Investors Chronicle’s Top 50 exchange traded funds (ETFs) list is in its fourth year. Our selection of core portfolio building blocks was launched in 2014, and each year we seek out the best value ETFs on the market to come up with a mix of long-term core buy-and-hold strategies, and more innovative ETFs that we think could generate extra returns for your portfolio.
This year we have made 24 changes to our 2016 selection, taking advantage of cuts to ongoing charges, new launches and changes in size or liquidity, and have created two new categories. We have maintained a focus on areas such as the US, where active managers usually fail to add value, and added a selection of higher-yielding funds for investors seeking income in today’s low-yield market.
To come up with our final list we have weighed up metrics including liquidity, fund size, trading costs, total returns and tracking difference, as well as headline fees. We have also consulted a panel of experts in order to debate the best markets to use ETFs in and the best benchmarks to use in those areas.