Global X Social Media ETF

Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) is an index fund that tracks the Solactive Social Media Total Return Index. As of December 31, 2025, that index held 49 social networking, file-sharing and web-media companies, 20 of them foreign. The fund leans heavily on Asia, with Tencent, NAVER and Kuaishou among its largest holdings. It is also expensive for its group: 0.65% a year, against an average of 0.31% for similar funds.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, SOCL returned -29.8%, 7th of 7 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was -7.1% and its 10-year +6.2%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 32.1% and regained its old high 2 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-42.2%); its best was 2020 (+78.3%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 68.7% (Feb 16, 2021 to Nov 3, 2022), not yet recovered.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 54 securities; the ten largest made up 75.8% of assets.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $6.8M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +4.03%, -5.93%, +1.87%.

SOCL follows an index rather than a manager's stock picks. Solactive AG is an independent company with no ties to the fund or its adviser, Global X Management Company LLC. Solactive builds the Solactive Social Media Total Return Index from the largest and most liquid companies in social media, file sharing and other web-based media. It decides which companies count and how much weight each one gets.

The fund puts at least 80% of its assets into the index's stocks, or into depositary receipts for them. A depositary receipt (an ADR or GDR) is a certificate that trades on an exchange and stands in for a foreign company's shares. The fund generally uses replication, which means it holds the index stocks in about the same proportions as the index. It can switch to a smaller representative sample when buying every stock would be costly or impractical. The adviser expects the fund to track the index with a correlation above 95% before fees. It does not try to beat the index or move to cash when markets fall. Portfolio turnover was 9.79%.

Because the index is concentrated in interactive media and services, so is the fund. It is also "non-diversified," so it can hold large stakes in just a few companies. It may lend up to one-third of its assets to other market players. The index and the fund's objective can be changed without a shareholder vote.

• SOCL charges 0.65% a year, versus an average of 0.31% for the similar funds below (7th of 7, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $66 in the first year and $810 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

SOCL is a narrow bet on one industry with steep past losses, so in a long-term portfolio it fits only as a small add-on to broader holdings.

SOCL launched in November 2011, so it has no record from the 2008 crisis. In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 32.1% but recovered in about two months. The 2022 bear market hit much harder: the fund lost 50.2% and took about 32 months to get back to its starting level, and calendar 2022 alone brought a 42.27% loss. Its deepest drop, 68.7% from February 2021 to November 2022, still had not been fully recovered as of October 27, 2026. Anyone who had to sell shares during a stretch like that would have locked in large losses. Income is small: the trailing yield was 0.53% as of October 27, 2026, paid twice a year. Costs are high, at 0.65% a year. Past results don't predict future ones, and a retirement plan should be judged across 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).