New Forex Trading Strategy

Friday, November 20, 2009

What Goes Into ETF Trading

By Patrick Deaton

An exchange traded fund -- which is what an ETF is -- can be a great investment vehicle for those who are looking for solid rates of return on investment and who have the time to delve a little into the intricacies of ETF trading. Basically, ETFs are what are called "index funds" because they track one of the major market indexes out there, such as the S&P 500.

ETFs can also be trusts. At any rate, they are set up much like a mutual fund is, and they have a solid basket of market securities contained within. They are listed on the stock exchanges and are traded all throughout the trading day, which is sometimes known as intraday trading. Looking at trading activities in an ETF on the trading day basis is a good way to go about making money from one.

Currently, there are over 100 different ETFs on the American Stock Exchange. Most ETFs have a wide range market sectors and indexes that they represent. They are involved in many industries, most stock market indexes, many sectors in individual markets and also represent many international regions. They also may represent a wide range of corporate bond or Treasury indexes.

Those investors who are thinking of participating in ETFs should know that investors will be buying and selling shares based on the collective performance of a particular portfolio which is treated as a single security. The benefits to such trading activity are numerous, including that this combines stock investment liquidity with the stability of investing in index funds.

There are a great many advantages to the investor, whether large institutional kinds or the small investor who will be getting into an ETF through a trading system. Generally speaking, an exchange traded fund has much lower annual expenses -- referred to as costs -- than many other investment vehicles. Because they are not index-based, their management fees are usually very reasonable.

The reason this is so is because most ETFs aren't actively managed throughout the trading day. They moved on much broader scales than what day traders engage in out in the markets. Another way of saying this is that there is not a great deal of movement in the fun that requires management to get involved in. Most studies point out that there's really no difference between actively managed funds and these.

ETFs can operate in this way (meaning non-active management) because they tie their net asset value on each trading day to the assets that underlie the fund. This can make an ETF extremely transparent because it tends to replicate the holdings that are contained in the index that the ETF is tied to and which it tracks on a daily and intraday basis.

Most small investors usually trade throughout the day through pricing and trading of security portfolios. ETF trading makes this possible because there aren't any restrictions placed on trading activity, such as restricting trades to once a day, at the end of the day. Many small investors using a trading system, though, do this. Additionally, ETF pricing is also available throughout the day, making it particularly attractive. - 23305

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]



<< Home