If You Invested in These Congressional-Trading ETFs at Launch, Here’s What You’d Have Today
If You Invested in These Congressional-Trading ETFs at Launch, Here’s What You’d Have Today
Trey ThoelckeMon, April 20, 2026 at 12:05 PM UTC
0
rarrarorro / Shutterstock.comQuick Read -
Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NANC) and Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF (GOP) both aim to give retail investors a way to mirror the stock trades disclosed by members of Congress.
Though one of these funds has dominated since they launched in February 2023, momentum has shifted recently, but significant regulatory risk looms.
The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks. Get them here FREE.
Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NYSEArca: NANC) and Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF (NYSEArca: GOP) launched in February 2023 with a simple but provocative premise: give retail investors a way to mirror the stock trades disclosed by members of Congress. The funds, built on data from the Unusual Whales platform, aggregate public congressional disclosure filings and construct portfolios from the equities that legislators and their families are buying.
A Tech-Heavy Bet Versus the "Real Economy"
The thesis was never really about insider knowledge. From the Democratic side, it turned out to be a roundabout way to own a concentrated basket of mega-cap technology stocks. Nvidia leads that portfolio at 9.0%, followed by Microsoft at 7.6%, Amazon at 5.2%, Salesforce at 4.2%, and Alphabet at 3.9%. That lineup reads like a who's who of the AI infrastructure boom, and the fund rode that wave hard from 2023 through 2025.
Rather than chasing the AI fervor, the Republican-aligned fund found its strength in the "real economy" sectors that benefited from infrastructure spending and deregulation themes. Its top holdings featured a solid base of financial and energy giants like JPMorgan (4.4%) and Chevron (2.1%), paired with industrial mainstays such as Caterpillar and defense leaders like Lockheed Martin (less than 1.0% each). While it didn’t capture the same explosive volatility as the mega-cap tech basket, the fund provided a steadier, dividend-focused performance that appealed to those betting on a resurgence in domestic manufacturing and traditional energy dominance.
READ: The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks
The funds are not without structural quirks. A 45-day disclosure lag means each portfolio reflects past congressional decisions rather than real-time positioning. Their expense ratios are 0.74%, far above the cost of a plain index fund. Critics have argued the outperformance of the Democratic funds was accidental, a byproduct of tech concentration rather than any genuine informational edge from tracking lawmakers.
How Much Your $1,000 Became
These funds have been publicly traded since February 7, 2023. Here is how a $1,000 investment in each would look today across available time horizons.
Advertisement
Total Return
Current Value
Since launch
64.31%
$1,643.10
One year
42.21%
$1,422.10
Year to date
12.43%
$1,124.30
Note that the S&P 500 is up 74.70% since the funds launched, 34.89% over the past year, and 4.10% year to date.
Total Return
Current Value
Since launch
88.49%
$1,884.90
One year
35.82%
$1,358.20
Year to date
2.0%
$1,020.00
Since their launch, both funds have delivered strong growth, though only one of them outperformed the S&P 500 over the same period. NANC has turned a $1,000 initial investment into $1,884.90 (an 88.49% return), significantly outpacing GOP’s $1,643.10 result. However, the momentum has shifted recently, with GOP posting a superior 12.43% year-to-date return compared to NANC’s modest 2.0% and the S&P 500’s 4.10%.
Key Risks and Considerations
Investors evaluating these funds should weigh the 0.74% expense ratio against the cost of a plain index fund, which delivers at a fraction of the price. The Democratic fund has grown to roughly $260 million in assets and its Republican rival to $72 million, reflecting genuine retail interest in the congressional-tracking concept.
A significant regulatory risk looms: the Stop Insider Trading Act, introduced in January 2026, would prohibit congressional stock trading entirely, which would eliminate the fund's core investment thesis. The 45-day disclosure lag also limits the fund's responsiveness in fast-moving markets. Investors seeking pure tech exposure may find a low-cost Nasdaq index fund a more direct vehicle, while other investors may want to consider ETFs focused on the energy, financial, or manufacturing sectors or on infrastructure plays.
There is real regulatory uncertainty, and the structural advantage of these funds is limited. And, of course, past performance is not indicative of future results.
The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks
Wall Street is pouring billions into AI, but most investors are buying the wrong stocks. The analyst who first identified NVIDIA as a buy back in 2010 — before its 28,000% run — has just pinpointed 10 new AI companies he believes could deliver outsized returns from here. One dominates a $100 billion equipment market. Another is solving the single biggest bottleneck holding back AI data centers. A third is a pure-play on an optical networking market set to quadruple. Most investors haven't heard of half these names. Get the free list of all 10 stocks here.
Source: “AOL Money”
