How funds are grouped

How it is done

1. 1

   Inputs: the fund’s asset class, the index it tracks, its name and its legal structure.

2. 2

   Order of rules: leveraged or inverse first, then crypto, commodities, cash-like, bonds (government or corporate), mixed-asset, property, investment trusts, then themes (sustainable, technology, healthcare, dividend income, smaller companies, sectors) and finally the region of the shares.

3. 3

   An "ESG" or "Screened" version of a regional or sector fund stays with that region or sector.

4. 4

   US- and Canada-domiciled funds are marked as not generally available to UK retail investors — they publish no UK/EU key information document — and are left out of category pages.

5. 5

   ISA and SIPP flags come from the kind of product, under HMRC’s rules: a stocks and shares ISA can hold UK and recognised funds, investment trusts, and shares and exchange-traded products (ETFs, ETCs, ETNs, leveraged and inverse ones included) listed on a recognised stock exchange. Every fund we list that is sold to UK retail investors is marked as usually eligible for both, with two exceptions below.

6. 6

   The exception is crypto ETNs. Since 06/04/2026 a cryptoasset exchange-traded note cannot be added to a stocks and shares ISA or Junior ISA (The Individual Savings Account (Amendment) Regulations 2026); it can go in an Innovative Finance ISA instead. We mark every crypto product, and any ETN or ETC that tracks a cryptoasset, as not stocks and shares ISA-eligible. They stay marked as SIPP-eligible: registered pension schemes may hold them since 08/10/2025.

7. 7

   The second exception is overseas funds that are not UCITS recognised in the UK. HMRC’s list of funds a stocks and shares ISA can hold covers UK UCITS, UCITS recognised in the UK and qualifying non-UCITS retail schemes (ISA Regulations 1998, reg. 7(2)(f), (g) and (ga)); listing on a recognised stock exchange does not add others. We read a fund’s domicile from its ISIN: an ETF or other open-ended fund domiciled outside the UK, Gibraltar and the European Economic Area — Swiss-domiciled ETFs above all — or an EEA fund that is not a UCITS (the Swedish XACT Bull 2 and Bear 2) is marked "not usually" ISA-eligible. The FCA can recognise a fund individually, which we cannot see, so the wording is "not usually", never a flat no. These funds stay marked as SIPP-eligible, where the provider decides.

Limits to know about

• Automatic rules make occasional mistakes. Tell us and we fix the rule, not just the fund.
• A category describes what a fund holds, not how good it is.
• ISA and SIPP flags say what the kind of product usually allows, not what a particular platform offers. Platforms choose their own range, and some do not offer leveraged or crypto products at all. Check with your provider.