---
title: "Cybersecurity funds led the week, up as much as 12.7%, as gold miners fell"
url: "https://etf.net/news/cybersecurity-funds-rise-miners-fall-2026-10-23"
published_at: "2026-10-23T21:53:54.605Z"
updated_at: "2026-10-23T21:53:54.605Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# Cybersecurity funds led the week, up as much as 12.7%, as gold miners fell

A flaw in website software, disclosed Wednesday, and an Evercore survey on Friday lifted security stocks, while the Nasdaq-100 fund fell and gold miners dropped on Thursday and Friday.

By ETF.net Research. Published Oct 23, 2026.

Leaving out leveraged and inverse funds, WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund, WCBR, rose **12.7%** in the week ended Friday, Oct. 23, the best result. Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF, SGDJ, had the worst, down **12.3%**.

Over the same five sessions, State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF, SPY, fell 0.4%, and Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1, QQQ, fell 0.8%. iShares Russell 2000 ETF, IWM, rose 2.0%.

The five best and the five worst:

Table: Fund, Week

## Security rose on a flaw and a survey

Cybersecurity funds took four of the five top spots. WCBR, with about $205 million in assets, was the leader.

First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, CIBR, the largest cybersecurity fund, with $17.8 billion in assets, rose 7.4%, short of the top five.

The four cybersecurity funds at the top of the list rose every session. For Global X Cybersecurity ETF, BUG, the two large days were Wednesday, up 3.8%, and Friday, up 5.0%.

On Wednesday, PHP, a programming language widely used for websites, released patches for two critical flaws known as PHP2Shell. [ENISA](https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/joint-statement-on-critical-php-vulnerabilities), the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, said an attacker could run code on a vulnerable server without logging in. [CrowdStrike](https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/crowdstrike-protects-customers-from-php-rce-zero-days) said it had verified that one anonymous request was enough.

On Friday, Evercore ISI said its quarterly survey of firms that resell security software found budgets getting stronger into year-end. The firm flagged the PHP flaws as a spur to security spending.

On Thursday, QQQ fell 2.9% and VanEck Semiconductor ETF, SMH, fell 6.0%, while BUG rose 1.3%. SMH ended the week down 2.3%.

Chart: **BUG** climbed all five sessions as **SMH** broke Thursday

For the week, Zscaler rose 23%, Okta rose 13.8%, CrowdStrike rose 13.3% and Palo Alto Networks rose 11.3%. Fortinet, a top holding in BUG and CIBR, rose 6.4%.

CIBR also holds Cisco and Broadcom, about 14% of the fund combined. Both fell on the week, Cisco by 0.8% and Broadcom by 2.2%.

Chart: **Zscaler** led; Cisco and Broadcom declined

WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund, WCLD, the one fund in the top five that is not a security fund, rose every session and finished up 11.8%. State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF, XSW, rose 8.7%.

## Gold miners fell on Thursday and Friday

SGDJ fell 7.0% on Thursday and 3.5% on Friday, after a quieter start to the week.

SPDR Gold Shares, GLD, the bullion fund, fell 4.0% on the week, and 2.6% on Thursday alone. VanEck Gold Miners ETF, GDX, fell 8.6%, about twice the drop in the bullion fund.

Chart: **SGDJ** and **GDX** sold off Thursday and Friday, further than **GLD**

USCF United States Natural Gas Fund LP, UNG, which holds natural-gas futures, fell 10.1%. The November contract settled Wednesday at $2.79 per million Btu, the lowest close since August 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration [said](https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/supplement/).

The security funds at the top of the list climbed all five sessions. The gold-miner drop was two sessions, and it went further than the bullion fund.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/cybersecurity-funds-rise-miners-fall-2026-10-23. Please cite the page URL.