Top 10 most-bought ETFs: July 2026

Technology remained in vogue in July among exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors despite question marks over the return on capital for the world’s biggest technology companies after massive investment in artificial intelligence (AI) advancements.

In the rankings, based on the number of buys with regular investing stripped out, Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF (LSE: EQQQ) retained the second spot. This ETF includes 100 of the largest US and international non-financial securities listed on the technology-heavy NASDAQ index. As a result, it has lots of exposure to the AI theme, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Micron Technology(NASDAQ:MU) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) among its top five holdings. A smaller position, at around 1%, is held in Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX).

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Dedicated technology exposure is also being played through VanEck Semiconductor ETF (LSE: SMGB), a new entrant in July. It made a swift return to the top 10 having dropped out last month. The ETF that replaced it last month, iShares MSCI Global Semiconductors ETF (LSE: SEMI), didn’t make the top 10 this time around.

As noted last month, both thematic ETFs come with the same yearly fee of 0.35%. However, in terms of portfolio composition it is VanEck’s offering that looks more concentrated. Over three years that approach has paid off and it is up 223.6% versus 211.2% for the iShares product. But over one year the iShares fund has the upper hand, up 123.7% versus 108.3%.

Global tracker funds retain plenty of appeal, with the top 10 comprising both share classes of the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF (VWRP) and (VWRL), as well as Invesco FTSE All-World ETF (LSE: FWRG). For investors in Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF, there was good news in the form of an announcement last month of a lower yearly fund fee, with the charge dropping from 0.19% to 0.14%. This makes it slightly cheaper than the 0.15% fund fee for the Invesco product. However, there are lower-cost options for global exposure available, as we point out here. 

The ‘All-World’ trackers have some exposure to emerging markets and will have benefited from strong returns in the region so far in 2026. Bear in mind that some global index funds or ETFs stick only to shares listed in developed markets.

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For US equity exposure, both share classes for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, (LSE: VUAG) and (LSE: VUSA), make the top 10.

With the income share class, income generated by the fund’s underlying investments is paid out to investors. With accumulation shares, the income is reinvested back into the fund, which bolsters the effect of compounding, in which investment returns themselves generate future gains.

Owning a traditional S&P 500 tracker may well continue to serve investors well in the coming years, as it has done over the past decade. However, for those concerned about concentration risk and looking to hedge their bets through seeking out complementary exposure, there are a number of alternatives available.

Commodities also remain popular, with iShares Physical Gold (LSE: SGLN) and iShares Physical Silver (LSE: SSLN) the preferred ways to gain exposure to the two precious metals.

Interestingly, in our broader ii Top 50 Fund Index, demand for commodities cooled in the second quarter. Profit-taking and portfolio rebalancing after a strong run over the past two years for gold and silver appeared to be one driver. Also perhaps front of mind for some investors is that gold failed to live up to its safe-haven asset status earlier this year when the Middle East conflict led to an uptick in stock market volatility.

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In July, one area where demand cooled was specialist space exposure, with VanEck Space Innovators ETF (LSE: JEDG) dropping out of the top 10. Other options include the recently launched iShares Space Technologies ETF (LSE: STRR) and WisdomTree Space Economy ETF (LSE:WSPG).

The low-risk money market fund Amundi Smart Overnight ETF (LSE: CSH2) was the only other new entry.  

Top 10 most-popular ETFs in July

Top 10 based on number of buys in July.  All data sourced from Trustnet on 3 August 2026 asides from FWRG, which was sourced from Invesco, with data to 31 July 2026. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.