List of 10 Top Equity ETFs of 2025

What are Equity ETFs?

Equity ETFs are investment products that track a basket of stocks in a single industry or sector. They trade on the stock market like any other company stock and can be bought and sold continuously at market price. The holdings of the ETF are transparent due to its index-mirroring nature.

Equity ETFs can be used to gain exposure to a specific sector or industry, such as technology or healthcare, or to a specific region, such as emerging markets or Europe. They can also be used to gain exposure to a specific investment style, such as value or growth investing.

By combining the diversification benefits of mutual funds with the ease of stock trading, ETFs can provide investors with a simple way to access the world’s financial markets.

Types of ETFs

ETFs are usually categorized by the types of investments held within the ETF:

Active vs. Index ETFs

Index ETFs seek to replicate the performance of an underlying index, like the S&P 500.

Active ETFs seek to outperform a specific index — or achieve a specific outcome such as maximizing income — by underweighting or overweighting certain securities relative to an index weighting. 

Both active and index ETFs are professionally managed, but active ETFs typically require more monitoring and trading by the managers, which can result in higher fees.

Stock ETFs

Stock ETFs, also known as equity ETFs, invest in a basket of individual stocks. These baskets of stocks can invest in companies belonging to the same sector such as technology and telecommunications, clean energy, and consumer goods. There are stock ETFs that also invest in international stocks, including regional, country-specific, and sector-focused ETFs.

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Bond ETFs

Bond ETFs, also known as fixed-income ETFs, can provide investors access to thousands of bonds in a single trade. These ETFs are also traded on the exchange which provides greater liquidity, and transparency in pricing and execution. Bond ETFs are also sub-categorized which include U.S. federal and municipal bonds or international government debt, as well as specific sectors such as investment grade and high-yield corporate bonds, mortgages, and emerging market debt.

Commodity ETFs

Commodity ETFs seek to track the price of physical assets such as gold, oil, and wheat. Commodity prices also tend to rise with inflation. For these reasons, investors often use exposure to commodities as a way to help diversify their portfolios and to align with their views on inflation and the economic outlook

International ETFs

International ETFs provide investors with exposure to stocks and bonds from different countries. Investing in international stocks and bonds can help investors reduce risk and potentially expose them to growth opportunities not available in U.S.-only portfolios.

Sector ETFs

Sector ETFs offer investors exposure to a basket of companies in specific industries such as technology, energy, or healthcare. 

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How to Invest in ETFs?

There are a variety of ways to invest in exchange-traded funds. But the decision eventually falls onto the individual trader’s preference:

Identify/Define your Objective

Whether the goal is maximizing growth, generating income, managing risk, or other objectives. Recognize it and then stick with it.

Research your ETFs

These investment goals can include pursuing sustainable investing and maximizing growth, generating income, managing risk, and parking short-term cash.

Further, Evaluate the selected ETFs

Dig deeper and evaluate more about each ETF and its key metrics, including performance, risk, cost, and core holdings.

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Finally, Invest

ETFs can be easily traded on the exchange. They are widely available commission-free on most online brokerage accounts and through financial advisors.

Here is a list of Best Equity ETFs for 2025:

Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK)

ARKK is an actively managed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that seeks long-term growth of capital by investing under normal circumstances primarily (at least 65% of its assets) in domestic and foreign equity securities of companies that are relevant to the Fund’s investment theme of disruptive innovation.

Companies within ARKK include those that rely on or benefit from the development of new products or services, technological improvements, and advancements in scientific research relating to the areas of:

• DNA Technologies and the “Genomic Revolution”
• Automation, Robotics, and Energy Storage
• Artificial Intelligence and the “Next Generation Internet”
• Fintech Innovation

ARKK has a net asset value of $ 8.005 billion. This fund was created in October 2014 and has an expense ratio of 0.75 %.

The top 10 holdings of this ETF include:

List of Equity ETFs 2025

1. Ark Innovation ETF
2. Vanguard Growth ETF
3. Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF
4. Schwab International Dividend Equity ETF
5. Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF
6. Dimensional US Small Cap ETF
7. Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small Cap ETF VSS
8. iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF
9. Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF
10. Schwab US Broad Market ETF

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG)

This ETF seeks to track the performance of the CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index which measures the investment return of large-capitalization growth stocks. The fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the index, a broadly diversified index predominantly made up of growth stocks of large U.S. companies. The advisor attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index.

This fund was created in January 2004 and has an expense ratio of 0.04 %.

The top 10 holdings of this ETF include:

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Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF (DFAC)

Dimensional is a leading global investment firm that has been translating academic research into practical investment solutions since 1981. Guided by a strong belief in markets, Dimensional offers strategies that focus on the drivers of expected returns. The firm applies a dynamic implementation process that integrates advanced research, methodical portfolio design, and careful execution, while balancing risks, costs, and other tradeoffs that may impact performance.

The investment objective of DFAC is to achieve long-term capital appreciation while considering the federal income tax implications of investment decisions.

• Higher Expected Returns: DFAC offers broadly diversified, total market exposure and aims to add value with an integrated emphasis on securities with higher expected returns.
• Flexible Implementation: A daily flexible process allows us to maintain a consistent emphasis on higher expected returns securities through time.
• Competitively Priced: DFAC is priced within the lowest quartile of Morningstar category peers.

DFAC has a net asset value of $ 20.9 billion. This fund was created in October 2007 and has an expense ratio of 0.17 %.

The top 10 holdings of the ETF include:

Schwab International Dividend Equity ETF (SCHY)

The fund’s goal is to track as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index composed of high dividend-yielding stocks issued by companies outside the United States.

Key characteristics of this ETF are:

• A straightforward, low-cost fund offering potential tax efficiency
• The Fund can serve as part of the core or complement a diversified portfolio
• Tracks an index focused on the quality and sustainability of dividends by screening non-U.S. companies based on four dividend quality attributes
• Invests in non-U.S. high dividend yielding stocks with a record of paying dividends for at least 10 consecutive years, financial strength, and screened for lower volatility

SCHY has a net asset value of $ 746 million. This fund was created in April 2021 and has an expense ratio of 0.14 %.

The top 10 holdings of the ETF include:

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Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) 

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF seeks to track the investment performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, an unmanaged benchmark representing the broad, investment-grade U.S. bond market. The fund invests in taxable investment-grade corporate, U.S. Treasury, mortgage-backed, and asset-backed securities with short, intermediate, and long maturities in excess of one year, resulting in a portfolio of intermediate duration. The fund’s passive investment style uses a sampling technique to closely match key benchmark characteristics: duration, cash flow, quality, and callability. Optimized sampling is designed to avoid the expense and impracticality of fully replicating the index.

The fund’s investment objective is to seek to track the performance of a broad, market-weighted bond index. The fund generally:

• Provides broad exposure to the taxable investment-grade U.S. dollar-denominated bond market, excluding inflation-protected and tax-exempt bonds.
• Offers relatively high potential for investment income; share value tends to rise and fall modestly.
• May be more appropriate for medium- or long-term goals where you’re looking for a reliable income stream.
• Is appropriate for diversifying the risks of stocks in a portfolio.

BND has a net asset value of $ 297.2 billion. This fund was created in April 2007 and has an expense ratio of 0.03 %.

Dimensional US Small Cap ETF (DFAS)

The investment objective of this ETF is to achieve long-term capital appreciation while minimizing federal income taxes on returns.

• Consistent, Value-Added Exposure: DFAS uses reliable information in prices to target higher expected return securities within small-cap stocks and is implemented with a daily flexible process to maintain consistent exposure through time.
• Flexible Implementation – A daily flexible process allows us to maintain a consistent emphasis on higher expected returns securities through time.
• Competitively Priced – DFAS is priced within the lowest quartile of Morningstar category peers. 

DFAS has a net asset value of $ 5.7 billion. This fund was created in December 1998 and has an expense ratio of 0.26 %.

The top 10 holdings of the ETF include:

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Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small Cap ETF VSS

Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF seeks to track the investment performance of the FTSE Global Small Cap ex-US Index, which includes approximately 3,300 stocks of companies located in more than 46 countries, including both developed and emerging markets. The fund invests in a broadly diversified sampling of stocks in the index that approximates the index’s key risk factors and characteristics. The experience and stability of Vanguard’s Equity Index Group have permitted continuous refinement of techniques for reducing tracking errors. The group uses proprietary software to implement trading decisions that accommodate cash flow and maintain close correlation with the index’s key characteristics. Vanguard’s refined indexing process, combined with low management fees and efficient trading, has provided tight tracking, net of expenses.

Key Characteristics of the fund are:

• Attempts to track the performance of the FTSE Global Small Cap ex-US Index.
• Provides a convenient way to get broad exposure across developed and emerging non-U.S. small-cap equity markets around the world.
• Passively managed, using index sampling.

VSS has a net asset value of $ 10.7 billion. This fund was created in April 2009 and has an expense ratio of 0.07 %.

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF (IXUS)

The iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of large–, mid-, and small-capitalization non-U.S. equities.

The fund offers:

• Exposure to a broad range of international developed and emerging market companies
• Low-cost, comprehensive access to non-U.S. stocks
• Use at the core of your portfolio to diversify internationally and seek long-term growth

IXUS has a net asset value of $ 31.1 billion. This fund was created in October 2012 and has an expense ratio of 0.07 %.

The top 10 holdings of the ETF include:

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Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF (DFAI)

The investment objective of this fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

• Higher Expected Returns: DFAI offers broadly diversified, total market exposure and aims to add value with an integrated emphasis on securities with higher expected returns.
• Flexible Implementation: A daily flexible process allows us to maintain a consistent emphasis on higher expected returns securities through time.
• Competitively Priced: DFAI is priced within the lowest quartile of the Morningstar category 
• peers.

IXUS has a net asset value of $ 4.1 billion. This fund was created in November 2020 and has an expense ratio of 0.18 %.

The top 10 holdings of the ETF include:

Schwab US Broad Market ETF (SCHB)

The fund’s goal is to track as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Broad Stock Market Index.

Key characteristics of the fund:

• A straightforward, low-cost fund offering potential tax efficiency 
• The Fund can serve as part of the core of a diversified portfolio 
• Simple access to the 2,500 largest publicly traded U.S. companies 
• The index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap U.S. equity securities

SCHB has a net asset value of $ 22.4 billion. This fund was created in November 2009 and has an expense ratio of 0.03 %.

The top 10 holdings of the ETF include: