January's Worst-Performing ETFs Highlight Market Challenges January 2025 witnessed notable underperformance among several ETFs, including the HCM Defender 100 Index ETF and MarketDesk Focused US Dividend ETF. Small value funds, despite gaining 2.4%, were among the laggards. Analysts attribute this to sector-specific weaknesses, with some ETFs falling short of average category returns for the month.2