AdvisorShares Psychedelics ETF

AdvisorShares Psychedelics ETF (PSIL) is a stock-picking fund rather than an index tracker. It holds mostly smaller companies working on psychedelic medicines, and as of June 30, 2026, its largest holdings were Definium Therapeutics, Compass Pathways and AtaiBeckley. Its 1.00% expense ratio is well above the 0.27% average of six broad health care ETFs, and its swings have been extreme: it fell 92.6% from September 2021 to October 2024.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, PSIL returned +14.2%, 7th of 7 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was -22.6%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-67.3%); its best was 2025 (+74.0%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 92.6% (Sep 22, 2021 to Oct 11, 2024), not yet recovered.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 30 securities; the ten largest made up 69.23% of assets, and 7.07% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $14.5M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +16.74%, +8.20%, +9.78%.

PSIL does not track an index. Its adviser, AdvisorShares, picks the stocks. Under normal conditions, at least 80% of net assets go to companies that earn at least half their net revenue from psychedelic drugs or devote at least half their assets to them. Derivatives that behave like those stocks also count toward the 80%. Eligible companies include drug developers, distributors and clinics offering psychedelic-assisted therapy. Cannabis does not count. The fund owns these companies only where national and local laws allow.

The prospectus gives the manager wide latitude. It looks for companies with dominant market positions or unusual room to grow. It uses outside analyst ratings and stock-rating tools, and it may own lesser-known or out-of-favor stocks it sees as underpriced. It sells when a stock looks overvalued, when a better opportunity appears, or to keep a position from growing too large. The prospectus describes no fixed weighting formula or rebalancing schedule. Portfolio turnover was 64%.

The fund is non-diversified, so it can put more money into a single company than a diversified fund can. It also concentrates more than 25% of assets in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. It may use total return swaps, which are contracts in which a bank pays the fund a stock's return. Swaps add the risk that the bank fails to pay. The fund held no derivatives as of June 30, 2026.

• PSIL charges 1% a year, versus an average of 0.27% for the similar funds below (7th of 7, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.6% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• The fee includes a 0.28% waiver from the adviser, which may end.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $102 in the first year and $1,521 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is a narrow, actively managed bet on psychedelic drug developers that has lost as much as 92.6% from a peak, so it can play only a small, high-risk side role next to broader holdings.

PSIL launched in September 2021, so it missed the 2008 and 2020 crashes. In the 2022 bear market it fell 58.5% from January 3 to May 11, and it lost 66.01% over calendar 2022, its worst year. Its deepest drop was 92.6%, from September 2021 to October 2024, and it had not regained that peak as of October 27, 2026. Anyone who must sell shares or draw income in a bad year could lock in losses of that size.

Its yield over the past year was 7.99% as of October 27, 2026, paid in a single annual distribution, and one year's payout may not repeat. Costs are high: under the SEC's standard example, the 1.00% expense ratio comes to $102 in the first year and $1,521 over 10 years on $10,000. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).