Top 10 most-purchased ETFs in May 2025

Despite poor returns from American shares this year, investors are still putting money into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the S&P 500 basket of large American companies.

Vanguard’s S&P 500 Ucits ETF accumulation and distribution ETFs were the two most-bought ETFs for another month.

They are up around 8% over the past 12 months, but down around 8% in 2025. The S&P 500 has been flat, but UK investors have suffered losses due to an 8% drop in the value of the US dollar compared to the British pound.

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The US dollar is falling due to investor worries about governance in America, where the budget deficit is growing and US President Donald Trump is see-sawing on economic policy.

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Gold is one beneficiary of the uncertainty around the world’s largest economy. Its price in pounds has risen 32% in the past year, as investors flock to safe-haven assets. This has contributed to the continued popularity of iShares Physical Gold ETC, which is one of our Super 60 investment ideas.

The fourth-most popular ETF, for another week, was Invesco Nasdaq 100 Ucits ETF. It is effectively a bet on technology shares, as the Nasdaq index is packed with the big American tech giants, including Amazon, Apple and Nvidia.

This ETF can be extremely volatile, but investors with strong stomachs have been rewarded over the long run, with the shares up 60% over three years.

Three global trackers made the most-bought list last month: iShares Core MSCI World Ucits ETF, Vanguard FTSE All Word Ucits ETF (acc) and Vanguard FTSE All Word Ucits ETF (dis).

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While the Vanguard trackers are “all world” funds, which means they own emerging market shares as well as developed world shares, the iShares fund just focuses on companies in developed markets, such as Japan, Europe and North America.

Completing the list are iShares Core FTSE 100 Ucits ETF, and two thematic ETFs from VanEck: VanEck Crypto and Blockchain Innovation Ucits ETF and VanEck Defense ETF .

Defence and cryptocurrencies are two of the hottest themes right now, as Western governments look to rearm, and investors seek to profit from the emerging world of blockchain and crypto.

They could both offer uncorrelated returns to investors in times of panic. This is because defence companies will likely profit from global conflicts, and crypto is view by some as “digital gold” and therefore a store of value when investors are worried.

Vanguard FTSE Developed World ETF and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF dropped off the list.

Top 10 most-bought ETFs in May 2025

Performance data sourced from FE Analytics. Performance data to 31 May 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of May. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.