The top 20 stocks most popular with investors this year

The Age

15-07-2025

As market uncertainty and volatility persist, advisers are urging investors to look beyond familiar stocks and embrace diversification across asset classes and geographies. However, these cautionary messages are resonating differently with various types of investors.
A portion of investors doubled down on familiar stocks in the first six months of 2025, while others added Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to their holdings.
Retail investors broadly piled into established miners such as BHP Group (BHP), Fortescue (FMG), Woodside Energy Group (WDS) and Pilbara Minerals (PLS) in early 2025 – but self-managed super funds (SMSFs) with more than $3 million in assets pursued an alternative approach, buying broad sector and geographic exposure via select ETFs.
Among retail investors generally, the trend to buy miners and take profits in some bank stocks was a persistent feature in the first half of 2025. Mining stocks, buoyed by strong commodity prices, were a popular pick in the first half of 2025. BHP was the most bought stock over the period.
They also leaned heavily into well-known blue-chip stocks such as FMG, WDS, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in the first six months of 2025. These stocks have traditionally formed the backbone of retail portfolios, often driven by familiarity and a perceived stability – along with high dividend yields.
Yet, despite strong returns from these sectors, some analysts are cautioning that concentrated exposure to such expensive stocks could be risky given the broader economic context and stretched valuations.
Advisers are picking up on those cues: our data shows they steered their clients away from an over-reliance on a handful of large-cap Australian stocks, encouraging allocations to global equity ETFs.
Strategies to navigate macro uncertainty have extended into defensive allocations to hybrids, subordinated debt, and investment grade credit ETFs such as Betashares Hybrids and VanEck Sub Debt ETF – satisfying investor demand for income with downside protection.