What is an exchange-traded fund in simple terms?
ETFs or "exchange-traded funds" are exactly as the name implies: funds that trade on exchanges, generally tracking a specific index. When you invest in an ETF, you get a bundle of assets you can buy and sell during market hours—potentially lowering your risk and exposure, while helping to diversify your portfolio.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is something of a cross between an index mutual fund and a stock. It's like a mutual fund but has some key differences you'll want to be sure you understand. Here, you discover how to get some ETFs into your portfolio, how to choose smart ETFs, and how ETFs differ from mutual funds.
Sector ETFs: ETFs that track individual industries and sectors such as oil (OIH), energy (XLE), financial services (XLF), real estate investment trusts (IYR), and biotechnology (BBH). Commodity ETFs: These ETFs represent commodity markets, including gold (GLD), silver (SLV), crude oil (USO), and natural gas (UNG).
ETFs offer advantages over stocks in two situations. First, when the return from stocks in the sector has a narrow dispersion around the mean, an ETF might be the best choice. Second, if you are unable to gain an advantage through knowledge of the company, an ETF is your best choice.
ETF trading risk
Spreads can vary over time as well, being small one day and wide the next. What's worse, an ETF's liquidity can be superficial: The ETF may trade one penny wide for the first 100 shares, but to sell 10,000 shares quickly, you might have to pay a quarter spread.
Because of their wide array of holdings, ETFs provide the benefits of diversification, including lower risk and less volatility, which often makes a fund safer to own than an individual stock. An ETF's return depends on what it's invested in. An ETF's return is the weighted average of all its holdings.
Most ETF income is generated by the fund's underlying holdings. Typically, that means dividends from stocks or interest (coupons) from bonds. Dividends: These are a portion of the company's earnings paid out in cash or shares to stockholders on a per-share basis, sometimes to attract investors to buy the stock.
- #1. iShares Broad USD Invm Grd Corp Bd ETF USIG.
- #2. iShares 5-10 Year invmt Grd Corp Bd ETF IGIB.
- #3. SPDR® Portfolio Corporate Bond ETF SPBO.
As an exchange-traded investment fund, an ETF offers investors the opportunity to pool their money and invest in a preselected basket of securities. This fund is made up of tradeable financial assets, such as stocks, bonds, currencies, futures contracts and/or commodities, or some combination of these investments.
Exchange funds pool large amounts of concentrated shareholders of different companies into a single investment pool. The purpose is to allow large shareholders in a single corporation to exchange their concentrated holding in exchange for a share in the pool's more diversified portfolio.
Is buying an ETF like buying a stock?
Key differences between stocks and ETFs
Since ETFs are more diversified, they tend to have a lower risk level than stocks. Similar to stocks, ETFs can be bought and traded at any time and they are also taxed at short-term or long-term capital gains rates.
One of the ways that investors make money from exchange traded funds (ETFs) is through dividends that are paid to the ETF issuer and then paid on to their investors in proportion to the number of shares each holds.
ETFs are less risky than individual stocks because they are diversified funds. Their investors also benefit from very low fees.
Buying high and selling low
At any given time, the spread on an ETF may be high, and the market price of shares may not correspond to the intraday value of the underlying securities. Those are not good times to transact business.
Leveraged ETF prices tend to decay over time, and triple leverage will tend to decay at a faster rate than 2x leverage. As a result, they can tend toward zero.
In theory, if Vanguard went bankrupt, your assets within the ETF should be safe, as they're technically yours held in trust by Vanguard. So if Vanguard collapsed, then what would likely happen would be that another manager would take over the ETF, or the assets would be sold off and you'd be paid out.
ETFs can be safe investments if used correctly, offering diversification and flexibility. Indexed ETFs, tracking specific indexes like the S&P 500, are generally safe and tend to gain value over time. Leveraged ETFs can be used to amplify returns, but they can be riskier due to increased volatility.
For most ETFs, selling after less than a year is taxed as a short-term capital gain. ETFs held for longer than a year are taxed as long-term gains. If you sell an ETF, and buy the same (or a substantially similar) ETF after less than 30 days, you may be subject to the wash sale rule.
- ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO)
- Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)
- Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT)
- VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH)
- Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (XMMO)
- SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB)
- Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF (SPGP)
An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, allows investors to buy many stocks or bonds at once. Investors buy shares of ETFs, and the money is used to invest according to a certain objective. For example, if you buy an S&P 500 ETF, your money will be invested in the 500 companies in that index.
How much should I invest in ETFs per month?
Some experts recommend at least 15% of your income. Setting clear investment goals can help you determine if you're investing the right amount.
Exchange-traded funds are similar to mutual funds in that they hold a collection of stocks and bonds in a single fund. Unlike mutual funds, they are bought and sold on stock exchanges, can be traded anytime the exchange is open, and you can start your ETF investing even if all you have to invest is $50.
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk.
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| FNGO | MicroSectors FANG+ Index 2X Leveraged ETNs | 44.79% |
| TECL | Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares | 36.41% |
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 31.88% |
| ROM | ProShares Ultra Technology | 30.50% |
