With this post, I would like to provide a brief overview of popular Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) providers and some of their most well-known ETFs, grouped by various criteria. The universe of available funds is overwhelmingly large for the beginner investor, which can cause a lot of confusion as to where to start and what to look at. Hopefully, this post can provide a starting reference point to learn about the most popular ETFs (available as of the start of 2024).

The content of this post does not constitute financial advice. It is intended for educational purposes only. The author does not use this post to give an investment recommendation and is not affiliated with or sponsored in any way by the companies and providers covered here.

ETF providers

Certain names are immediately recognizable – and for those dealing with investments, these companies are some of the largest ETF providers and the most well-known brands in the space. That does not necessarily mean that their investment products are inherently superior or better, and this is not a recommendation for using them – just an overview. Remember, the choice of an ETF (and hence, ETF provider) should be made based on personal financial goals, circumstances, needs, and constraints, by looking at some important features and the structure of those ETFs. If you would like to know more about that, you can refer to this post.

No.	ETF Provider	Number of Funds	Total Assets
1	BlackRock	426	$2.6T
2	Vanguard	84	$2.3T
3	State Street	138	$1.2T
4	Invesco	222	$0.5T
5	Charles Schwab	30	$0.3T
6	First Trust	228	$0.2T
7	JPMorgan Chase	61	$0.1T
8	Dimensional	38	$0.1T
9	WisdomTree	76	$72B
10	VanEck	68	$68B
11	ProShares	142	$68B
12	Fidelity	64	$52B
13	Global X	109	$43B
14	Direxion	78	$37B
15	American Century Investments	45	$36B
16	Pacer	47	$35B
17	Goldman Sachs	40	$32B
18	PIMCO	22	$24B
19	FlexShares	30	$21B
20	XTrackers	45	$20B
21	Capital Group	14	$18B
22	Innovator	108	$17B
23	ARK	13	$16B
24	Franklin Templeton	59	$15B

You can use each provider’s web page to screen the available ETFs and filter them by asset class, expense ratios, past returns and volatility, theme or style, and other features. This way, you can make sure you are choosing a suitable ETF that matches your investment strategy and goals. Providers usually also make available prospectuses (e.g., in PDF format), where you can find a lot more details and read about some important characteristics and methodological aspects that can impact the tracking error, returns and payouts, taxation of income, and changes in the structure, for example. I would also recommend using an ETF screener – many such screeners are available for free or in paid versions online. A simple and easy-to-understand screener I would suggest to beginner individual investors can be found here: www.stockanalysis.com. Another one that I like to use is at www.justetf.com.

TOP TEN ETF list by assets

The table below provides a ranking of ETFs by the value of their Assets Under Management (AUM).

No.	ETF Symbol	ETF Name	Asset Class	Assets	Holdings	Expense Ratio	Index	Exchange
1	SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	Equity	$490B	503	0.09%	S&P 500	NYSEARCA
2	IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	Equity	$397B	502	0.03%	S&P 500	NYSEARCA
3	VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	Equity	$370B	501	0.03%	S&P 500	NYSEARCA
4	VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	Equity	$346B	3,749	0.03%	CRSP US Total Market	NYSEARCA
5	QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust Series I	Equity	$228B	102	0.20%	NASDAQ 100	NASDAQ
6	VEA	Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF	Equity	$121B	4,014	0.05%	FTSE Developed ex US All Cap Net Tax	NYSEARCA
7	IEFA	iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF	Equity	$106B	2,195	0.07%	MSCI EAFE IMI	BATS
8	VTV	Vanguard Value ETF	Equity	$105B	344	0.04%	CRSP US Large Value	NYSEARCA
9	VUG	Vanguard Growth ETF	Equity	$104B	222	0.04%	CRSP US Large Growth	NYSEARCA
10	BND	Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF	Fixed Income	$104B	10,201	0.03%	Bloomberg US Aggregate – Float Adjusted	NASDAQ

TOP ETF list FOCUSED ON EUROPE

The table below provides a ranking of ETFs by the value of their Assets Under Management (AUM) with constituents from Europe. You will notice that, due to the relatively smaller size and less depth of the European financial markets, the AUM values are much lower compared to the US counterparts, while the expense ratios are generally much higher.

No.	ETF Symbol	ETF Name	Asset Class	Assets	Holdings	Expense Ratio	Index	Exchange
1	VGK	Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF	Equity	$19B	1,317	0.11%	FTSE Developed Europe All Cap	NYSEARCA
2	EZU	iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF	Equity	$7B	234	0.52%	MSCI EMU	BATS
3	IEUR	iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF	Equity	$4B	1,031	0.11%	MSCI Europe IMI	NYSEARCA
4	EWU	iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF	Equity	$3B	92	0.50%	MSCI United Kingdom	NYSEARCA
5	IEV	iShares Europe ETF	Equity	$2B	374	0.67%	S&P Europe 350	NYSEARCA
6	HEDJ	WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund	Equity	$1B	148	0.58%	WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Index	NYSEARCA
7	EUFN	iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF	Equity	$1B	94	0.51%	MSCI Europe / Financials	NASDAQ
8	EWL	iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF	Equity	$1B	52	0.50%	MSCI Switzerland 25-50	NYSEARCA
9	EWG	iShares MSCI Germany ETF	Equity	$1B	63	0.50%	MSCI Germany	NYSEARCA
10	EWP	iShares MSCI Spain ETF	Equity	$1B	28	0.50%	MSCI Spain 25-50	NYSEARCA

The table below provides a list of funds by their size but domiciled in Europe, and hence their prices are mostly quoted in European currencies, with a few exceptions. The costs of the ETFs listed here are generally lower. The indication “Acc” or “Dist” in brackets shows whether the respective ETF is an accumulating one (i.e., underlying dividend payouts from the holdings in the ETF are reinvested into the fund by the fund manager at no additional expense), or a distributing one (i.e., the dividend payouts are paid to the investors in cash form without being reinvested).

No.	ETF Symbol	ETF Name	Asset Class	Assets	Holdings	Expense Ratio	Index	Domicile	Currency
1	IQQY	iShares Core MSCI Europe UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€7B	429	0.12%	MSCI Europe	Ireland	EUR
2	MEUD	Lyxor Core STOXX Europe 600 (DR) UCITS ETF (Acc)	Equity	€7B	604	0.07%	STOXX® Europe 600	Luxembourg	EUR
3	EUNK	iShares Core MSCI Europe UCITS ETF EUR (Acc)	Equity	€6B	430	0.12%	MSCI Europe	Ireland	EUR
4	EXSA	iShares STOXX Europe 600 UCITS ETF(DE) (Dist)	Equity	€6B	600	0.20%	STOXX® Europe 600	Germany	EUR
5	DBX1ME	Xtrackers MSCI Europe UCITS ETF 1C (Acc)	Equity	€4B	426	0.12%	MSCI Europe	Luxembourg	USD
6	VGEU	Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€3B	550	0.10%	FTSE Developed Europe	Ireland	EUR
7	DBX1A7	Xtrackers STOXX Europe 600 UCITS ETF 1C (Acc)	Equity	€2B	602	0.20%	STOXX® Europe 600	Luxembourg	EUR
8	CEU2	Amundi Index ETF MSCI Europe UCITS ETF DR(C) (Acc)	Equity	€2B	434	0.15%	MSCI Europe	Luxembourg	EUR
9	EL42	Deka MSCI Europe UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€1B	428	0.30%	MSCI Europe	Germany	EUR
10	MEU	Amundi MSCI Europe II UCITS ETF (Acc)	Equity	€1B	432	0.25%	MSCI Europe	France	EUR

I have included one more overview of ETFs tracking equities traded on the German stock market specifically. Overall, as of the end of 2023, there were several large-cap indices, of which the DAX is the biggest, encompasses the 40 biggest and most traded stocks listed on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and is tracked by 10 ETFs. Other indices include the F.A.Z. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) Index capturing the 100 largest German stock corporations in terms of market cap traded on the Deutsche Börse (tracked by 1 ETF as of the time of writing), FTSE Germany All Cap index – a market-capitalization weighted index representing large, mid-sized and small German stocks (tracked by 1 ETF), and the Solactive Germany 30 index, which tracks the 30 largest companies in Germany based on free float with weight restrictions of 10% per security (tracked by 1 ETF). In addition to these, there are indices tracking German companies that fit specific size criteria (e.g., MDAX, SDAX), sectors (e.g., TecDAX, DAX ex Financials 30), investing themes (e.g., MSCI Germany Climate Change ESG Select, DAX 50 ESG) or dividend strategies (e.g., DAXplus Maximum Dividend, DivDAX). The table below provides a summary of some of the most well-known ETFs on the most popular of those indices.

Index	ETF Symbol	ETF Name	Asset Class	Assets	Holdings	Expense Ratio
DAX	LYXDAX	Amundi DAX III UCITS ETF (Acc)	Equity	€604M	40	0.15%
DAX	C001	Amundi DAX UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€1B	40	0.08%
DAX	CG1	Amundi ETF DAX UCITS ETF DR (Acc)	Equity	€594M	40	0.10%
DAX	EL4F	Deka DAX UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€778M	40	0.15%
DAX	EL4A	Deka DAX UCITS ETF (Acc)	Equity	€1B	40	0.15%
DAX	DAXEX	iShares Core DAX® UCITS ETF (DE) (Acc)	Equity	€6B	40	0.16%
DAX	EXIC	iShares Core DAX® UCITS ETF (DE) (Dist)	Equity	€19M	40	0.16%
F.A.Z.	C006	Amundi F.A.Z. 100 UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€85M	98	0.15%
FTSE Germany All Cap	VGER	Vanguard Germany All Cap UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€157M	158	0.10%
Solactive Germany 30	ELFG	Deka Germany 30 UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€5M	30	0.09%
TecDAX	E908	Amundi TecDAX UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€90M	30	0.40%
TecDAX	EXS2	iShares TecDAX UCITS ETF (DE) (Acc)	Equity	€762M	30	0.51%
TecDAX	EXIB	iShares TecDAX® UCITS ETF (DE) EUR (Dist)	Equity	€7M	30	0.51%
MDAX	EXS3	iShares MDAX® UCITS ETF (DE) (Acc)	Equity	€1B	50	0.51%
MDAX	ELF1	Deka MDAX UCITS ETF (Acc)	Equity	€395M	50	0.30%
MDAX	DEAM	Invesco MDAX UCITS ETF (Acc)	Equity	€212M	50	0.19%
SDAX	C005	Amundi SDAX UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€132M	70	0.70%
DAXplus MDI	EL4X	Deka DAXplus Maximum Dividend UCITS ETF (Dist)	Equity	€280M	25	0.30%
DivDAX	EXSB	iShares DivDAX UCITS ETF (DE) (Dist)	Equity	€536M	15	0.31%

OVERVIEW OF BOND ETFs

The previous sections focused very heavily on equity ETFs, but there are also fixed-income funds that can be suitable for many types of individual investors and can be useful for proper diversification and for a number of investment strategies. It is important to understand that Fixed-Income ETFs are particularly exposed to interest rate risks, as fluctuations in rates are inversely related to changes in bond values. Another important difference with equity ETFs is that bond ETFs can cover sovereign securities (e.g., government treasury bonds) and/or corporate bonds, as well as bonds of different durations, which is a key factor in determining the sensitivity to rate volatility. A single ETF can hold bonds with different remaining maturities at a given time, so any of them could potentially be due for a coupon payment at various times. This means Bond ETFs can generate cash flows for you more regularly, e.g. each month, but with different amounts. Bonds are bought and sold out of the fund as they expire or exit the target age range of the fund.

Region	ETF Symbol	ETF Name	Assets	Expense Ratio	Description (and Index Tracked)
US	BND	Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF	$104B	0.03%	BND tracks a broad, market-value-weighted index of USD-denominated, investment-grade, taxable, fixed-income securities with maturities of at least one year (Bloomberg US Aggregate – Float Adjusted).
US	AGG	iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF	$99B	0.03%	AGG tracks a market-weighted index of US investment-grade bonds, including Treasuries, agencies, CMBS, ABS, and investment-grade corporates (Bloomberg US Aggregate).
US	TLT	iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF	$51B	0.15%	TLT tracks a market-weighted index of debt issued by the US Treasury with remaining maturities of 20 years or more, effectively capturing the long end of the yield curve (U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Index).
US	VCIT	Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF	$44B	0.04%	VCIT tracks a market value-weighted index of US investment-grade corporate bonds with maturities of 5-10 years (Bloomberg US Aggregate Credit – Corporate 5-10Y).
US	MUB	iShares National Muni Bond ETF	$38B	0.07%	MUB tracks a market-weighted index of investment-grade debt issued by state and local governments and agencies, with interest exempt from US income tax and AMT (Alternative minimum tax). Tracking ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index.
US	VCSH	Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF	$35B	0.04%	VCSH tracks a market-weighted index of investment-grade, fixed-rate corporate bonds with maturities of 1-5 years (Bloomberg US Corporate 1-5Y).
US	BIL	SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF	$34B	0.14%	BIL tracks a market-weighted index of all publicly issued zero-coupon US Treasury bills with a maturity of at least 1 month, but less than 3 months (most short-term Treasurys), thereby focusing on the short end of the yield curve (Bloomberg US Treasury – Bills 1-3M).
US	LQD	iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	$31B	0.14%	LQD tracks a market-weighted index of US corporate investment-grade bonds across the maturity spectrum. It covers a broad portfolio of bonds from the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index, whose underlying liquidity may contribute to tight tracking and subdued premiums/discounts (iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index).
US	HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	$19B	0.49%	HYG tracks a market-weighted index of the most liquid segment of US high-yield corporate debt. It replicates the junk market with usually shorter maturity, less interest rate sensitivity, and lower yield (iBoxx USD Liquid High Yield Index).
US	TIP	iShares TIPS Bond ETF	$19B	0.19%	TIP tracks a market-value-weighted index of US Treasury inflation-protected securities with at least 1 year remaining in maturity (ICE US Treasury Inflation Linked Bond Index – Benchmark TR Gross).
Europe	DBX0PP	Xtrackers iBoxx EUR High Yield Bond 1-3 Swap UCITS ETF 1D	€87M	0.25%	Tracks a portfolio of EUR-denominated sub-investment-grade corporate bonds, with a rating of minimum CCC, and remaining time to maturity of 1-3 years, or minimum 2 years for new issues, and maximum maturity at issuance of 10.5 years (Markit iBoxx EUR Liquid High Yield 1-3 Index).
Europe	EUNH	iShares Core EUR Govt Bond UCITS ETF	€4B	0.07%	EUNH tracks the performance of cap-weighted EUR-denominated investment-grade bonds issued or guaranteed by member states of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU), paying a fixed rate of interest, having at least 1 year left to maturity, and a minimum amount outstanding of €300 million or more (Bloomberg Euro Treasury Bond Index).
Europe	IEAC	iShares Core EUR Corporate Bond UCITS ETF	€14B	0.20%	IEAC tracks the Bloomberg Euro Corporate Bond index, which covers EUR-denominated corporate bonds from industrial, utility, and financial issuers, publicly issued in the Eurobond and eurozone domestic markets, with investment-grade rating
Europe	VETA	EUR Eurozone Government Bond UCITS ETF	€3B	0.07%	VETA invests in a broad portfolio of EUR-denominated bonds paying a fixed rate of interest and issued or guaranteed by governments of Eurozone member countries, with remaining maturity of more than 1 year and generally investment-grade rating (Bloomberg Euro-Aggregate: Treasury Index).
Europe	DBX0EY	Xtrackers II EUR Corporate Bond UCITS ETF 1C	€4B	0.12%	This fund tracks the Bloomberg Euro Corporate Bond Index, covering EUR-denominated corporate bonds from industrial, utility, and financial issuers, publicly issued in the Eurobond and eurozone domestic markets, with investment-grade rating and remaining maturity of at least 1 year , and a minimum amount outstanding of at least €300 million
Germany	IDEU	iShares Germany Government Bond UCITS ETF	€190M	0.20%	IDEU seeks to track the Bloomberg Germany Treasury Bond Index, which covers EUR-denominated German government bonds, paying a fixed interest rate and having at least 1 year remaining to maturity, and a minimum amount outstanding of at least €300 million. This fund is an accumulating one
Germany	SDEU	iShares Germany Govt Bond UCITS ETF	€1B	0.50%	SDEU tracks the same index as IDEU, but it is a distributing fund

Strategy-oriented ETFs

Depending on your investment strategy, you might want to get some more specific, targeted exposure. In the previous sections, this was already apparent when looking at different regions (US. vs. Overall Europe or Eurozone vs. Germany specifically; in the same way, there are ETFs focused on the Asia-Pacific region or other markets, for instance Emerging economies). But this exposure could be further refined – i.e., in terms of asset classes other than stocks and bonds (e.g., commodities ETFs), or in terms of investment styles (e.g., small cap value, large cap value, mid-cap growth) or factor exposures (e.g., low volatility, momentum, high quality, etc.), or sectors (e.g., financials, tech companies, utilities, energy companies, etc.). There are also active ETFs (which, as the name suggests are actively managed by a portfolio manager who selects and trades securities to achieve certain investment objectives, for instance, to outperform a benchmark, at higher fees) and smart-beta ETFs (which are designed to combine both active and passive investing elements using certain rules for asset selection and weight tilts). Finally, some ETFs do focus on particular themes or popular trends that are in demand (e.g., ESG-focused funds), while others focus on income generation strategies (e.g., high dividend or dividend growth ETFs).

Some of these funds will be associated with too much risk for an individual investor’s risk tolerance, therefore it is key to assess their suitability by carefully examining their characteristics, structure, methodology, and risk factors. Think about how those align with your time horizon, capacity and willingness to take risks, your desired allocation mix and financial goals, as well as your understanding of the portfolio in which you are considering investing. In the below table, I aim to provide a brief overview of some of the most well-known ETFs that can provide a more targeted exposure along with some of the aspects I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is by no means exhaustive but will give you some idea of the universe of these more specific exchange-traded funds.

Exposure Purpose	ETF Symbol	ETF Name	Asset Class	Assets	Expense Ratio	Short Description
Commodity exposure	PDBC	Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF	Commodity	$5B	0.59%	Tracks a broad commodity basket that includes gasoline, Brent crude, WTI crude oil, gold, wheat, corn, silver, etc.
Real Estate Exposure	VNQ	Vanguard Real Estate ETF	Equity	$34B	0.12%	Seeks to track the return of the MSCI US Investable Market Real Estate 25/50 Index, by investing in stocks issued by real estate investment trusts (REITs) that purchase office buildings, hotels, and other real property.
Real Estate Exposure	SCHH	Schwab U.S. REIT ETF	Equity	$6B	0.07%	Seeks to track the total return, before fees and expenses, of an index (Dow Jones Equity All REIT Capped Index) composed of U.S. real estate investment trusts classified as equities, in a low-cost tax-efficient manner. Excludes mortgage REITs and hybrid REITs.
Gold Exposure	GLD	SPDR Gold Shares	Commodity	$57B	0.40%	GLD aims to track the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the SPDR Gold Trust’s expenses
Silver Exposure	SLV	iShares Silver Trust	Commodity	$10B	0.50%	SLV tracks the price performance of silver bullion in the market, in a cost-effective manner
Dividend Income	SCHD	Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF	Equity	$52B	0.06%	SCHD seeks to track the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100™ Index, before fees and expenses, which is focused on companies with high-quality sustainable dividends and strong financials
Small-cap US stocks	IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	Equity	$66B	0.19%	Seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of small-capitalization U.S. equities, providing access to the Russell 2000 index
Dividend Growth	DGRO	iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF	Equity	$25B	0.08%	Tracks the performance of an index composed of US equities with a history of consistently growing dividends, diversified across industries
Value Exposure	IVE	iShares S&P 500 Value ETF	Equity	$27B	0.18%	Seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of large-capitalization U.S. equities that are potentially undervalued relative to comparable companies
Minimum Volatility Exposure	USMV	iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF	Equity	$27B	0.15%	Seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. equities that, in the aggregate, have lower volatility characteristics relative to the broader U.S. equity market (reference index: MSCI USA Minimum Volatility (USD) Index)
High-Quality International Exposure	IQLT	iShares MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF	Equity	$7B	0.30%	Seeks to track the investment results of an index that measures the performance of international developed large- and mid-capitalization stocks exhibiting relatively higher quality characteristics as identified through three fundamental variables: return on equity, earnings variability and debt-to-equity.
Health Care Sector Exposure	XLV	Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund	Equity	$37B	0.10%	Tracks a portfolio of companies in the Health Care Select Sector index (i.e., health care stocks from the S&P 500 ubdex, weighted by market cap).
Financial Sector Exposure	XLF	Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund	Equity	$33B	0.10%	The fund is based on the Financial Select Sector index – i.e. it tracks the subset of S&P 500 stocks from the financial sector (financial service firms, insurance, banks, capital markets, consumer finance and thrift companies), weighted by market cap.
Energy Sector Exposure	XLE	Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund	Equity	$37B	0.10%	Tracks the subset of S&P 500 companies from the US energy sector (i.e., producers and developers of crude oil and natural gas mainly, or providers of drilling and energy-related services), weighted by market cap.
International Blend Exposure	DFIC	Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF	Equity	$5B	0.23%	Tracks a portfolio of companies in the Health Care Select Sector index (i.e., healthcare stocks from the S&P 500 index, weighted by market cap).

The universe of exchange-traded funds has grown significantly over the past several decades and one post cannot possibly cover all of them, nor does it need to. This post was intended to provide an introductory overview of what is available out there, and how that variety of ETFs can be utilized by many different types of individual investors to achieve their financial goals through targeted diversified exposures, across asset classes, regions, currencies, and factor exposures. I highly recommend using the screeners in the websites I mentioned earlier to review the available ETFs (or follow the links I provided in the tables above to check out more detailed information from the source).