Top 10 most-purchased ETFs: January 2026
Investors rushed into precious metal funds, with a risky option entering the list.
3rd February 2026 13:47
by Dave Baxter from interactive investor
Exchange-traded fund (ETF) buyers rushed headfirst into the precious metals trade last month, leaving them exposed to the big price swings of recent days.
Our figures, which track the number of buys among interactive investor customers but exclude regular investing, show that four of the most popular 10 names in January focused on silver in some form.
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iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:SSLN) sits at the top of the list for a second month in a row, while an equivalent (but more expensive) fund from a different provider, WisdomTree Physical Silver ETC (LSE:PHAG), remains in the top 10.
The gold trade also remains popular with theiShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN), another offering that simply tracks the spot price of the given precious metal, still in second place.
While both gold and silver have offered huge returns in the last year, investors have sought higher-octane ways to play this trade.
Take, for example, the rise of the Global X Silver Miners ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SILG) to third place.
While not an iron-cast rule, shares in companies that mine for a metal can sometimes enjoy huge gains when the price rises. This ETF, which has big positions in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp (TSE:WPM) and Pan American Silver Corp (TSE:PAAS), has made chunky returns but actually lags a physical silver fund over 12 months.
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Worryingly, some investors are taking leveraged exposure to the silver price via the WisdomTree Silver 3x Daily Leveraged GBP (LSE:3LSI), a new name in the list. This fund is extremely punchy, in using debt to give you three times the daily move (be it a gain or a fall) in the silver price.
The jaw-dropping return figures in our table show that this fund can be a winner when the silver price is surging, as it has done in the last year. But investors need to tread carefully, given the losses will be very sharp in a sell-off. Recent days would have been extremely painful for the fund, for example.
With geopolitical tensions mounting, interest rates coming down and the US dollar looking weak, gold and silver have made enormous gains in the last couple of years. They continued with strong momentum into the opening weeks of 2026 as global tensions intensified further.
But the nomination of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve (the US central bank), announced last week, could mean less money printing and a stricter attitude to inflation, something that has tended to weaken the power of the dollar. If the so-called “debasement” of the currency eases, that lessens the relative attraction of real assets such as gold.
Consistency elsewhere
ETF investors have otherwise continued to back US and global markets, and the likes of the Magnificent Seven, via mainstream tracker funds. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc (LSE:VUAA) and Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc (LSE:VWRA) both crop up twice in our top 10 list, thanks to the popularity of separate share classes for each.
As we warned earlier this month, those buying the distribution (or income) share class on a global or US equity ETF could be making a mistake, by failing to reinvest dividends and limiting the extent to which they can compound returns over the longer term.
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Meanwhile, investors are still opting for a racy play on tech shares, via a leveraged version of a Nasdaq 100 tracker. A conventional ETF tracking the Nasdaq exits the list this month.
As with the silver product mentioned earlier, this can deliver rich gains when things go well but could cost you dearly in the midst of a sell-off.
Top 10 most popular ETFs in January
| Ranking | Exchange-traded fund (ETF) | Change from December | One-year return to 31 January 2026 (%) | Three-year return (%) |
| 1 | iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:SSLN) | Unchanged | 195.1 | 300.2 |
| 2 | iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) | Unchanged | 60.2 | 131.5 |
| 3 | Global X Silver Miners ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SILG) | Up 2 | 160.5 | 196 |
| 4 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc (LSE:VUAA) | Down 1 | 5.1 | 58.1 |
| 5 | Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc (LSE:VWRA) | Up 1 | 10.6 | 51.2 |
| 6 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) | Down 2 | 5.1 | 58.1 |
| 7 | WisdomTree Physical Silver ETC GBP (LSE:PHSP) | Unchanged | 194.2 | 296.7 |
| 8 | WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged GBP (LSE:LQQ3) | Up 1 | 14.8 | 319 |
| 9 | WisdomTree Silver 3x Daily Leveraged GBP (LSE:3LSI) | New entry | 1770.8 | 1996.3 |
| 10 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) | Down 2 | 10.6 | 51.2 |
Source: FE Analytics. Top 10 based on number of buys in January. 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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