Top 10 most-bought ETFs: March 2026
Precious metals fans have stayed the course - to some extent.
2nd April 2026 09:19
by Dave Baxter from interactive investor
Exchange-traded fund (ETF) buyers have continued to back some of the names most battered by the March sell-off, although some more sedate options also enter our bestseller list.
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Our figures, which exclude regular investing, show investors largely sticking with the precious metals trade, with iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) moving up into the number one spot, iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:SSLN) still in the top three, and Global X Silver Miners ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SILG) falling notably but still hanging on.
Gold and silver prices have tumbled amid the market volatility of recent weeks, with specialists putting this down to investors taking profits on their holdings as a way of freeing up cash.
So, while the one and three-year returns for these ETFs still look highly impressive, it has been a savage month for performance: the iShares Physical Gold fund is down by almost 12%, with its silver equivalent down by nearly 20%.
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Mining funds can enjoy bigger gains, and suffer greater losses, than those that simply track a metal’s spot price. We see a very moderate example of that dynamic in the performance of the Global X Silver Miners fund, which is down by around 24% over a month.
If gold (and silver) bugs are buying in on a low, that’s not the case everywhere. The two funds that exit our list in March are WisdomTree Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:PHSP) and the racy WisdomTree Silver 3x Daily Leveraged GBP (LSE:3LSI).
We have previously warned about the perils of backing leveraged ETFs, which amplify your gains but also your losses and come with an elevated level of risk.
One such offering, the WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged (LSE:QQQ3), remains in the table. That still sits on some fat three-year gains but lost around 22% in March, versus a loss of around 6% for its unleveraged equivalent.
Playing it safe?
Two new names enter the list and might serve as steadier options for investors. There’s the iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF GBP Dist (LSE:ISF), which has certainly suffered in the market sell-off but grants exposure to a market that has otherwise returned to life in recent years.
Investors also back a cash-like fund, Amundi Smart Overnight Ret GBP H ETF Acc (LSE:CSH2).
As with the return of the Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc to the top of our weekly bestseller list for funds of all different types, this points to the fact that investors might have simply turned to the certainty of cash at a time when both riskier assets and many perceived safe havens have struggled.
We also continue to see investors go for simple exposure to both the S&P 500 and the FTSE All World index via Vanguard funds.
Investors continue to like both the accumulation and distribution share classes of these funds, and as we have discussed before, those in the second camp could be making a costly mistake.
Top 10 most-popular ETFs in March
| Ranking | Exchange-traded fund | Change from February | One-year total return (%) to 31 March 2026 | Three-year return |
| 1 | iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) | Up 1 | 42 | 113.6 |
| 2 | Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VWRP) | Up 7 | 18.7 | 50.1 |
| 3 | iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:SSLN) | Down 2 | 102.8 | 175.8 |
| 4 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG) | Up 2 | 16.5 | 56 |
| 5 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) | Up 2 | 16.5 | 56 |
| 6 | WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged (LSE:QQQ3) | Down 1 | 26.4 | 146.4 |
| 7 | iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF GBP Dist (LSE:ISF) | New entry | 21.9 | 47.4 |
| 8 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) | Down 5 | 18.7 | 50.1 |
| 9 | Global X Silver Miners ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SILG) | Down 5 | 130.7 | 183.3 |
| 10 | Amundi Smart Overnight Ret GBP H ETF Acc (LSE:CSH2) | New entry | 2.9 | 10.2 |
Source: FE Analytics. Top 10 based on numbers of buys in March. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
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