An actively managed ETF: trades futures on individual commodities and commodity indexes, aiming to profit from rising price trends, with an outside futures adviser.
HARD, the Simplify Commodities Strategy No K-1 ETF, is a $59 million ETF whose main story is hard asset flight. Over the past year it returned +18.8%, against +16.8% for broad US ETFs. Figures to October 2, 2026; past performance, not a recommendation.
The narrative it carries
This is its only narrative.
Hard asset flight →
Gold, silver and the miners: assets held because no government issues them.
The band is where this narrative’s level sits among the 22 this week. QUIET means less talked about, not falling.
| # | ETF | SHARE | ASSETS | 1 YEAR | COST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLD | 36.5% | $141.70bn | +7.1% | 0.40% |
| 2 | IAU | 16.0% | $62.22bn | +7.3% | 0.25% |
| 3 | GLDM | 7.9% | $30.71bn | +7.5% | 0.10% |
| 4 | SLV | 7.7% | $29.96bn | +28.7% | 0.50% |
| 5 | GDX | 6.8% | $26.25bn | +14.7% | 0.51% |
| 101 other ETFs | 25.1% |
Share is each ETF’s slice of the capital carrying this narrative. 1 year is market price total return; cost is the expense ratio. See all 106 ETFs on the narrative page →
FRI OCT 2MARKET PRICE TOTAL RETURN
| 1M | 3M | YTD | 1Y | 3Y* | 5Y* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HARD | +0.3% | +16.8% | +18.4% | +18.8% | +14.5% | – |
| Hard asset flightits narrative | −5.7% | +3.3% | +0.3% | +14.9% | +33.7% | +19.5% |
| The marketbroad US ETFs | +0.8% | +2.6% | +14.6% | +16.8% | +22.9% | +12.9% |
1M, 3M, 1Y, 3Y, 5Y: one month to five years. YTD: year to date. * A year, annualised. A dash means the ETF has not traded for the whole period. Since it started trading on March 29, 2023: +13.0% a year.
$10,000 invested March 31, 2023
Year by year
Total return in each calendar year; this year is year to date. A year appears only if HARD traded for all of it.
Total return on the market price, with each distribution reinvested on its ex-date. Not the NAV return the issuer publishes; the two differ when the ETF trades above or below the value of its holdings. The narrative is the asset-weighted return of the unlevered ETFs that carry it. The market is the asset-weighted return of broad US index ETFs. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
FRI OCT 2MARKET PRICE TOTAL RETURN
How closely it moves
HARD moves largely apart from the market. When the market has moved 1%, HARD has tended to move 0.02% the other way.
HARD moves largely apart from hard asset flight. When hard asset flight has moved 1%, HARD has tended to move 0.21%.
Weekly returns over 157 weeks. The narrative is measured without HARD in it, so it is not compared with itself.
ETFs it moves most and least like
Correlation of weekly returns over the last 3 years, among unlevered ETFs StoryVector covers.
Where it sits in Hard asset flight
Each dot is one of 54 unlevered ETFs whose main narrative is hard asset flight, placed by its return (up) and how much it swung (right) over the last year.
Risk
Cost against its peers
HARD is the 31st cheapest of 35 ETFs in hard asset flight. The dashed line is the middle of the group, 0.51% a year.
How it is built
An unlevered long ETF that gets its exposure through futures. It counts toward Share of Narrative.
Narrative exposure
Common questions
What story is HARD selling?
HARD’s main story is hard asset flight, which covers gold, silver and the miners: assets held because no government issues them.
Which ETFs compete with HARD?
The ETFs whose weekly returns move most like HARD’s over the past 3 years are CTA (0.82), CERY (0.72) and PIT (0.71).
How has HARD performed against its story?
Over the past year HARD returned +18.8%, the ETFs carrying hard asset flight +14.9% and broad US ETFs +16.8%, to October 2, 2026. Its weekly returns have a correlation of 0.22 with the story. Past performance only.
Run an ETF in hard asset flight? StoryVector shows issuers where their ETFs stand against the closest rivals, every week.
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