---
ticker: "WEPN"
name: "Nicholas Defense and Rare Earth Income ETF"
url: "https://etf.net/etf/WEPN"
grade: "D"
score: 28
graded_at: "2026-10-12"
category: "Defense & Aerospace"
category_rank: "24 of 26"
methodology: "https://etf.net/methodology"
---

# WEPN: Nicholas Defense and Rare Earth Income ETF

Grade **D**, Score 28 of 100. Rank 24 of 26 in Defense & Aerospace.

Graded Oct 12, 2026.

## Grade pillars

| Pillar | Score | Category rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cost | 0 | 26 of 26 |
| Mission | Not scored | — |
| Risk | 62 | 9 of 26 |
| Tradability | 41 | 17 of 26 |
| Holdings | 38 | 20 of 26 |
| Durability | 42 | 19 of 26 |

## Top holdings

The fund holds 52 positions. These are the largest 30, by weight.

| # | Ticker | Name | Weight |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | CRWD | Crowdstrike Holdings Inc | 11.96% |
| 2 | PANW | Palo Alto Networks Inc | 11.63% |
| 3 | SPCX | Space Exploration Technologies Corp | 8.78% |
| 4 | DBB | Invesco DB Base Metals Fund | 6.62% |
| 5 | PLTR | Palantir Technologies Inc | 6.04% |
| 6 | SLX | VanEck Steel ETF | 4.33% |
| 7 | CACI | CACI International Inc | 4.06% |
| 8 | RTX | RTX Corp | 3.66% |
| 9 | PPLT | abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF | 3.58% |
| 10 | CPER | United States Copper Index Fund | 3.50% |
| 11 | LMT | Lockheed Martin Corp | 3.12% |
| 12 | AXON | Axon Enterprise Inc | 3.08% |
| 13 | LIT | Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF | 2.91% |
| 14 | AVAV | AeroVironment Inc | 2.87% |
| 15 | BWXT | BWX Technologies Inc | 2.77% |
| 16 | ONDS | Ondas Inc | 2.72% |
| 17 | NOC | Northrop Grumman Corp | 2.62% |
| 18 | HII | Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc | 2.44% |
| 19 | URA | Global X Uranium ETF | 2.18% |
| 20 | KTOS | Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc | 1.98% |
| 21 | SQM | Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA | 1.78% |
| 22 | MP | MP Materials Corp | 1.53% |
| 23 | AA | Alcoa Corp | 1.39% |
| 24 | CRML | Critical Metals Corp | 1.32% |
| 25 | USAR | USA Rare Earth Inc | 1.27% |
| 26 | ALB | Albemarle Corp | 1.20% |
| 27 | AREC | American Resources Corp | 1.02% |
| 28 | UUUU | Energy Fuels Inc/Canada | 0.91% |
| 29 | IPX | IperionX Ltd | 0.34% |
| 30 | — | Crwd Us 10/16/26 C277.5 | 0.24% |

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/etf/WEPN. Please cite the page URL.