ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF
$32.73−0.32 (−0.95%)
History starts Nov 1, 2021.
- Expense ratio
- 0.75%
- Fund size
- $760M
- 1Y return
- +18.0%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- —
- Holdings
- 45
- Volume · 30D
- 1.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $33.05
- 52W range
The ETF.net ARKX Grade
Score 53 of 100 sits in the C band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.DScore 29Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.BScore 61Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 89Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 51Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 79Category rank
Our read on ARKX
CARK's only space fund, and one of the rare ones in its niche run by stock pickers instead of an index. Roughly 40 global names spanning rockets, the technology that makes them work, and the companies that quietly cash in.
The fund seeks long-term capital growth by actively investing mainly in domestic and foreign equity securities of companies involved in space and defense innovation, including aerospace, enabling technologies, and aerospace beneficiaries.
Why people hold it
- Actively managed rather than index-tracked: ARK's team hand-picks roughly 40 names instead of buying whatever screens as 'space'.ark-funds.com
- The mandate reaches past rocket builders to enabling technologies and aerospace beneficiaries, companies that profit from orbit without ever leaving the ground.
- Global by charter, holding both US and foreign shares, so the theme isn't capped at American launch providers and defense primes.
- Running since 2021 and actively traded at a decent size, which puts it in the upper half of the space-fund group on the practical stuff.
Worth knowing
- The 0.75% fee sits right at the median for space funds and above index-based rivals such as ROKT (0.45%) and ORBX (0.50%).
- Roughly 40 holdings plus a human making the calls means single positions and ARK's stock-picking judgment both carry real weight here.
- The stated goal is long-term capital growth, not income; the fund has not been making regular distributions.
ARKX Holdings
- Stocks
- 45
- 57%
- SPCX
Sectors
- Industrials60.1%
- Technology24.6%
- Consumer Discr.10.2%
- Communication5.1%
Geography
- United States88.10%
- Japan3.21%
- France2.02%
- Taiwan1.80%
- Switzerland1.50%
- Israel1.37%
- China1.04%
- Netherlands0.95%
ARKX Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
ARKX$11,804
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | ARKX |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +14.0% |
| 1 month | −0.6% |
| 3 months | −1.0% |
| 1 year | +18.0% |
| 3 years | +34.2% |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | ARKX |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +14.0% | |
| 2025 | +48.5% | |
| 2024 | +26.7% | |
| 2023 | +24.4% | |
| 2022 | −34.3% | |
| 2021 | −8.0% |
ARKX in the news
ARKX Dividends
No distributions in the last 12 months.
ARKX Risk
- 29.3%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.90
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −43.5%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.64
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
ARKX Cost
0.75%
ARKX0.75%
- The middle half of Space funds
- Median 0.75%
7 of the 15 Space funds charge less.