The ETF universe, organised by where the money lives.

TER 0.22%, spans developed and emerging markets in one line. Roughly 60% US, with the top ten names (Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, Alphabet) representing about 20% of the index. The standard one-line global beta solution for UK investors.

TER 0.20%. The MSCI ACWI version of VWRP, covering developed plus emerging markets in a single line. Slightly fewer holdings than VWRP. Reasonable substitute for either VWRP or the IWDA + EIMI pair.

TER 0.30%. Removes USD-GBP volatility from global equity exposure. Useful as ballast when sterling is expected to strengthen or to reduce currency risk in retirement accounts. Hedging cost roughly 10-20bp per year over the unhedged share class.

TER 0.18%, accumulating, USD-denominated. Tracks MSCI EM IMI across 24 emerging market countries. Top weights TSMC ~10%, Tencent ~4%, Samsung, Alibaba, HDFC Bank. Country mix: China 26%, India 19%, Taiwan 19%, Korea 12%. Broadest EM vehicle available.

TER 0.22%. FTSE EM index. Key difference from EIMI: FTSE classifies Korea as developed, so Korean tech (Samsung, SK Hynix) is excluded. Higher China weight as a result. Pick this only if you specifically want to avoid Korean exposure.

TER 0.42%. Same MSCI EM coverage as EIMI but excludes small caps and at much higher fee. EIMI is the better vehicle in almost all cases. Use SEMA only where IMI structure causes platform issues.

TER 0.15%, the cheapest EM tracker in UCITS. Same MSCI EM index as SEMA without the small-cap sleeve. Useful for very cost-sensitive allocations where the small-cap exposure of EIMI is not required.

TER 0.20%, across 23 developed markets. Industry default for DM equity exposure. Excludes emerging markets entirely. Best paired with EIMI to build full-global coverage with explicit control over the EM allocation rather than letting an index quietly add 10% EM via VWRP.

TER 0.12%, the lowest fee on a mainstream MSCI World tracker in the UCITS universe. Developed markets only. USD-denominated underlying. Worth considering for cost-sensitive core allocations where the few basis points compound meaningfully over long holds.

TER 0.30%. Global energy exposure including Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Equinor alongside ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips. 3-5% dividend yields on the underlying basket. Sector trades 10-12x earnings versus 25x for the S&P. Underowned by ESG-driven institutional investors. AI data-centre power demand a multi-year tailwind.

Recently launched, growing AUM. Top holdings include Boeing, GE Aerospace, RTX, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Northrop Grumman, Safran, BAE Systems, Rheinmetall. Captures both US primes and European rearmament beneficiaries in one line. NATO 5% of GDP commitments and EU defence funds are multi-year tailwinds. The index leans toward aerospace primes and civil-aviation revenue rather than pure defence; for concentrated pure-defence exposure DFEU or WDEF may fit better.

TER 0.35%. 25-name basket concentrated in NVIDIA (~20%), Taiwan Semiconductor (~11%), Broadcom (~9%), ASML, AMD, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Applied Materials. Up 168% over the trailing 12 months. The most extended position on the watchlist. Historical sector drawdowns of 30-50% are routine and worth waiting for.

TER 0.50%. Geographic mix: US ~50%, Japan ~29%, Switzerland ~9.5%. Top weights ABB, Keyence, NVIDIA, Fanuc, Intuitive Surgical. Captures the proven industrial automation names with real moats and cash flows rather than speculative humanoid plays. Munger-quality compounders dominate the top of the portfolio.

TER 0.69%. GBP share class of KOID, same underlying portfolio. Equal-weighted: Tesla, NVIDIA, UBTECH, RoboSense, Horizon Robotics. The only pure-play humanoid UCITS available in UK wrappers (HUMN and BOTT are US-listed and not accessible). Higher convexity if embodied-AI inflects, materially more fragility if it does not.

Same fund as KOIB, USD share class. Use this if reporting currency is USD or if held alongside other USD positions. Otherwise KOIB is the cleaner GBP-traded version of the identical underlying portfolio.

TER 0.49%. AI-exposed names spanning hardware (NVIDIA, AMD), software (Microsoft, Alphabet), and services. Less concentrated than a pure semiconductor play but broader than a pure-tech tracker. Useful as the AI sleeve in portfolios that already hold EQQQ.

TER 0.30%, GBP-traded LSE line of QQQ. Holds the top 100 non-financial companies on the Nasdaq. Top weights Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, Meta, Broadcom, Alphabet (both classes), Tesla, Costco. The cleanest mega-cap tech expression for UK investors and the natural vehicle for Microsoft and Google exposure in a single line.

TER 0.35%, distributing. Screens the S&P 1500 for companies with 25 or more consecutive years of dividend growth. Sector mix tilts to industrials, consumer staples, healthcare. Lower beta than the market, defensive in drawdowns. Quarterly distributions.

TER 0.15%, USD-denominated, accumulating. Top weights Eli Lilly (~11%), UnitedHealth (~8%), Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Merck, Pfizer, Thermo Fisher, Abbott. Pure US exposure for investors who want concentrated healthcare without the European and Japanese names included in XDWH.

TER 0.25%. Developed-market healthcare names including Eli Lilly, UnitedHealth, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Roche, Novartis, Merck. Sector trades near 20-year valuation lows relative to the S&P 500. Defensive cash flows, GLP-1 and AI-discovery tailwinds, demographic support. Adds non-US names (Roche, Novartis, AstraZeneca) that pure-US IHCU excludes.

TER 0.15%. Concentrated US energy exposure: ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, EOG Resources, Schlumberger. More exposed to US shale and integrated majors than the diversified global WNRG. Better choice if the specific thesis is US energy independence rather than global oil majors.

AUM $8bn+, the deepest and most liquid US defence ETF. Top holdings Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, GE Aerospace. US-listed only, not held in UK tax wrappers. Subject to US political risk around budget negotiations and continuing resolutions.

Equal-weighted across primes and suppliers, so less dominated by the mega-caps than ITA. Different return profile, picks up more mid-cap defence beta. US-listed only.

TER 0.55%, UCITS-eligible. Global defence exposure including both US primes and European names. Available on Hargreaves Lansdown and Saxo. A global alternative for those who do not want to keep the defence theme Europe-pure.

Targets the NATO member rearmament theme specifically, including both US primes and European defence companies. Smaller AUM than ITA. US-listed only.

BlackRock-managed, tracking the STOXX Europe Targeted Defence Index. STOXX is an independent index provider owned by Deutsche Börse, so the methodology is not designed by the ETF issuer. Concentrated in primes: BAE Systems, Rheinmetall, Safran, Thales, Leonardo. Smaller AUM than WDEF but growing fast. ESG-screened via UN Global Compact.

Largest AUM in the European defence space. Top weights Rheinmetall, BAE Systems, Leonardo, Hensoldt, Renk. More mid-cap exposure than DFEU, which has driven stronger returns through the rearmament cycle. EUR-denominated share class for euro-natural investors.

GBP-denominated share class of WDEF. Same underlying portfolio. Use when held in a sterling-base account to avoid the small FX conversion cost on every transaction.

TER 0.07%, distributing. Top weights AstraZeneca, Shell, HSBC, Unilever, BP, GSK, Diageo. Despite the UK listing, roughly 75% of FTSE 100 earnings come from overseas. This is closer to a global value play than a UK economic exposure.

TER 0.40%, distributing. UK mid-caps including 3i Group, Pershing Square Holdings, Coca-Cola HBC, Investec, Bellway, Marks & Spencer. Closer proxy to the UK domestic economy than the FTSE 100. Trades approximately 30% below long-term average P/E, providing genuine asymmetry on UK economic recovery.

TER 0.07%. Short-duration UK government debt, average maturity under 3 years. Lower duration risk than longer-dated gilts. Useful as cash-plus exposure with modest yield pickup, lower rate sensitivity.

TER 0.07%. Full-curve UK gilt exposure, average duration around 10 years. More rate-sensitive than IGLS but provides genuine convex upside if BoE has to cut aggressively in a recession scenario.

TER 0.10%. UK inflation-linked gilts paying RPI plus a real yield. The 10-year linker is currently offering 1.65% real, the highest entry yield in 16 years. Hedges sticky inflation in a way that conventional gilts and cash do not. One of the more asymmetric trades in UK fixed income today.

TER 0.59%, USD underlying with GBP-traded LSE line. Distributing share class for income-focused holders. Tracks MSCI Japan, large and mid-cap names. Useful as the intraday proxy for monitoring entry triggers on the unit trust version.

TER 0.15%, dramatically cheaper than IJPN. IMI version includes small-caps. Accumulating share class avoids dividend admin in tax wrappers. P/E ~15x versus S&P at ~25x. The default Japan vehicle if the unit trust is not accessible on your platform.

TER ~0.20%. Removes yen volatility from Japanese equity exposure. Pairs differently with unhedged Japan: if you want yen recovery optionality as part of the trade, stay unhedged in IJPA. Use HMJP only for the portion of the sleeve you want FX-neutralised.

BlackRock's GBP-hedged Japan ETF. Similar mandate to HMJP. Choice between IDJP and HMJP usually comes down to platform availability and trading costs rather than meaningful structural differences.

Unit trust (OEIC) rather than ETF, ISIN GB00BN08ZG51. Tracks FTSE Japan. Class S is the cheapest retail share class. Single NAV per day, no bid-ask spread, no intraday trading. Morningstar Gold rated. GBP unhedged, so retains yen recovery optionality.

TER 0.59%. High-yield names across Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea. Concentrated in Australian miners, banks, REITs. Less Korean tech exposure than broad Asia trackers. Higher yield but capital growth historically limited.

TER 0.74%, USD-traded. Top weights Tencent, Alibaba, Meituan, JD.com, BYD, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China. Captures both Hong Kong-listed and A-share names. Trades at a meaningful discount to global peers but carries policy risk.

TER 0.65%. Indian large and mid-cap exposure including HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel. India has compounded 12-15% in USD over the past decade. Trades at a premium to broader EM but supported by demographic and reform tailwinds.

TER 0.85%, synthetic swap replication due to local market access constraints. Vietnam is classified as frontier rather than emerging by MSCI, so it does not appear in broad EM indices. Higher growth potential but lower liquidity and higher tracking error.

TER 0.74%. Top weights Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi National Bank. Oil-linked but with significant reform optionality through Vision 2030, sovereign wealth deployment, and the Public Investment Fund's domestic capital allocation. Saudi riyal pegged to USD removes FX risk.

US-listed only, not UCITS-accessible. Top weights Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emaar Properties. Sector mix approximately 37% financials and 23% real estate. AED pegged to USD removes currency risk. A meaningful beneficiary of regional capital flight.

TER 0.12%, the joint-cheapest physical gold ETC in the UCITS market. London-vaulted, fully allocated bars, GBP-traded LSE line. The institutional standard for physical gold exposure in UK accounts.

TER 0.20%. London-vaulted physical silver. Higher volatility than gold given the industrial component (solar, electronics, EVs). The gold-silver ratio at extreme historical levels often signals silver outperformance in commodity bull cycles.

TER 0.49%, GBP-traded. Tracks the Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex 4W Total Return: fully collateralised swap, 4-week forward roll reduces negative carry. Direct beneficiary of electrification, grid investment, and AI data-centre power demand.

TER 0.49%. Pure copper exposure via futures rather than equities. Removes the equity beta and operational leverage of miners, captures the metal itself. A cleaner expression of the structural copper-deficit thesis for investors who do not want single-stock concentration risk.

Equity exposure to global copper miners including Freeport-McMoRan, Southern Copper, Antofagasta. Provides operational leverage to copper prices: a 20% move in copper can translate to 50%+ in mining equities, in both directions. Higher volatility than the metal itself.

BlackRock's copper miners equivalent to Global X's 4COP. Similar mandate, similar holdings, marginal differences in index methodology. Choice usually comes down to platform availability and TER.

TER 0.55%. Top weights Cameco, Kazatomprom, Constellation Energy, BHP, Public Service Enterprise Group. AI data-centre power demand, a structural supply deficit, and government policy reversals on nuclear (UK, France, Sweden, Japan restarts) provide multi-year tailwinds. Volatile but the structural setup is genuinely asymmetric.

TER 0.30%, synthetic swap replication. Tracks the Bloomberg Commodity 3 Month Forward Index, a 24-commodity basket with 30% energy weight. The forward-curve methodology reduces negative roll yield versus front-month alternatives. Best broad commodity beta in the UCITS universe, though the heavy energy weighting is a structural drag if oil weakens.

TER 0.07%. US Treasury intermediate exposure, USD-denominated, unhedged. Diversifies sovereign credit risk away from UK gilts (different fiscal driver, different central bank). Adds USD exposure to a sterling portfolio, which may or may not be desired.

TER 0.10%. Same underlying as IBTM with a GBP-hedged share class. Removes FX from the rates trade, leaving a pure US duration position. The right vehicle if the thesis is US rates rather than USD strength.

Closed-end fund listed on LSE, USD-denominated. Senior secured loans to commercial-stage biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Steady income (typically 7-9% yields), low correlation to equity markets, defensive cash flows. The kind of niche credit product accessible only through closed-end vehicles in the UK retail wrapper universe.

AUM £16bn+, TER 0.36%, FTSE 100 constituent. Top holdings include SpaceX (~19-21%), NVIDIA, Amazon, MercadoLibre, plus private positions in Anthropic (~2.6%), ByteDance, Stripe, Databricks. Cap on private investments currently 30%, with a proposal to raise it at the July AGM. Recently flipped from discount to a small premium to NAV.

Baillie Gifford sister trust to SMT, smaller-cap growth focus with SpaceX as the top holding. Higher beta than SMT, more concentrated. A different exposure profile despite the shared manager.

US-focused mandate with significant SpaceX exposure alongside US public mega-caps. Less diversified than SMT geographically but a cleaner US growth tilt. The same Baillie Gifford valuation methodology applies to private holdings.

Baillie Gifford pure-private equity trust. SpaceX is the second-largest holding. Limited secondary-market liquidity due to the closed-end structure and smaller AUM. Higher tracking error to public markets, longer time horizon required.

Active Asia ex-Japan exposure via closed-end fund. Trades at a discount or premium to NAV, providing closed-end optionality. Higher fees than passive Asia trackers, but active stock selection can add or subtract value materially.