Top 10 best-selling ETFs of 2025

Fidelity Personal Investing customers’ ETF choices in 2025 reveal a wide range of attitudes to risk. An exchange-traded fund that holds ‘safe haven’ gold bullion was the year’s best-seller but the top 10 also included a fund that backs crypto and blockchain companies, universally seen as racier investments. In between those two extremes were several more conventional ETFs that track mainstream stock market indices.

While various reasons are put forward to explain investors’ enthusiasm for gold, fear of the ‘debasement’ of conventional currencies is certainly one. The world’s ‘anchor’ currency, the dollar, has lost about 10% of its value last year against a basket of rivals. Gold, by contrast, has risen by about 70% since the start of 2025 and reached a new record high of $4,549 an ounce on Boxing Day. Fidelity customers have shared in the metal’s strong performance: iShares Physical Gold was the best-selling ETF on our Personal Investing platform in 2025.

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The next three places in our ETF top 10 of 2025 were occupied by conventional stock market tracker funds, namely the Vanguard S&P 500, Vanguard FTSE All-World and SPDR MSCI All Country World ETFs. Two other global index funds, the Invesco FTSE All-World and Vanguard FTSE Developed World ETFs, appeared in the table in sixth and ninth places respectively.

The popularity of such funds shows that plenty of investors still want broadly diversified exposure to stock markets, whether US or global, at low cost, although it could be argued that the present extreme concentration of stock market value in US tech companies undermines that diversification somewhat. American stocks account for 72.5% of the MSCI World index, for example¹.

The remaining funds in the top 10 were a more eclectic bunch. In fifth place came the iShares Ultrashort Bond ETF, which invests in bonds that are very close to their maturity date and therefore provide cash-like returns. In seventh position was the VanEck Defense ETF, whose popularity reflects rising interest in arms companies at a time of increased international tension. The fund’s top holdings include Palantir, Thales and Saab. A similar ETF, HANetf Future of Defence, was in 10th place in the best-sellers’ table.

The VanEck Crypto & Blockchain Innovators ETF was in eighth place. Current holdings include Coinbase, the crypto exchange, and Strategy, the ‘crypto treasury’ company formerly known as MicroStrategy. Whether investors will maintain their interest in digital asset businesses next year in view of the recent falls in the price of bitcoin and other digital coins remains to be seen.

Best-selling ETFs of 2025

1. iShares Physical Gold 
2. Vanguard S&P 500 
3. Vanguard FTSE All-World 
4. SPDR MSCI All Country World 
5. iShares Ultrashort Bond 
6. Invesco FTSE All-World  
7. VanEck Defense 
8. VanEck Crypto & Blockchain Innovators 
9. Vanguard FTSE Developed World 
10. HANetf Future of Defence

Source: Fidelity International. Net sales 1 January to 11 December 2025, for Personal Investors only.

Source:

¹MSCI World Index      

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.