Uranium ETFs: Cameco, junior miners and nuclear power stocks

What are uranium ETFs?

Uranium is the fuel for nuclear power plants. Uranium ETFs own the companies that find and mine it, and some also own firms that design reactors or run nuclear plants. The same names appear again and again. Denison Mines is held by 5 of the 6 US-listed funds. Cameco, NexGen Energy, Energy Fuels and Uranium Energy Corp. are held by 4 each. Reactor developers Oklo and NuScale Power, Kazakhstan's national atomic company Kazatomprom and IsoEnergy each turn up in 3. URA and URNM also own Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, which holds uranium itself rather than shares in miners.

All six funds follow an index rather than a manager's picks, but the indexes differ. URNM tracks the VettaFi Global Uranium Mining Index. URNJ tracks the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Uranium Miners Index, which targets junior, or smaller, miners such as Denison Mines and Paladin Energy. URA follows the Solactive Global Uranium & Nuclear Components Total Return Index across 66 holdings, yet Cameco alone makes up 22.18% of the fund. NLR, from VanEck, and URAN, from Themes ETF, reach further into nuclear power, with producers such as Constellation Energy among their largest holdings. URAN is the most spread out, with 40.22% in its top ten, against 73.17% for URNM and 71.84% for URNJ. Direxion's URAA is leveraged: it aims for twice its index's daily move and holds shares of URA, NLR and URNM.

The median expense ratio, the yearly fee taken as a share of the money invested, is 0.69%. URAN charges the least at 0.35% and URAA the most at 1.30%. Assets are highly concentrated: 99.8% sit in the five largest funds, and URA and NLR alone hold far more than the other four combined.

Uranium ETF holdings: the stocks most funds own

The stocks that show up most often among the largest positions of the 6 biggest uranium ETFs with holdings reports, from their latest N-PORT filings.

Typical weight is the median share of each fund’s assets in the stock, among the funds that hold it in their 25 largest positions.

The largest uranium ETFs, side by side

Swipe the table to see all 5 funds.

The largest ordinary funds by net assets (leveraged and inverse funds are listed further down). Holdings from each fund’s latest N-PORT report; returns include reinvested distributions, as of Oct 27, 2026.

Head to head

How much do the largest uranium ETFs overlap?

Owning two funds that hold the same stocks adds little diversification. Overlap here is the share of assets two funds have in common: for each stock both own, the smaller of its two weights, added up.

From each fund’s full holdings in its latest N-PORT report.

How have uranium ETFs performed?

The five largest ordinary funds: growth from the start of the range, distributions reinvested. The dashed gray line is the S&P 500 (SPY).

Best-performing uranium ETFs over the past year

Funds with at least $25 million in net assets; leveraged and inverse funds left out. Past returns don’t predict future returns.

How uranium ETFs did in past market crashes

Total return from the stock market’s peak to its low in each fall, distributions reinvested.

What drives uranium ETFs?

The miners these funds hold depend on the uranium price, which rises and falls with how much fuel nuclear plants need and how much mines can supply. A mine's costs are largely fixed, so a modest move in the uranium price can mean a much bigger swing in a miner's profits and share price. Government policy matters as well: approvals for new reactors, plant closures and trade rules can shift demand for years. Smaller developers depend on permits and on raising money. Power producers such as Constellation Energy, held by NLR and URAN, earn their money selling electricity, so they respond more to power demand and interest rates.

Results in past downturns have been mixed. NLR, the only fund in the group that existed in 2008, fell 63.9% in the financial crisis, more than the S&P 500's 55.2%. In the 2020 COVID sell-off it lost 34.3%, close to the index's 33.7%. The 2022 bear market went differently: NLR slipped 9.2%, URNM 17.8% and URA 20.1%, all less than the S&P 500's 24.5% fall. Over the year to October 27, 2026, all six funds lost money, with a median one-year return of -29.5%.

Uranium ETFs with the lowest expense ratios

Ordinary funds with at least $10 million in net assets. The median ordinary uranium ETF charges 0.69% a year; leveraged and inverse funds usually charge more.

Do uranium ETFs pay dividends?

5 of the 5 ordinary uranium ETFs with a page here paid distributions over the last 12 months, with a median yield of 3.89%.

Distributions over the last 12 months divided by the price; funds with at least $25 million in net assets.

How to choose a uranium ETF

• Pure miners or the wider nuclear industry. URNM and URNJ track uranium mining indexes. NLR adds power producers such as Constellation Energy and Finland's Fortum, while URAN leans on US utilities like Duke Energy. URA mixes miners such as Cameco with reactor developer Oklo.
• Large producers or junior miners. URNM's largest holding is Cameco at 17.17%. URNJ targets junior, or smaller, miners led by Denison Mines at 12.45%. Its one-year volatility, a measure of how widely prices swing, was 61.1% versus 53.1% for URNM as of October 27, 2026.
• What each fund charges. URAN has the lowest expense ratio at 0.35%, then NLR at 0.52%, URA at 0.69%, URNM at 0.75% and URNJ at 0.80%. Leveraged URAA costs 1.30%. Fees come out of returns every year, whatever the market does.
• How much rides on a few stocks. URA owns 66 holdings, yet Cameco alone is 22.18% of the fund. URNM puts 73.17% in its ten largest holdings and URNJ 71.84%. URAN is the most spread out, with 40.22% in its top ten.
• Fund size and track record. NLR dates from 2007 and URA from 2010; each manages billions. URAN and URAA, both from 2024, had about $28 million each as of October 27, 2026. Small funds can have wider bid-ask spreads (the buy-sell price gap).
• Leveraged URAA works very differently. URAA seeks twice its index's daily move and resets daily, so longer-term results can stray far from 2x. It fell 60.8% over the year to October 27, 2026, versus 19.3% to 33.4% for the other funds.

What are the risks of uranium ETFs?

• Heavy reliance on Cameco and a few miners. Cameco is 22.18% of URA and 17.17% of URNM. URNM's ten largest holdings make up 73.17% of the fund and URNJ's 71.84%, so a setback at Cameco, NexGen Energy or Denison Mines would hit the whole fund.
• Steep, frequent price swings. Among the unleveraged funds, volatility (how widely prices move) ran from 39.8% for URAN to 61.1% for URNJ in the year to October 27, 2026, and worst drops ranged from 43.2% to 58.7%.
• Tied to uranium prices and nuclear policy. Miners' profits rise and fall with the uranium price, and government choices on building, extending or closing reactors move demand. Every fund lost money in the year to October 27, 2026; the median one-year return was -29.5%.
• Owning several funds adds less spread. URA and URNM share 54.6% of their assets, and URA and NLR 53.5%. Holding two or three uranium ETFs often means owning the same Cameco and NexGen Energy shares again rather than spreading risk.
• 2x leverage magnifies losses over time. URAA resets daily to twice its index's move, so choppy markets wear down its value. In the year to October 27, 2026, its volatility was 98.4%, its worst drop 76.7% and its return -60.8%.

Leveraged and inverse uranium ETFs (2x)

These funds aim for a multiple, or the opposite, of one day’s return, and reset every day. Held for longer than a day, their results can drift far from that multiple, especially when prices swing. They are trading tools, not long-term holdings. Why leveraged ETFs decay →

List of all uranium ETFs, by size

All 6 uranium ETFs, compared →

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