Most bought funds: July 2026

This month, Freetrade users have been looking further afield for their fund investments, with emerging markets making a rare appearance. Find out what could have spurred this change, and why the London market is getting little love from Freetrade users.

Just remember that this is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy any of these funds. Instead, it’s simply meant to provide insight into the most popular funds among Freetrade users.

You can learn more about funds by reading Freetrade’s mutual funds explainer.

Top traded funds methodology: The rankings are based on the total executed value of buy orders placed by Freetrade customers from 1 June to 30 June 2026. The figures reflect buy-side activity only and do not account for sales, holding periods, or individual portfolio weightings.

Note: Vanguard’s LifeStrategy funds are combined into one entry. This allows for greater insight into how investors use funds to gain exposure to more nuanced sectors and markets.

Go east

We don’t typically see emerging market funds in the top 10, with global, US, UK, and even European equities generally more prominent.

This month, things are different, though, with the Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Fund sneaking into the top 10. This fund includes double-digit exposure to Taiwan, Korea, China, and India.

So, why are Freetrade users finding it particularly attractive right now?

Digging into the top holdings, we can see this fund is tech-heavy. It has especially large holdings in chip stocks, with TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix looming largest in its portfolio.

Perhaps Freetrade users have been using the fund to gain exposure to Asian semiconductor giants with the broader diversification offered by the fund’s additional exposure to financials, consumer discretionary, and other sectors.

This ‘dip-your-toes-in’ approach is understandable, given recent events. 

Let’s look at South Korea’s Kospi index, where the aforementioned Samsung and SK Hynix carry heavy weight. 

This duo is at the heart of the high-bandwidth memory supply chain, which has seen them lead the Korean market into being one of the year-to-date’s standout performers. But volatility seen over the last month shows the trade-off. 

Heavy reliance on chip stocks means the market can swing sharply when AI sentiment turns.

Of course, there are additional risks associated with investing in emerging markets. They can be rather more volatile than developed economies, and come with greater currency, political, and economic risk.

This all suggests some Freetrade users are willing to take on a little more uncertainty in exchange for diverse long-term tech opportunities.

You can also find out more about how Freetrade users have been investing in the semiconductor boom in this month’s top stocks article.

It’s not coming home

Speaking of geographic diversification, there’s one glaring question.

Where is the UK in all of this? 

Freetrade users have gone as far as to pick Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Fund as one of their most popular funds, deliberately eschewing exposure to the London market. 

One explanation is simple diversification. Some users may already have plenty of UK exposure elsewhere, whether through individual shares, pensions, workplace schemes, or other funds.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Freetrade users are bearish on the UK, but it does suggest seeking exposure to the tech boom and prioritising global diversification are users’ dominant instincts right now.

The London market has plenty of dividend-heavy banks, insurers, miners, and energy giants, but it doesn’t offer the same obvious route into the AI and semiconductor boom that has grabbed investor attention this year.

Pubs and watch parties might be packed with fans backing England’s football team as they (just about) continue to duke it out in North America. For now it doesn’t look like the nation’s stocks are garnering quite the same level of support.