Just a correction. Canada had the first ETF in the world. The Toronto Index Participatory Shares (TIPS) traded on the Toronto Stock exchange mimicking the Toronto 300 Index until just a few years ago it was replaced by the S&P Toronto 60 Index. A little Canadian pride
Thanks for the interesting info. about the Toronoto Stock Exchange. By "pioneer," I did not mean that AMEX had the first ETF, but meant they were at the forefront of bringing them into wide public exposure. They were also the first to bring ETFs to the domestic (US) market.
Hi Deron, I am presently working on a comprehensive list of all the ETFs, grouped together by sector or industry. If you are interested, I can repost the file here when completed (expected around September 1). Yes that would be very useful thank you.
glad to see the positive comments regarding trading the QQQ's and other ETF's. I have seen a number of traders loose their shirts and thier LLC funding because whilest we traders are reaping the world wind, they were only up $.20 on a $.69 move for the whole day (actually up until the 2:30pm EST point that we compared notes), whilest we were up over $1.32 per share. Unfortunately, these vehicles, while spread over so many securites represent full markets (like the QQQ's) or market segments (like SMH, HHH, PMH, etc.) they are perfect vehicles for spread trading and swing trading. At the same time they are the worst securities for scalping and intraday trading with very short time frames, as they just don't move in whipsaws with large enough swings to capture say, $.06 on the dime or there abouts. glad to see the positive comments
I love trading the SPY's -- my software allows me to get a level 2 with combined ISLD and INCA SPY quotes -- then I send a smart order - and it sends to whichever one has the best price -- very thick - fast fills -- the only way to trade them is thru ECN's !!!
Limitdown, While I am not sure if I agree that QQQ and SPY don't move in whipsaws, I do agree that they are great vehicles for swing trading. In fact, swing trading the ETFs is exclusively what we do because they are ideal for that. The ETFs I like best for daytrading are QQQ, SPY, DIA, SMH, and BBH. The rest of them are much better for swing trading due to larger spreads and less liquidity. I will post that article on getting efficent ETF executions on Monday.
I play the Q's and the SMH almost on a daily basis. The Q's liquidity makes them great to play size. The SMH spread and liquidity has greatly improved over what it used to be, and makes it much easier than picking an individual Chip stock to play.
Deron, Have you looked at basket trading? Fidelity just started letting you define your own basket of 5 to 50 stocks and trade them as a single trade. You can allocate each stock by $ amount, #shares, or %. The minimum investment is $10,000. This allows you to pick the top stocks in the top sectors or short the bottom stocks in the bottom sectors. I am looking into this. Has anyone traded baskets? Ed