Does 5G & Connectivity (thesis ETFs) actually work?

WINNER

Beat its benchmark on the honest footing.

The claim

The 5G & Connectivity thesis is worth a dedicated fund — Thematic ETF industry

What we did

Tested against SPY over each fund's own life, net of fee, survivorship-free, 2016–2026 (Sharadar fund data; excess vs SPY is window-matched, so fair).

The result

Result: 5.0 median excess vs SPY %/yr (net of fee)

1 funds, 0% dead, 100% beat SPY

Verdict

Only 100% of these funds beat just buying SPY over their own life; the median trailed by 5.0%/yr. 0% are already dead. The theme actually paid — one of the few that did.

What the test did and did not do

survivorship-free universe
net of real costs
point-in-time data
checked for look-ahead
tested out of sample

Almost nobody publishing a backtest says which of these they did. We list the ones we failed as well as the ones we passed.

Tested 2026-06-23. The same treatment, applied to every other system, is on the test bench.

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Written with AI assistance from our own test database. The numbers are computed, not composed.
General market commentary for education, not personalised investment advice. Backtested results are hypothetical. Trading carries a real risk of loss.