The top 10 most-purchased ETFs in August 2023
Investors continued to buy ETFs that track large companies globally, and in the US and UK.
4th September 2023 10:56
by Sam Benstead from interactive investor
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Passive investors continued to back US, global and UK shares in August, as stock markets stood largely still over a quiet month of trading.
During August, accounting for the positive contribution of dividends, the S&P 500 was flat, the MSCI World fell 0.7% and the FTSE 100 dropped 1.7%.
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To track these markets, interactive investor customers bought, in order of popularity: Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA), iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF GBP Dist (LSE:ISF), iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SWDA), Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG).
Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (LSE:VUKE) fell one place to ninth.
Run by the largest passive investment firms BlackRock and Vanguard, they give investors cheap access to the world’s most influential stock markets.
Super 60 member iShares Core MSCI World Ucits ETF rose one place, while Vanguard FSTE All World Ucits ETF dropped one. The other exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) did not change position.
The iShares global tracker owns 1,518 stocks from across the developed world for a fee of just 0.2%. It has risen 6.5% in value over the past year.
The Vanguard alternative owns more shares, at 3,688, than the BlackRock rival. It is also slightly more expensive, at 0.22% in fees, but includes emerging market shares as well, such as Chinese stocks. It has risen 4.5% over the past 12 months.
There were two new entries on the most bought ETF list this month:WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged GBP (LSE:LQQ3) in seventh and WisdomTree FTSE 100 3x Daily Lvrgd ETP (LSE:3UKL) in eighth. Meanwhile, WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Dl Short ETP GBP (LSE:LQQS) rose four places to sixth.
These are “leveraged” ETFs, meaning they use derivates to multiple the returns (or losses) of an index.
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They are therefore much more riskier than a normal ETF. The promotional literature of many leveraged products specifies that they should not be held for more than one day, and our article explains why in more detail.
Lyxor Smart Overnight Return ETF C GBP (LSE:CSH2) fell four places to tenth. This is an actively managed ETF that invests in a diversified portfolio of financial instruments and repurchase agreements in order to deliver a cash-like return. Cash-equivalent investments have risen in value over the past two years due to higher interest rates.
The two ETFs dropping out of the top 10 are Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ) and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:CSP1)
| Position | ETF | Change on last month | One-year return (%) | Three-year return (%) |
| 1 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) | No change | 4.8 | 41 |
| 2 | iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF GBP Dist (LSE:ISF) | No change | 8.3 | 41.9 |
| 3 | iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SWDA) | Up one | 6.5 | 35.6 |
| 4 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) | Down one | 4.5 | 30.1 |
| 5 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG) | No change | 4.8 | 41 |
| 6 | WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Dl Short ETP GBP (LSE:LQQS) | Up four | -63.5 | -81 |
| 7 | WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged GBP (LSE:LQQ3) | New entry | 41.5 | 9.6 |
| 8 | WisdomTree FTSE 100 3x Daily Lvrgd ETP (LSE:3UKL) | New entry | 9.6 | 101 |
| 9 | Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (LSE:VUKE) | Down one | 8 | 41.4 |
| 10 | Lyxor Smart Overnight Return ETF C GBP (LSE:CSH2) | Down four | 3.8 | 4.7 |
Source: FE FundInfo/interactive investor, 1 September Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of August.
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