ETF’s
Exchange-traded fund (ETF) are funds traded as shares on stock exchanges. Many of us have heard of spiders, diamonds, and cubes, but we only know of the advertisements since many major magazines have full page ads for these things. A spider (SPDR) Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipt is a ETF that is traded on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX-SPY). Basically this is like a mutual fund that is traded on stock exchange since the SPDR is more than one company all in one buy.
The bad thing about a ETF is that every time you want to buy a share you will have to pay a commission. You may save more money buying a mutual fund similar to a ETF if you are looking for a long term investment. With the bad comes this great advantage to a ETF since it is traded on the stock exchange you can do more with it than a mutual fund. A ETF will let you buy long or sell short, buy on margin, use a stop order loss, put in a limit order, and you invest as much as you want.
Currently there are over 100 ETF’s being traded on the American Stock Exchange and there are many other ETF’s being traded on other exchanges.
Here is a list of ETF’s that are mostly traded…
NASDAQ 100 Trust Shares (QQQQ) 39.32
SPDRs (SPY) 126.85
iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) 71.95
Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) 54.33
iShares MSCI Japan Index (EWJ) 14.35
Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH) 35.01
DIAMONDS Trust, Series 1 (DIA) 111.99
streetTRACKS Gold Shares (GLD) 65.15
Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH) 149
Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) 32.72
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SPDRs One-year Chart
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