Sometimes, big things come in small packages, and this summer’s surprise market upswing has revealed that the small-cap focused exchange traded funds(ETFs) are full of surprises.

To date, the best small-cap sampler is the iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) which has gained 14% for the month ended Aug. 15, almost double of the large-cap tracker SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Many analysts were calling 2008 the year for the large-cap. The small-cap rally defies fundamentals and gives performance chasing-investors a run for their risk tolerance.

Other small-cap ETFs that have hit the market “sweet spot:

• iShares Russell Microcap (IWC): down 9.7% year-to-date; up 5.7% in the last month
• ProShares Ultra Russell 2000 Value (UVT): down 11% year-to-date ; up 12.8% in the last month
• ProShares Ultra Russell 2000 (UWM): down 13.1% year-to-date; up 11.3% in the last month
• iShares S&P Small Cap 600 Index (IJR): down 2.7% year-to-date; up 5.4% in the last month

For full disclosure, some of Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of IJR.

Tags: IJR, IWC, IWM, Micro-Cap, UVT, UWM