What is the most popular ETF?
The one time it's okay to choose a single investment
You wouldn't ever want to load up your portfolio with a single stock. But if you're buying S&P 500 ETFs, this is the one scenario where you might get away with only owning a single investment. That's because your investment gives you access to the broad stock market.
| ETF | Assets Under Management | Expense Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) | $70 billion | 0.10% |
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) | $16.3 billion | 0.35% |
| Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (XMMO) | $1.6 billion | 0.34% |
| SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) | $1.8 billion | 0.35% |
| Fund (ticker) | YTD performance | Expense ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) | 10.4 percent | 0.03 percent |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) | 10.4 percent | 0.095 percent |
| iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) | 10.4 percent | 0.03 percent |
| Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) | 8.6 percent | 0.20 percent |
| Symbol | Name | Avg Daily Share Volume (3mo) |
|---|---|---|
| SOXS | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares | 143,870,188 |
| SQQQ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | 134,847,203 |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 72,997,664 |
| TQQQ | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | 71,893,172 |
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| XMHQ | Invesco S&P MidCap Quality ETF | 17.62% |
| VUG | Vanguard Growth ETF | 17.48% |
| QTEC | First Trust NASDAQ-100 Technology Sector Index Fund | 17.46% |
| COPX | Global X Copper Miners ETF | 17.33% |
| Symbol | Name | AUM |
|---|---|---|
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | $515,285,000.00 |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | $442,746,000.00 |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | $432,191,000.00 |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | $383,258,000.00 |
| ETF | Ticker | Expense Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | (NYSEMKT:VOO) | 0.03% |
| Invesco QQQ Trust | (NASDAQ:QQQ) | 0.2% |
| Vanguard Growth ETF | (NYSEMKT:VUG) | 0.04% |
| iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | (NYSEMKT:IJR) | 0.06% |
The one time it's okay to choose a single investment
You wouldn't ever want to load up your portfolio with a single stock. But if you're buying S&P 500 ETFs, this is the one scenario where you might get away with only owning a single investment. That's because your investment gives you access to the broad stock market.
Investing in an ETF that tracks a financial services index gives you ownership in a basket of financial stocks versus a single financial company. As the old cliché goes, you do not want to put all your eggs into one basket. An ETF can guard against volatility (up to a point) if some stocks within the ETF fall.
Market risk
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
What is the most popular ETF in USA?
- #1. iShares Broad USD Invm Grd Corp Bd ETF USIG.
- #2. iShares 5-10 Year invmt Grd Corp Bd ETF IGIB.
- #3. SPDR® Portfolio Corporate Bond ETF SPBO.
In contrast, the riskiest ETF in the Morningstar database, ProShares Ultra VIX Short-term Futures Fund (UVXY), has a three-year standard deviation of 132.9. The fund, of course, doesn't invest in stocks. It invests in volatility itself, as measured by the so-called Fear Index: The short-term CBOE VIX index.
Experts agree that for most personal investors, a portfolio comprising 5 to 10 ETFs is perfect in terms of diversification.
"In the ETF industry it's BlackRock and Vanguard, and those two are going to rule the land like King Kong and Godzilla unless regulators intervene," said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg.
| Ticker | Fund name | 5-year return |
|---|---|---|
| SOXX | iShares Semiconductor ETF | 30.70% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | 24.57% |
| IYW | iShares U.S. Technology ETF | 24.09% |
| FTEC | Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF | 22.79% |
| Symbol | ETF Name | 10y Chg 4-2-24 |
|---|---|---|
| SOXX | iShares Semiconductor ETF | 873% |
| PSI | Invesco Semiconductors ETF | 786% |
| META | Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF | 717% |
| XSD | SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF | 617% |
- 9 Safest Index Funds and ETFs to buy in 2024. ...
- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO -1.36%) ...
- Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM -1.53%) ...
- Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ -1.19%) ...
- iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT -1.49%) ...
- Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP -1.01%)
Mutual funds and ETFs may hold stocks, bonds, or commodities. Both can track indexes, but ETFs tend to be more cost-effective and liquid since they trade on exchanges like shares of stock. Mutual funds can offer active management and greater regulatory oversight at a higher cost and only allow transactions once daily.
iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF (AOA)
"We also generally stick to U.S. equity, international equity and fixed income." A great example of an ETF that meets Grossman's suggestions for broad diversification across global stocks and bonds is AOA. This ETF uses a split of 80% in stocks and 20% in bonds.
For instance, some ETFs may come with fees, others might stray from the value of the underlying asset, ETFs are not always optimized for taxes, and of course — like any investment — ETFs also come with risk.
What is the best ETF to buy in 2024?
One metric that investors often look to is trailing one-month performance. The top ETFs for equities, bonds, fixed income, commodities, and currencies for April 2024 based on this metric include CRPT, FCVT, EMHY, DBA, and UUP.
Don't Trade Immediately at the Market Open
Generally speaking, the best time to trade ETFs is closer to the middle of the trading day rather than the beginning or end.
Holding an ETF for longer than a year may get you a more favorable capital gains tax rate when you sell your investment.
"A newer investor with a modest portfolio may like the ease at which to acquire ETFs (trades like an equity) and the low-cost aspect of the investment. ETFs can provide an easy way to be diversified and as such, the investor may want to have 75% or more of the portfolio in ETFs."
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, VOO is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market.
