Gold fell in popularity last month, with tech, US and UK shares rising up the rankings.
4th August 2025
by Sam Benstead from interactive investor
Vanguard’s S&P 500 tracker funds reclaimed first and second place in our most-bought exchange-traded funds (ETF) list last month, knocking iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP SGLN
off the top spot.
The dividend distribution version (Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP VUSA
was in first place, while the accumulation version (Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP VUAG
was in second place. These ETFs charge just 0.07% a year to track the largest shares in America, nearly doubling investors’ money over the past five years.
Measured in pounds sterling, the US market is about 4% off its all-time high, with a weaker dollar hurting returns this year.
July was a good month for the US stock market, with the index rising 2% in US dollar terms and 7% in sterling terms, with dollar strength against the pound providing a boost to British investors.
This helped boost other popular ETFs last month, withVanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP VWRL
(distributing) rising one place to eighth and Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP EQQQ
rising two places to sixth. Both funds are heavily invested in US shares, with the Vanguard tracker allocating 60.5% to the US and the Nasdaq 100 allocating 96.8% to US shares.
Meanwhile, Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc GBP
(accumulating) held on to fifth place and
iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP SWDA
fell one place to seventh.
SWDA owns around 1,400 global developed market shares and is a popular core holding for stock market exposure. The fee is 0.2% a year.
The Vanguard global trackers are “all world” funds, which means they own emerging market shares as well as developed world shares – they therefore have less invested in the US.
While gold fell in popularity last month, the
iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP SSLN
held on to 10th place.
Over July, the gold price was relatively flat, starting the month at $3,352 an ounce and ending it at $3,295. Silver, however, rose from $36 to $37 an ounce.
Gold is seen as a safe-haven asset but also a hedge against inflation, as the supply of the metal is relatively fixed, but governments are issuing more debt and increasing the money supply.
Both metals are volatile, but silver is a much bumpier ride than gold due to its wider industrial use. This means it has greater cyclical characteristics compared to gold.
There was one new entry last month:
VanEck Crypto&Blckchan Innovtr ETF A USD GBP DAGB
in fourth.
This ETF owns companies involved in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, such as
Coinbase Global Inc Ordinary Shares – Class A COIN
Strategy Class A MSTR and Block Inc Class A XYZ
It is viewed by many as a way of getting exposure to bitcoin inside an ISA wrapper, as the UK finance watchdog currently does not allow ETFs that track the price of cryptocurrencies.
Be warned though, this ETF is extremely volatile, and often moves more than the bitcoin price itself.
WisdomTree Europe Defence ETF EUR Acc GBP WDEP
dropped off the list, while
VanEck Defense ETF A USD Acc GBP DFNG
fell to ninth from fourth in June.
Top 10 most-bought ETFs in July 2025
| Position | ETF | Change on last month | One-year return (%) | Three-year return (%) |
| 1 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP VUSA | Up one | 12.6 | 46.4 |
| 2 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP VUAG | Up one | 12.6 | 46.4 |
| 3 | iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP SGLN | Down two | 31.5 | 71.9 |
| 4 | VanEck Crypto&Blckchan Innovtr ETF A USD GBP DAGB | New entry | 40.2 | 150.5 |
| 5 | Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc GBP VWRP | No change | 12.5 | 40.7 |
| 6 | Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP EQQQ | Up two | 16.9 | 67.2 |
| 7 | iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP SWDA | Down one | 12.4 | 43.2 |
| 8 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP VWRL | Up one | 12.5 | 40.7 |
| 9 | VanEck Defense ETF A USD Acc GBP DFNG | Down five | 72.7 | n/a |
| 10 | iShares Physical Silver ETC GBP SSLN0 | No change | 28.1 | 72 |
Source: interactive investor, FE Analytics as of 1 August 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of July. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
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