#MARKETS & INVESTING
"ETFs are still a niche product in France." In 2025, 1.1 million French retail investors bought or sold at least one, against 223,000 in 2020.
Published on September 16, 2026 · to be rechecked on March 31, 2027
In March 2026 the AMF published the twenty-first edition of its dashboard of active retail investors, built on the transaction reports that MiFID 2 requires from investment firms. In 2025, 1.109 million French retail investors bought or sold at least one ETF, after 607,000 in 2024 and 223,000 in 2020: up 83% in a year, and five times as many as five years earlier. The number of active share investors is also rising, but more slowly: 1.924 million in 2025 against 1.360 million in 2020.
Are ETFs still a niche product among French retail investors?
No. 1.1 million traded at least one in 2025, five times the 2020 figure.
In other words: listed index funds have become, in five years, the fastest-growing segment of French retail investing.
Five caveats that belong with the number
- The count covers people who placed at least one order during the year, not holders: a single purchase is enough.
- The scope changes with this edition 21; the AMF restated the series, but they are not comparable with dashboards 1 to 20.
- Only transactions on listed instruments are reported: open-ended funds and property funds are excluded.
- An ETF traded outside France is only counted if it falls under AMF supervision, which leaves out some foreign ETFs.
- Much of the growth comes from brokers based elsewhere in the EU: 34% of French ETF investors used them in 2025, against 21% in 2024.
Why it still matters: the rise of ETFs among French retail investors is no longer a forecast, it is a statistical series.
For you
- Did you expect such a gap between 2020 and 2025 on ETFs?
- Should an investor who places one order a year count as much as a regular one?
Source: AMF, Dashboard of active retail investors no. 21, March 2026.
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