Top 10 most-purchased ETFs in November 2024

Incoming president Donald Trump’s support for the cryptocurrency industry has boosted the popularity of the VanEck Crypto and Blockchain Innovators Ucits ETF.

It was a new entry last month in sixth place, with the exchange-traded fund (ETF) rising 164% over the past 12 months, and nearly 50% over the past month.

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The strategy owns shares involved in cryptocurrency and blockchain, such as MicroStrategy, Coinbase and Block. It is a way of adding exposure to cryptocurrency to a portfolio without owning the tokens, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Like cryptocurrencies, the ETF is extremely volatile. For example, from mid-November 2021 to the end of 2022, the ETF declined by -90%. 

Another tech-focused ETF attracting assets last month was Invesco Nasdaq 100 Ucits ETF, rising two places to fifth.

The Nasdaq tracker fund is a proxy for owning US tech shares. The top five positions are Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta.

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The top four ETFs were unchanged. They were Vanguard S&P 500 Ucits ETF (Dis), Vanguard S&P 500 Ucits ETF (Acc), iShares Physical Gold ETC and iShares Core MSCI World Ucits ETF.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETFs track the US market for just 0.07% in yearly fees. Owing to the continued rise of American technology stocks, performance has been an impressive 27.5% this year. It has therefore been very hard for active fund managers to keep pace.

An alternative from BlackRock, the iShares S&P 500 Ucits ETF, was in eighth place. Fees are the same and performance has historically been very similar.

Gold has also continued its strong run, rising 28% this year in sterling terms. This is linked to the market view that interest rates will keep falling. Because gold pays no income, when bond yields drop it makes the precious metal relatively more attractive compared with income produced by low-risk fixed income assets, such as government bonds, which can also be regarded as safe havens.

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ii customers are adding gold to their portfolios via the Super-60 rated iShares Physical Gold ETC.

In fourth place was iShares Core MSCI World Ucits ETF, which tracks global shares for 0.2% in annual fees. It has around 70% invested in American shares, which has helped it deliver another strong year of performance, rising 22%.

Two other global tracker funds also made the list: Vanguard FTSE All World Ucits ETF (dis) and Vanguard FTSE All World Ucits ETF (Acc).

They cost 0.22% and include more shares than the iShares ETF. This is because they are an “All World” tracker and therefore also own emerging market shares, leading to a 3,645-stock portfolio.

Rounding off this month’s list was iShares Core FTSE 100 Ucits ETF in 10th place.

iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector ETF, a new entry last month, has exited the table. 

Source: interactive investor/FE FundInfo. Performance data to 30 November 2024. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.