Top 10 most-bought ETFs: May 2026
Hard-charging sector funds have drawn investors in.
2nd June 2026 12:22
by Dave Baxter from interactive investor
Investors sought to capitalise on some of the dominant market trends in May by backing funds with a sector or thematic focus.
Our monthly list of the most popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) shows the VanEck Space Innovators ETF A USD Acc GBP (LSE:JEDG) entering the table, while the VanEck Semiconductor ETF GBP (LSE:SMGB) gains significant traction and moves up from seventh to second place.
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VanEck Space Innovators, which comes with the pleasing ticker of JEDI for one of its share classes, lists Planet Labs PBC Class A (NYSE:PL), Rocket Lab Corp (NASDAQ:RKLB), Viasat Inc (NASDAQ:VSAT), EchoStar Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SATS) and Globalstar Inc (NASDAQ:GSAT) among its top holdings. The fund has a big allocation to the industrials sector.
Space ETFs are relatively rare in the UK investment space for now, although that could change with the sector drawing plenty of attention at the moment. It’s an area where private companies have also made plenty of gains, as evidenced by the success of the Seraphim Space Investment Trust Ord (LSE:SSIT) trust.
Meanwhile, another sector-focused fund, VanEck Semiconductor, offers fairly concentrated exposure to some of the beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) trade.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) accounts for around a 10th of the fund, with Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO), Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:TSM), NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), ASML Holding NV (EURONEXT:ASML) and Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) all on big weightings.
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As the table shows, both ETFs have made massive gains in the last year as their sectors of focus have drawn ever more attention.
And while the semiconductor fund may have bets on some names already well covered by broad tracker funds, such as Nvidia, it has massively outpaced the likes of a FTSE All World fund very recently.
Sticking with the idea of sectors, investors are still showing interest in US tech, with the Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ) entering the table in eighth place. The Nasdaq is known for its tech-heavy composition, even if it does contain other sectors too.
Investors also continued to up the ante with the use of a leveraged Nasdaq ETF.
That fund has performed very well in the last year, although it can experience painfully large losses if and when the market turns. It is also worth noting that daily resets make leveraged ETFs unsuitable as long-term investments, as we explain in detail here.
‘Conventional’ trackers hold firm
Our figures, which exclude regular investing and therefore give a sense of the more tactical choices ii customers have made over the course of the month, show that the accumulation and distribution share classes of both the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VWRP) and the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) remain very popular.
It’s notable that those targeting global markets in this manner have favoured the “all world” fund, meaning they get some limited exposure to emerging markets and have benefited slightly from the powerful rally in that part of the world.
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The iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc (LSE:IWDA), which only covers developed markets, has exited the bestseller table.
It’s also worth discussing precious metals, which maintain a presence in the list via the iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) in fourth place and the iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:SSLN) just below it.
Gold and silver have both struggled very recently, with the gold ETC losing around 13%, and the silver ETC roughly 16%, in the three months to the end of May.
Having potentially chased a hot performance streak for both metals in late 2025, some investors appear to be sticking with these assets.
One other name to exit the list in May is the Amundi Smart Overnight Ret GBP H ETF Acc (LSE:CSH2), which offers a cash-like return.
| Ranking | Exchange-traded fund | Change from April | One-year total return (%) to 31 May | Three-year total return (%) to 31 May |
| 1 | Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VWRP) (Acc) | Unchanged | 30.2 | 67.9 |
| 2 | VanEck Semiconductor ETF GBP (LSE:SMGB) | Up 5 | 173.6 | 273.2 |
| 3 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG) (Acc) | Unchanged | 29.5 | 72.3 |
| 4 | iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) | Down 2 | 38.6 | 112 |
| 5 | iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:SSLN) | Down 1 | 128.7 | 197.9 |
| 6 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) (Dist) | Down 1 | 29.5 | 72.3 |
| 7 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) (Dist) | Down 1 | 30.2 | 67.9 |
| 8 | Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ) | New | 42.6 | 97.7 |
| 9 | WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged (LSE:QQQ3) | Up 1 | 134.2 | 335.8 |
| 10 | VanEck Space Innovators ETF A USD Acc GBP (LSE:JEDG) | New | 253.5 | 422.5 |
Source: FE Analytics. Top 10 based on number of buys in May. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
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