WHAT IS AN ETF? (Exchange-Traded Fund)📚

7 de fev. de 2022

✅An ETF is an exchange-traded investment fund. The fund's management company draws up a strategy and acquires assets in its portfolio, and then issues shares - small shares of this portfolio. When selling an ETF, the investor pays tax in the same way as if it were ordinary shares.

✅If 40 years ago only 6% of American families invested money in investment funds, now they are about 46%. At the end of the third quarter of 2020, $29.5 trillion was invested in open-ended investment funds in the United States — this is almost half of all assets managed by funds around the world.

⚠️What instruments are included in the ETF

🟢The fund's portfolio may consist of any instruments traded on the stock exchange. For example, stocks, bonds, currency, precious metals. Their ratio depends on the fund's strategy. Once in a certain period, the management company reviews the portfolio and rebalances, that is, sells some assets and buys others.

🟢All actions are subject to strict rules, from which managers cannot deviate. All information about the composition of the ETF and the frequency of portfolio rebalancing is available in the fund's documentation.

🟢ETFs can consist of securities, precious metals, derivatives - there are practically no restrictions. Therefore, today there are thousands of funds with very different structures. For example, there is the Global X Millennials ETF— which is a fund for shares of brands beloved by millennials. Or Direxion Work From Home ETF - it invests in services that benefit from the widespread transition to remote work.

❗️What are ETFs

🔴When a fund copies a stock index, it applies replication, that is, it exactly repeats the composition of the index. There are two types of replication — physical and synthetic. If an ETF uses physical replication, it buys the index assets themselves - stocks, bonds, and everything else.

🔴If a fund uses synthetic replication, it does not buy the index assets themselves. Instead, the fund uses an index derivative — an agreement between the parties that the transaction will be executed. A change in the value of the index entails a change in the value of the derivative. On the one hand, this is beneficial for the investor, but on the other hand, a complete repetition of the index may be inaccurate. In addition, there is a risk that the derivative provider will not fulfill its obligations.

🔴In index ETFs, the investor should pay attention to the error of following or tracking error. Let's say the IMOEX index has gained 12% over the year, and the ETF for this index has only 11%. The management costs in this fund are 0.5%, which means that the remaining 0.5% is a follow-up error. This indicator should not be too large, because, in the end, it affects the profitability of the fund. If the fund deviates greatly from the index, the managers do not do their job well.

‼️How the price of an ETF is formed

🔴Shares in ETFs are called shares, they have a market and settlement price - iNAV.

🔴The estimated price is the value of all assets included in one share of the ETF. It can be viewed on the fund's website and the stock exchange.

🔴The market price depends on the supply and demand in the market and differs from the estimated price. It is not profitable for the Fund that the difference between them is too large, otherwise, investors will not buy shares. The market maker makes sure that the price on the stock exchange does not fluctuate much. He puts out large bids in a certain range. The current market price of the fund's shares can be viewed on the stock exchange or in the terminal.

🔴ETFs are a convenient and simple solution for investors who want to get "all in one". For example, they do not want to make a portfolio with their own hands or buy index assets separately. This tool is easy to buy and sell at any time. We can say that an ETF is trust management without red tape with documents and time limits.

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