Important information - investment values and income from investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest.
There’s a new kid on the ETF block and it has immediately produced some very grown-up sales figures.
The Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap ETF was launched in August and added to our platform in September. Despite its recent arrival, it made seventh place in Fidelity’s ETF best-sellers’ table for the first nine months of the year and topped the table last month. It has already gathered $4.4bn in assets.
One of its unusual features is that it invests in small, medium-sized and large companies, whereas many global trackers avoid smaller stocks. Both developed and emerging markets are covered. We have just published a detailed report on the fund: Why has this Vanguard ETF become an instant best-seller?
The second most popular ETF among Fidelity investors last month was the Vanguard FTSE All-World. This fund topped the table for the first nine months of 2026, as well as in several individual months this year. The FTSE All-World index includes shares in large and medium-sized companies, but not smaller ones, from both developed and emerging countries.
The iShares Physical Gold exchange-traded commodity (ETC) was in third place in our top 10. It holds gold bullion directly, so it accurately tracks the price of gold (less fees of 0.12% a year). The ETC is on Fidelity’s Select 50 list of recommended funds; Fundhouse, which compiles the list independently on our behalf, says: ‘Because it is complex to invest in gold itself, it is reassuring that BlackRock [which owns iShares] has been running this strategy successfully for some time.’ The price of gold recently dipped below $4,000 an ounce for the first time this year, although it has recovered slightly to $4,124 at the time of writing.
Next came the Vanguard ESG Global All Cap ETF. The list of holdings is derived from the FTSE Global All Cap index (the ‘parent index’), screened for certain environmental, social and governance criteria. In practice, this means that companies involved in adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, cannabis, non-renewable energy or weapons can be excluded. In some cases any degree of involvement in the problematic areas may result in exclusion; in others only if a certain revenue threshold is reached.
In fifth place was Amundi Smart Overnight Return, which regularly features in our top 10. Although not strictly speaking a cash or money market fund, it aims to achieve a similar outcome via the use of ‘derivatives’, which are contracts involving financial institutions that in this case are designed to produce returns linked to (‘derived from’) interest rates on cash.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF came next in the table. This fund tracks the popular Standard & Poor’s index of 500 of the largest American stocks for an annual cost of 0.07% (7 ‘basis points’ or ‘bips’ in financial jargon).
The seventh-placed Invesco FTSE All-World ETF aims to track the same index as the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF in second place. Despite this, performance of the two funds, while broadly similar, is not identical and the two portfolios do differ – Invesco’s has about 2,100 holdings while Vanguard’s has about 3,800. This kind of difference is not uncommon because tracker funds, especially those that follow indices that contain very large numbers of individual stocks, often hold a ‘sample’ of the index rather than every single constituent.
In eighth place was the only bond fund to feature in the top 10, the iShares UK Gilts 0-5year ETF. The fund, which holds British government bonds up to five years from maturity, is likely to appeal to investors who are attracted to the relatively high yields now available on gilts but who want to avoid too much price volatility.
Bonds further from maturity tend to react more to changes (actual or expected) in interest rates or inflation because there is more time for those two factors to affect the true value of the bond’s future income payments and the eventual repayment of the amount borrowed. Alternatively, investors may think that gilt prices have fallen too far (prices and yields go in opposite directions) and hope to reap a capital gain as well as the bonds’ interest payments. The ETF currently yields 4% (yields are variable and not guaranteed).
The ninth-placed ETF, Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield, aims to track another variant of the FTSE All-World ‘parent’ index. The FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield index includes, in Vanguard’s words, ‘large and mid-sized company stocks … that pay dividends that are generally higher than average’. The ETF currently yields 2.5%, compared with 1.4% for the income version of Vanguard’s tracker of the ‘parent index’, the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF.
Bringing up the rear of October’s top 10 was the iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector ETF. To avoid excessive concentration in particular stocks, the index tracked by the fund limits the size of the largest constituent to 35% and of the second largest to 20% (at the point of the fund’s regular rebalancings). The two largest holdings currently are Nvidia (20.7%) and Apple (19.7%).
Notable for their absence from the top 10 were ETFs focused on the UK, Europe, Japan or emerging markets or on specialised areas such as AI, crypto or quantum computing.
Top 10 best-selling ETFs on Fidelity Personal Investing in October 2026
- Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap
- Vanguard FTSE All-World
- iShares Physical Gold ETC
- Vanguard ESG Global All Cap
- Amundi Smart Overnight Return
- Vanguard S&P 500
- Invesco FTSE All-World
- iShares UK Gilts 0-5year
- Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield
- iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector
Source: Fidelity International. Total net ETF sales from ISA, SIPP and Investment Accounts in October 2026 for Personal Investors only.
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Important information - investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. Overseas investments will be affected by movements in currency exchange rates. Investments in emerging markets can be more volatile than other more developed markets. There is a risk that the issuers of bonds may not be able to repay the money they have borrowed or make interest payments. When interest rates rise, bonds may fall in value. Rising interest rates may cause the value of your investment to fall. There is no guarantee that the investment objective of any Index Tracking Sub-Fund will be achieved. The performance of the sub-fund may not match the performance of the index it tracks due to factors including, but not limited to, the investment strategy used, fees and expenses and taxes. Reference to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities and is included for the purposes of illustration only. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice.
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