XMAG has returned 16% YTD versus MAGS's 5%, with Tesla's 27% decline dragging down the equal-weighted Mag 7 basket. MAGS holds only 34% of net assets in actual equities, with 53% parked in Treasury bills and the rest in swap derivatives. It sounds nuts, but SoFi1 is giving new Active Invest users up to $3,000 in stock for a limited time, and all it takes is a $50 deposit to get started.2 See for yourself (Sponsor) The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (CBOE:MAGS) was designed to provide investors with clean, equal-weighted exposure to the seven mega-caps that drove the S&P 500 higher for most of the past three years.
Since its April 11, 2023 launch, MAGS has done exactly that, returning 190.29% through August 7, 2026. Holders bought it for that exposure, and it delivered. 2026 has been a different story. MAGS is up 4.82% year-to-date, trailing the S&P 500 and getting outrun by a fund built to be its opposite: the Defiance Large Cap ex-Mag 7 ETF (NASDAQ:XMAG).
The performance gap this year is wide. XMAG has returned 15.95% YTD, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF has returned 13.39%. The reason sits inside the fund's own holdings.
Tesla, one of the seven equal-weighted names, is down 26.94% YTD. Microsoft is up just 3.85%. When a basket owns each name at roughly the same weight, a single laggard the size of Tesla drags on the whole vehicle.
Structurally, MAGS is unusual for a fund that most investors assume is a straight equity basket. The March 31, 2026 NPORT filing shows the seven Mag 7 equity positions accounting for only 34.11% of net assets. Treasury bills sit at 52.67%, a Roundhill ultra-short-duration ETF holds another 8.97%, and net derivative positions total roughly $113.2 million.
The exposure is delivered through cash-collateralized swaps, which means the fund's returns depend on both the underlying stocks and the pricing of those swap contracts. SoFi Active Invest is offering a limited-time promotion. Open an account, fund it with $50 or more, and you could receive up to $3,000 in complimentary stock for Active Invest accounts.
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