Seems like a trivial thing, but I can't find a single good source for ETF/HOLDR/SPDR component info: 1. exact and full component weightings (not like Yahoo's partial list of top components) 2. the info needs to be current and updated whenever the weightings change or a component is added/deleted 3. hopefully, the info comes back as a simple scrapable HTML page or CSV or something similar I used one web site that did exactly this a while ago but can no longer find the link and Google does not seem to help. Thanks in advance.
GO to the AMEX site where many are traded and look up the ETF. There you might find a prospectus summary which includes weightings. I found QQQQ weightings that way.
Ok, maybe you could walk me through your QQQQ example -- because when I request "holdings" on amex.com it usually redirects me to some other site. So, this does not help and does not satisfy my requirements above.
Ok for QQQQ, it was actually the Nasdaq site. But it lead me to the QQQQs and then had a link to Powershares, the fund adminsitrator and from there I got this: http://www.powershares.com/pdf/P-QQQ-PC-1.pdf
Right, I've been there. My objective is to mostly automate this process (I am working with a fairly large set of instruments) and parsing such human-oriented PDFs is doable, but is painful. I distinctly remember a web site that had neat compact summaries of ETF components sortable by weighting, etc and it was all in one place and all in simple HTML. Surely, the first thing anyone trading ETFs does is lookup the exact component weightings, because of the strong no-arbitrage relationship between ETF and component prices...