The Most Diversified ETF for Every Major Asset Class

A clear trend in the ETF industry today is increasing concentration. More and more issuers are launching single-stock products (often with leverage or synthetic replication via derivatives) or high-conviction, active strategies holding just a handful of companies.

For those who remember when ETFs were about transparency and, more importantly, diversification, this guide takes a step back. Here, I highlight what I consider the broadest and most balanced options for each of the four major asset classes: equities, fixed income, commodities, and cryptocurrency.

I’ve prioritized low expense ratios wherever possible, but in certain categories—especially alternatives like commodities and digital assets—you’ll need to accept slightly higher fees.

Even so, combining the following four ETFs can give you one of the most diversified portfolios available in a single brokerage account.

The Most Diversified Equity ETF

Hands down, the most diversified equity ETF is the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT). It tracks more than 9,000 market-cap-weighted equities across the globe through the FTSE Global All Cap Index, which makes it as close to a one-stop equity portfolio as you can get.

I consider this index ideal for the role because it:

1. Covers small-, mid-, and large-cap stocks (subject to liquidity constraints to ensure investability).
2. Spans both developed markets such as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and emerging markets like India, Brazil, and Taiwan.
3. Includes all 11 GICS sectors: energy, materials, industrials, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, health care, financials, information technology, communication services, utilities, and real estate.

Market-cap weighting isn’t perfect—critics point out that it tends to overweight the largest companies and hottest sectors while underrepresenting undervalued areas of the market.

But it does come with key advantages: low turnover, a natural momentum tilt (since winners get larger weights as they appreciate), and above all, ultra-low cost. VT’s expense ratio is just 0.06%, meaning a $10,000 investment costs only $6 per year in fees.

The Most Diversified Fixed Income ETF

Vanguard takes the win again with the Vanguard Total World Bond ETF (BNDW). It uses a fund-of-funds structure, combining two of Vanguard’s flagship bond funds in roughly equal proportions—one for U.S. aggregate bonds and another for international aggregate bonds.

The benchmark, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Float-Adjusted Composite Index, covers the full investment-grade spectrum: sovereign government bonds, corporate bonds, and mortgage-backed securities. The only things it omits are inflation-protected securities (TIPS), stripped Treasuries (STRIPS), and high-yield or leveraged debt instruments like senior loans.

That’s a fair trade-off for diversification. BNDW holds nearly 18,000 individual bonds, with an average duration of about 6.3 years and a current 30-day SEC yield of 4.08%.

Crucially, the international bond sleeve is currency-hedged, meaning foreign bond returns are insulated from fluctuations in the U.S. dollar. That’s important because unhedged international bonds can introduce unwanted volatility, often moving more on currency swings than on changes in interest rates.

The hedging keeps BNDW focused purely on global interest rate exposure, giving investors broad, stable, and truly diversified fixed-income coverage.

The Most Diversified Commodities ETF

For commodities exposure, I’m skipping any ETFs that rely on futures contracts. For a core holding, I prefer physically backed replication rather than synthetic exposure.

Futures-based commodity funds usually bring two key issues: contango, where rolling contracts eats into returns, and K-1 tax forms, which complicate filing. That’s why my pick for the most diversified commodities ETF is the abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF (GLTR).

GLTR does exactly what its name suggests—it holds physically backed gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, all stored in an audited vault operated by ICBC Standard Bank in the United Kingdom.

The fund is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, not the Investment Company Act of 1940, which means it’s structured as a commodity trust rather than a traditional investment company. This setup is common for physically backed commodity ETFs.

Each ETF “basket,” or creation unit, represents a fixed amount of each metal: 25,140 ounces of silver, 685.73 ounces of gold, 91.43 ounces of platinum, and 137.15 ounces of palladium (as of October 30, 2025). These baskets are what authorized participants use to create or redeem shares, keeping the ETF’s price closely aligned with its underlying holdings.

The 0.60% expense ratio isn’t cheap, but it’s reasonable for a physically held metals basket. You could build a similar mix using individual ETFs for each metal at slightly lower cost, but for simplicity and diversification in one ticker, GLTR is worth the premium.

The Most Diversified Cryptocurrency ETF

Multi-crypto ETFs are finally here, and the best example in my view is the Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (GDLC). This fund recently converted from a closed-end trust into an ETF, eliminating the constant premium and discount to NAV issues that plagued the old structure.

GDLC holds market-cap-weighted allocations to five major cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano—all physically backed and custodied by Coinbase. This gives investors broad exposure to the digital asset market without the need for multiple wallets or exchanges.

Yes, it’s more expensive than a stock or bond ETF, with a 0.59% expense ratio, but that’s a fair price for the accessibility, liquidity, and professional custody it offers. For investors who want diversified exposure to the crypto ecosystem in a single, regulated vehicle, GDLC is the clear choice.