The “America First” ETFs will aim to turn political uncertainty into an investment theme. – MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images
From artificial intelligence to clean energy, Wall Street’s collection of thematic exchange-traded funds have been riding the wave of the stock market’s most exciting trends, turning hot ideas into neatly packed investable opportunities.
Now, a new set of President Donald Trump–related ETFs will be testing whether political power itself can function as an investable theme.
Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. DJT, the Truth Social platform’s parent company, on Tuesday announced the launch of five Truth Social ETFs on the New York Stock Exchange. The funds reportedly track U.S. publicly listed companies with a “Made in America” focus, covering industries from energy and utilities to defense, technology and real estate.
The ETFs are the Truth Social American Security & Defense ETF TSSD, the Truth Social American Next Frontiers ETF TSNF, the Truth Social American Icons ETF TSIC, the Truth Social American Energy Security ETF TSES and the Truth Social American Red State REITs ETF TSRS. All five funds began trading on Tuesday, with three of the five losing ground and two posting narrow gains.
While Trump in his first term in the White House often blurred the lines between his family business and that of the executive branch, his return to the presidency in January has been marked by an ever-expanding group of product launches based on the Trump brand.
The launch of the Truth Social ETFs raises a question about the limits of the thematic ETF model, tying an investment vehicle that’s already prone to hype-driven launches and unstable performance to a single political figure whose words and mercurial nature have been known to shift the financial markets in real time.
Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research and analytics at CFRA Research, said the success of a thematic ETF hinges on two factors: how distinct its holdings are and how effectively it’s distributed.
For example, the Truth Social American Security & Defense ETF allocates roughly half of its holdings to technology companies such as Palantir Technologies PLTR and Palo Alto Networks PANW, with the other half invested in industrials stocks. By comparison, the U.S.’s largest defense-focused ETF — iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ITA — concentrates about 90% of its portfolio in industrials, according to data compiled by CFRA Research.
The Truth Social American Energy Security ETF also stands out by combining traditional energy stocks such as Exxon Mobil Corp XOM and Chevron Corp CVX with utilities names such as Constellation Energy Corp CEG and NextEra Energy Inc. NEE, setting it apart from more conventional energy-focused funds, Ullal said.
“From a sector perspective, I think it is a unique product and quite differentiated relative to some of its biggest peers,” Ullal told MarketWatch in a phone interview on Tuesday.
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While some of the Truth Social ETFs are fairly unique in terms of their components, it remains uncertain how influential Trump will be in driving the moves of the funds, or whether his policy involvement will pose conflicts of interests, Ullal said.
Trump does not directly hold any shares of Trump Media & Technology Group after transferring his entire stake — roughly 114.7 million shares — to a revocable trust in December 2024. The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is the trustee of the trust and has sole voting and investment power over all securities it owns.
Trump Media and Yorkville America Equities — the Florida-based asset manager serving as sponsor and investment adviser to the ETFs — didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether there has been any coordination with the Trump administration regarding the Truth Social ETFs.
Trump Media’s stock, which trades under the ticker symbol “DJT,” tumbled 4.5% following Tuesday’s announcement.
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History suggests thematic ETFs could be problematic as they have a track record of launching late in a market cycle, charging higher fees and underperforming once the hype fades.
See: The race to launch ever-riskier leveraged ETFs in the U.S. is heating up
Thematic ETFs are designed to capture emerging trends, but many launch only after a theme already has gained significant traction. That can leave investors buying only for the hype, and risk seeing any gains fade quickly after they get in.
To be sure, after years of lackluster thematic ETF launches, 2025 has brought renewed interest in thematic ETFs and growing assets under management. In the first three quarters of this year, asset managers rolled out 82 new U.S.-listed thematic funds, more than double the 36 launched over the same period in 2024 — a sign that the industry is once again betting on sustained investor appetite for thematic strategies, according to data compiled by Morningstar Manager Research.
Global thematic assets under management hit a three-year high of $779 billion in the third quarter of 2025, though that still sits 15% below the 2021 peak, a team of Morningstar analysts led by Kenneth Lamont said in a December client note.
However, “the odds of selecting a thematic fund that both survives and outperforms global equities over longer periods have been slim,” the Morningstar analysts said.
Not to mention thematic ETFs often charge higher fees, adding another layer of concern for investors chasing ultralow costs. The Truth Social ETFs list expense ratios of 65 basis points, slightly above the 40-basis-point average for index-based, nonthematic ETFs, according to Morningstar.
See: Inside the great ETF boom of 2025: ‘How do you navigate all this?’
U.S. stock futures were lower on Wednesday early morning. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and the Nasdaq Composite COMP each declined 0.2%, while the S&P 500 SPX dipped 0.1%.
