An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, available for buying or selling on a stock exchange, is an asset concerned with tracking an index, commodity, sector, or other security. From an individual asset price to a wide-ranging securities collection, an ETD can be so constituted as to track anything. Tracking particular investment strategies, too, is a specialisation with ETFs.
Stocks, bonds, commodities, or admixtures of assorted securities – ETFs are incredibly versatile. Moreover, ETFs having an associated price permitting easy buying and selling, they lend themselves to marketability like a duck takes to water!
As ETFs are traded on exchanges the same as stocks, an ETF is known as an Exchange Traded Fund. An ETF’sETF’s share price fluctuates the entire day with the buying and selling of shares. Thus, FTFs are markedly unlike mutual funds, not tradable on an exchange, in fact, trading just once a day – and that too following market’s closing. Another point that ETFs have over mutual funds is that they are more liquid and more cost-efficient.
Instead of just one underlying asset in the vein of stocks, an ETF can hold several underlying assets.
In fact, one can but marvel at the staggering capacity of an ETF. It can have up to thousands of assets, including several sectors in its embrace. Or, conversely, it can limit itself to a single sector, though with very many individual stocks.
ETF types
Speculation, income generation, hedging or partially balancing portfolio risk – there’s a varied bunch of ETFs raring to serve client traders. Examples of ETFs so available are given below:
Stock ETFs
Constituted of a stock basket with an eye on tracking a specific sector/industry, stock ETFs intend to give exposure to a sector/industry, especially beneficial given the diversification element. This voluminous asset consists of fresh entrants with growth potential and high performers. Not concerned with actual asset ownership, stock ETFs have lower fees.
Bond ETFs
Prized as sources of regular income to investors, bond ETFs show an income distribution that is based upon underlying bonds’ performance. Municipal bonds, in fact, consist of corporate bonds, government bonds, and sundry regional bonds. Bond ETFs are conspicuous in that they lack a maturity date. Straying from the actual bond price, bond ETFs typically trade at a premium or discount from that price.
Commodity ETFs
Crude oil and gold and such commodities are the areas of competence of commodity ETFs. Merits attend the use of commodity ETFs. Primarily, commodity ETFs facilitate hedging downwards, thus diversifying portfolios. Moreover, relative to actual physical commodity possession, commodity ETF shares are vastly cheaper. There are neither storage costs nor insurance to bug the investor.
Industry ETFs
Funds concentrating on a particular industry/sector are sector/industry ETFs. The objective behind sector/industry ETFs is to bring investors up to speed regarding the good performance of that sector/industry, tracking industries’ performance in the said sector. There’sThere’s been a flood of tech funds lately.
Inverse ETFs
By shorting stocks, inverse ETFs generate gains from depreciating stocks. Shorting involves the sale of stock in expectation of value depreciation, followed by a repurchase at a diminished price. Derivatives short a stock, per inverse ETF strategy. In the main, inverse ETFs are betting on a market correction.
Currency ETFs
Tracking forex pairs performance, currency ETFs are pooled instruments constituted of currency pairs. Exporters and importers use these as a hedge against forex market volatility. So naturally, they are also handy if you would like some anti-inflation hedging.
Examples of ETFs
The SPDR S&P 500
THE Invesco QQQ
The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average
The iShares Russell 2000
ETFs and taxes
Given that the mass of the buying/selling takes place thru an exchange, and given that the sponsor needs neither redeem nor issue new shares at each buying/selling opportunity, an ETF turns out to be more tax-efficient relative to, say, mutual funds. Exchange listing of shares keeps taxes lower so that the sidestepping of the redeeming of shares is a big bonus indeed.
ETFs market impact
There have been concerns that ETFs might inflate stock value, leading to speculative bubbles. Also, market stability may be adversely affected by the adoption of un-assessed portfolio models that can encourage unintended, excessive outflows/inflows from funds.
Conclusion
ETFs are a distinct entity in their own right, standing up quite competently against mutual funds and stocks. Their role in risk diversification makes them indispensable. And that they are the most tax-efficient of all three groups of entities makes them special.