10.8% |
| Quantum computing | 4 | 38% | 84% | 0.40% | 0.50% | 1 of 2 | +11.8% |
| Water | 6 | 38% | 100% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0 of 6 | −3.6% |
| Clean energy | 16 | 9% | 99% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 16 | −5.1% |
| Space | 10 | 15% | 100% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0 of 2 | +3.1% |
| Digital infrastructure and data centers | 9 | 62% | 88% | 0.50% | 0.60% | 6 of 8 | +21.6% |
| Therapeutics and medical devices | 5 | 21% | 98% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 2 of 5 | +7.9% |
| Blockchain and crypto equities | 13 | 20% | 98% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 12 | −39.8% |
| Genomics and gene editing | 4 | 22% | 99% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 3 of 3 | +65.8% |
| Rare earth and critical materials | 7 | 8% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 1 of 4 | +3.4% |
| Agriculture | 6 | 31% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 1 of 6 | +10.7% |
| Lithium and battery metals | 5 | 8% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 5 | −0.5% |
| Cannabis | 5 | 0% | 100% | 0.80% | 0.60% | 0 of 5 | −16.8% |
| AI infrastructure and chips | 11 | 58% | 87% | 0.70% | 0.80% | 2 of 3 | +23.8% |
| Fintech and digital payments | 6 | 43% | 98% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 4 | −22.8% |
| Shipping, aviation and logistics | 6 | 35% | 99% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 3 of 4 | +38.8% |
| Energy security and critical technology | 5 | 85% | 95% | 0.50% | 0.60% | 1 of 4 | +10.5% |
| Energy transition and decarbonisation | 9 | 42% | 98% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 6 of 9 | +18.1% |
| Electric vehicles and batteries | 8 | 21% | 98% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0 of 6 | −12.6% |
| Gaming, esports and betting | 8 | 16% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 7 | −15.4% |
| Travel and leisure | 3 | 35% | 99% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 2 | −7.3% |
| Timber and forestry | 2 | 26% | 100% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0 of 2 | −4.2% |
| Metaverse and immersive tech | 3 | 44% | 81% | 0.60% | 0.70% | 0 of 3 | −1.0% |
| Stablecoins and tokenisation | 5 | 21% | 98% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0 of 2 | −8.7% |
| Photonics and optics | 3 | 19% | 100% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0 of 0 | · |
| Humanoid robots | 3 | 15% | 94% | 0.30% | 0.40% | 0 of 2 | −10.0% |
| Healthcare innovation and GLP-1 | 8 | 35% | 98% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 4 of 8 | +16.5% |
| Millennial and Gen Z consumers | 1 | 75% | 84% | 0.50% | 0.60% | 0 of 1 | −12.5% |
| Longevity and aging | 2 | 54% | 96% | 0.40% | 0.40% | 0 of 1 | +13.3% |
| Coal | 1 | 0% | 100% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0 of 1 | +11.4% |
| 3D printing | 1 | 27% | 99% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0 of 1 | +6.1% |
| Streaming and live entertainment | 3 | 16% | 100% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0 of 1 | −25.9% |
| Pets | 1 | 31% | 99% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0 of 1 | −8.6% |
| Cooling and thermal management | 1 | 56% | 98% | 1.00% | 1.00% | 0 of 1 | −4.0% |
| Nanotechnology | 1 | 19% | 93% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 1 of 1 | +27.3% |
| Beauty and personal care | 1 | 48% | 99% | 0.30% | 0.30% | 0 of 0 | · |
| AI labs and single company AI | 6 | · | · | 0.60% | · | 0 of 0 | · |
Same portfolio, two names: pairs more than half identical
| Pair | Weight overlap | Theme | Fee, first | Fee, second |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GII and IGF | 97% | Infrastructure | 0.40% | 0.37% |
| AUAU and GDX | 86% | Gold miners | 0.35% | 0.51% |
| IBB and IBBQ | 85% | Biotech | 0.44% | 0.19% |
| SOXQ and SOXX | 83% | Semiconductors | 0.19% | 0.33% |
| SHOC and SMH | 81% | Semiconductors | 0.40% | 0.35% |
| GDMN and GDX | 78% | Gold miners | 0.45% | 0.51% |
| FTXL and SOXX | 78% | Semiconductors | 0.60% | 0.33% |
| PSWD and SPAM | 76% | Cybersecurity | 0.20% | 0.35% |
| MARS and WARP | 76% | Space | 0.75% | 0.50% |
| SMH and SOXQ | 75% | Semiconductors | 0.35% | 0.19% |
| FIW and PHO | 75% | Water | 0.50% | 0.59% |
| AUAU and GDMN | 75% | Gold miners | 0.35% | 0.45% |
| WDEF and XDEF | 74% | Defense | 0.45% | 0.35% |
| BUG and WCBR | 74% | Cybersecurity | 0.50% | 0.45% |
| SHOC and SOXQ | 73% | Semiconductors | 0.40% | 0.19% |
Holdings from each fund’s latest public SEC N-PORT filing (issuer daily files for ARK and First Trust); in-index weight and active share computed by ETFIQ against the IVV and QQQM books; fees from prospectus XBRL; returns from Tiingo end-of-day prices with distributions reinvested. Themes are ETFIQ’s editorial taxonomy. Medians across funds. Rebuilt every trading night. Data file: thematic.json.
Standards →ETFIQ is an independent publisher and makes no recommendations. Not investment advice.
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ETFIQ Research, How much of a theme is already the index, data as of Oct 27, 2026. https://etfiq.com/research/2026-10-27/themes-index
ETFIQ Research. (Oct 27, 2026). How much of a theme is already the index. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/research/2026-10-27/themes-index
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