52 stocks are withheld from this ranking because their price history is under review.
The gain covers the period; price, market cap, sector and country show each company as it is today.
Swipe or scroll the table sideways for more columns.
Over 2021, 66% of the 3,778 ranked companies finished higher and the median move was +14.5%; Energy led on median (+36.2%) and Healthcare lagged (-12.9%). The S&P 500 fund (SPY) moved +28.79% between its Jan 4, 2021 and Dec 31, 2021 closes. Each ranked company's gain runs from its own first close inside the period, so a company listed later in the period is measured over a shorter window.
Among the 3,778 NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE American stocks currently eligible for this ranking, RGC (Regencell Bioscience Holdings Limited) has the highest gain with +9,999%, measured since July 16, 2021 when its current trading history began. Following are AEHL (+6,181%) and GEN (+4,802%). Top performing sectors: Healthcare (+1142% avg, 1 in top 10), Industrials (+762% avg, 1 in top 10), Technology (+737% avg, 3 in top 10).
This ranking shows the top performing US stocks and biggest stock gainers of 2021, calculated from January 1st to the last trading day of 2021. See which stocks delivered the highest returns in 2021. Using split-adjusted data ensures accurate performance calculations that account for stock splits and corporate actions.
Year-to-date performance helps investors identify stocks that have been outperforming the market in the current year, revealing which names led that year.
Among the 3,778 NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE American stocks currently eligible for this ranking, RGC (Regencell Bioscience Holdings Limited) has the highest gain with +9,999%, measured since July 16, 2021 when its current trading history began. It is followed by AEHL (+6,181%) and GEN (+4,802%). These are the largest gains in this ranking rather than recommendations, and a large percentage on a small company is the ordinary shape of the top of this board.
Every figure runs from January 1 to December 31, 2021, measured on split-adjusted closing prices, so a split inside the year contributes nothing to the number. The window has a fixed start rather than a rolling one, which is what separates this board from the 52-week ranking: on 1 January every figure here resets to zero while the 52-week figures carry on.
3,778 companies with a market capitalization above $100 million traded on NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE American, each with at least one trading day inside 2021. A company needs only one close inside the year to qualify here, whereas the 52-week board needs a close a full year back, which is why this board admits more companies than that one: every company listed during 2021 appears here and cannot appear there.
Because that company's return did not accrue over the whole period. A symbol whose current trading history began inside 2021, through a recent listing or a relisting, has no January price to measure from, so its figure runs from the day that history begins and the dagger says so. Reading such a row as a year-to-date return would compare a partial window against full ones.
The five highest-gaining companies sit in Healthcare, Industrials, Technology, with the leader RGC in Healthcare. That describes the top of this list, not a sector ranking: the board orders individual companies by their own price change, and the market-context strip above the table reports the median move of each sector's ranked companies, across NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE American.
Year-to-date (YTD) performance measures how much a stock's price has changed since January 1st of the current year. This metric is valuable for several reasons:
Several factors can influence a stock's year-to-date performance:
See exactly how much a YTD top performer would have returned on your investment with our Stock Return Calculator. Planning regular investments? The DCA Calculator shows how dollar-cost averaging into these stocks would have performed.
