Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with etf

Do ETFs still work in today's market?

metahawk — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:06:41 -0800

For the past year, I have had a general intention to move some of my money out of indexed mutual funds and into the equivalent Exchange Traded Fund. Now I am worried about whether the current financial crisis has undermined the liquidity needed to keep ETFs at their book value. As I understand it, the difference between an ETF and closed mutual fund is that the ETF has large partners who perform the arbitrage (buying or selling baskets of the underlying securities in exchange for shares of the ETF) so that the price of the ETF stays almost completely in sync with the value of the indexed stocks. (Obviously the value of the ETF has plummeted as the stock market fell - but are they still selling a full book value or have the partners who are supposed to be doing arbitrage failing in their role due to the liquidity and other problems on Wall Street.

In other words, if ETFs made sense for me 3 months ago, do they still make sense now?

Credit Crunch filter - Help me understand Electronic Traded Funds

complience — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:01:56 -0800

I want to diversify my asset portfolio to include Noble/Precious metals commodities (primarily Palladium). I've heard an effective method is via ETCs. Can someone explain to me what a Exchange Traded Commodity actualy is. I know a ETC/ETF is an investment vehicle that tracks the performance of the underlying commodity, rather than an actual investment in the commodity.

I understand the benefits are increased Liquidity, Tax exceptions, no costs for storage of the commodity.

But what I don't understand is what are the disadvantages?

Im looking at the ETFS Physical Palladium sold by ETF securities. Which says its 'backed by a Holding of physical palladium
metal' Thus surely removing all the advantages given above, is this holding only a 'token' amount?

http://www.etfsecurities.com/en/updates/document_pdfs/ETFS_Physical_Palladium_Fact_sheet.pdf

bear market investing

jeffburdges — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:34:33 -0800

What are the issues to consider when buying a bear market or market neutral ETF or mutual fund? What are the various strategies these guys employ? I'm particularly doubtful about these inverse index ETFs. How are these different from shorting some index ETF?

Which type of ETF to go for

Jimmeh — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:12:40 -0800

I have $2000AUD to spend on Exchage-Traded Funds and I can't decide what to go for. My initial idea was to put $1k in something blue chip/stable and the other $1k in something high-growth/risky.

I am based in Australia.

For the blue chip/stable investment, I was thinking:

SPDR S&P/ASX 50 Fund (ticker: SFY)
or
SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (ticker: STW)

more info here: www.streettracks.com.au

Out of those two, what should I go for? Would a top 200 fund be considered more reliable?

For the other $1k, I'm thinking something available from iShares. I'm not sure if going for any U.S. flavoured ETF's are a good idea right now, so I thought either something based in Asia or the iShares MSCI EAFE (ticker: IVE).

It's quite confusing trying to determine which world market is going to provide future growth and returns.

What do you think?
I know, it's probably a big ask, but I'd appreciate any opinions.
Thanks all

At what point do you cut your losses?

mattbucher — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:47:29 -0800

Stock question: I have two ETFs (BDJ and DCS) that have been declining all year but have really gone into the toilet lately. I've lost about 30% combined on both. Would it be best to just cut my losses and sell them now or actually buy more? Is there any chance "the markets" will rebound in the next two or three years? To make any profit on them now, I'd have to get a pretty big swing in the other direction. What would you do? Hold, buy, or sell?

Can I ETF to the wrong name?

acoutu — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:38:24 -0800

Banking Filter: Can I do an ETF if the bank account number is right but the name is wrong? Last year, I asked about cashing a cheque with the wrong name on it. Flash forward 12 months and I want to know what happens with electronic funds transfer in the same situation.

Google Adsense pays by cash and by ETF. The cheques have both my business name and personal name on them, so I have the choice of depositing to either a business or personal account. However, when you try to set up Adsense for an ETF, it only lists the business name as the account holder. Does this matter? Can I set up the ETF to go to my personal account, which is under my own name?

Thanks.

ETF Returns

spicynuts — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 07:52:14 -0800

When researching Indexed ETFs or Closed-End ETFs with the intention of buying, should I be looking at the fund's Yearly NAV Return or the Market Value Return as an indicator of success? Which number will tell me how much the fund has earned over the various periods displayed in the fund's charts? Which should I be paying more attention to, and if the answer is 'It depends on your goals' then what are the differing goals that each return number is germaine to? Also, any additional info on ETFs in general is appreciated.

Finding a holding in and ETF

jonah — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 08:27:01 -0800

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs): Is there a resource where I could search for ETFs which have a particular stock holding? For instance, could I find an ETF that held INTL quickly, rather than combing through ETFs individually? (I'm not searching for INTL, just an example)

Stock Investing 101

oissubke — Thu, 08 Jan 2004 14:41:49 -0800

I'd like to start investing in stocks. What's the best way to get started in a safe, conservative way. ETFs maybe?