The best-performing ETF of 2026 tracks supertanker freight, not stocks. The Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF (BWET) closed at a record $1,012.75 on October 8, up 5,157% this year.
Oddly, its steepest leg came after Hormuz crude flows recovered, not while the strait was shut. On Friday, market data firm Barchart flagged the chart as parabolic, with a warning attached.
Why Did Tanker Rates Keep Rising After Hormuz Reopened?
On the weekly chart, BWET has gained about 5,639% from its December 2025 low near $17.65. The fund stalled between $125 and $200 from April to June, then turned vertical in July.
Roughly 90% of the fund tracks TD3C, the benchmark supertanker route from the Middle East Gulf to China.
US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. By late March, TD3C had set a record near $424,000 a day, according to IC Shipbrokers.
Rates kept climbing once crude flows returned. Many owners still avoid the strait, so cargoes move through ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman and off India.
Those transfers tie up vessels. Over 40% of the world’s 850 or so supertankers now sit near the Gulf, per Signal Ocean data via Bloomberg.
“The major issue is that the ship-to-ship system outside Hormuz is inefficient.”
Georgios Sakellariou, freight analyst at Signal Ocean, via Rigzone
As a result, the Gulf to East Asia rate hit nearly $1.4 million a day on October 7. In January, Poten & Partners put the same voyage at about $30,000.
Iran then escalated, with roughly a dozen attacks on ships between September 28 and October 2. Brent jumped back above $105 on Thursday.
Who Pays for $1.4 Million-a-Day Supertankers?
Freight now accounts for roughly 27% of a delivered barrel’s cost, versus about 3% in January, per Poten & Partners.
One US Gulf to Japan supertanker was offered at a record $82 million, over $40 a barrel.
Charterers are now booking smaller Suezmax and Aframax tankers for most November US crude loadings to Asia.
“There is really not quite enough shipping to go around.”
Russell Hardy, CEO of trading house Vitol, via OilPrice
Can the Best-Performing ETF of 2026 Hold Its Gains?
However, Poten & Partners expects tanker rates to cool quickly once the crude market loosens.
Meanwhile, the supertanker orderbook equals 38% of the current fleet, up from 15% a year ago, according to Veson Nautical.
The benchmark itself faces a legal test. Commodity trader Mercuria sued TD3C publisher the Baltic Exchange in London’s High Court in April. It argues the index no longer reflects the real market.
On the chart, BWET’s latest highs came on falling volume. Fund assets also slipped from a September peak near $340 million to about $247 million, per etf.com.
BWET has effectively become a live gauge of Hormuz risk. Any lasting de-escalation could unwind freight premiums as quickly as the war built them.
Until then, the cost of moving crude, not just crude itself, remains the oil market’s pressure point.
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