BWET ETF Surges Over 600% Year-to-Date, Outpacing Oil Prices Amid Middle East Shipping Disruptions

-Iran war that have disrupted key maritime corridors. Freight futures have skyrocketed due to these disruptions, with BWET tied directly to crude oil tanker freight rates. com reported that this performance vastly outpaces crude oil, which has increased around 60% over the same period.

BWET has surged more than 600% year-to-date as of April 25, 2026, and over 1,000% in the past year. The ETF, a $30 million portfolio, launched in May 2023 within an ETF market holding over $13 trillion in assets. Wall Street equity research teams are placing more attention on surging tanker stocks as a result.

Cinthia Murphy, director of research at VettaFi, stated on CNBC's 'ETF Edge' that she started getting a lot of questions about BWET, like what is up with it and what kind of performance is this. She added that the scale of BWET's move has forced the market to rethink where the real leverage in energy resides.

'Disruptions to shipping routes cause freight futures to rise sharply, and BWET tracks these rates closely,' Murphy said, noting the ETF's volatility tied to global events.

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have increased risks for commodity transport, leading to higher freight futures as markets adjust to potential supply chain interruptions, according to Murphy. She noted that of course oil prices have been dramatically higher and the energy sector in general, energy equities, every part of the energy story this year has been a big blockbuster year.

com reported that investors are pivoting towards energy infrastructure and ways to profit from higher shipping costs as plays on geopolitical volatility rather than betting on oil prices.

The Baltic Exchange Dry Index is up over 6% for the past week as of April 25, 2026, and 41% since the beginning of 2026. Paul Baiocchi, head of fund sales & strategy at SS&C Technologies, said even before the Iran conflict, a lot of these global commodities markets were fraught, and this conflict has exacerbated a lot of the challenges.

He explained that countries and companies around the world will be scrambling to find more stable sources of energy.

Oil Fund (USO) is up close to 90% as of April 25, 2026, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE) is up over 23% in the same period. These gains appear modest next to BWET's spike, which began even before the outbreak of war in the Middle East.

Baiocchi added that the rally ties into a broader theme of underinvestment in energy infrastructure and the growing need to secure more resilient supply chains.

“'It really is a story about shipping costs.' — Cinthia Murphy, VettaFi director of research CNBC.com reported that as geopolitical conflict continues to reshape global trade, more investors are looking beyond commodity prices to the systems that determine how commodities move to market. The surge in BWET draws outsized attention, though freight rates remain inherently volatile and driven by short-term shocks. Murphy emphasized that BWET is really standing out amid the broader energy market gains.”