A solid answer to this question could be valuable for a variety of reasons. If you’re an ETF issuer, you’re probably curious about who’s been buying your offerings. You might be looking for clues in the patterns of other investors’ trades if you’re a hedge fund. If you’re an institutional investor, you might be trying to figure out whether your allocations were conservative or aggressive. As an individual investor or advisor, finding large endowments in a fund you’re interested in may give you peace of mind.
Because ETFs are exchange-traded (it’s in the name, after all) and settle like stocks, it’s difficult to know who has beneficial ownership of each share with exact confidence. Even the Depository Trust Company, which keeps track of who owns which ETFs and equities in the United States, has no idea which funds an individual holds. Instead, it just recognizes that a specific number of shares are held by Charles Schwab or Etrade, and it is up to that custodian to keep track of individual ownership information.
However, there are techniques to eke out some of this information. Large institutional investors are normally required to file quarterly SEC form 13F disclosures of their holdings. Mutual funds, for example, are required to report their holdings at least once per quarter. It turns out that all of those reports can explain more than half of the $2.2 trillion in ETFs listed in the United States.
The top categories here should come as no surprise: “Investment Advisor” and “Wealth Management.” Advisors have been a key growth driver for ETFs almost since their launch, whether they are captive to a wirehouse like Morgan Stanley or independent. Some investors may be surprised by the minimal allocations made by hedge funds, endowments, and pension funds. While $67 billion is a significant sum, it indicates that there is still possibility for growth in those industries.
When you get down to the nitty gritty, I believe it’s fascinating to discover what kinds of funds these various organizations employ. The most popular funds among advisors and wealth managers, for example, are perhaps not surprising.
As you might imagine, the top 10 lists include some of the market’s biggest ETFs, such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG). However, there are a few oddities. Take note of the large positions in both growth and value—the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD) and the iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF)—as well as the unexpected popularity of the Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VNQ) among private banking clients. In America’s largest private banks, style rotation is certainly alive and well.
Another thing to note is the size of these positions in comparison to the size of the funds. Over half of a fund like the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) is accounted for by private wealth and the advice market. For ETF issuers, the adviser market is clearly crucial, and switching from one product to another can be painful.
Just look at what’s missing: significant holdings in the iShares Emerging Markets ETF (EEM). Over the last decade, EEM has lost ground to Vanguard as the most popular emerging market ETF among advisers, which is why you see the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) here instead.
It’s predictable to find some of the most liquid—and speculative—ETFs on the market among brokers. ETFs provide a slightly different purpose in this scenario, allowing for short-term positions in specific market segments.
What about “smart” money, such as hedge funds? There are a few interesting details, despite the fact that not every hedge fund is required to declare its holdings.
Hedge funds are going further afield than the ordinary wealth manager, with large stakes in gold, gold miners, high-yield bond funds, and even China, all of which are not represented among the top ten advisors. That’s not to suggest that advisors don’t own stocks like the SPDR GLD Trust (GLD); they do, but at a lower level than the average hedge fund.
It’s also true that because we’re only looking at ETFs, we’re missing out on how ETFs compare to other hedge fund exposures. Hedge funds are significantly more likely to gain market exposure from individual stocks or derivatives, so we’re seeing a focus on sectors where most firms can’t get direct exposure without using an ETF: emerging markets, junk bonds, and physical gold.
While peering under the covers of various investor groups and comparing them to how our own money is invested is entertaining, I believe the larger lesson here is straightforward: ETFs aren’t all made equal. Investors of various types have extremely diverse requirements. A long-term asset allocator will focus on total expenses and tax efficiency where a trader need liquidity.
The author had no positions in the securities mentioned as of this writing. FactSet’s director of exchange-traded funds is Dave Nadig. He can be reached at
Who buys and sells exchange-traded funds (ETFs)?
To purchase and sell assets like ETFs, you’ll need a brokerage account. Check out our guide to brokerage accounts and how to open one if you don’t already have one. Many brokerages have no account minimums, transaction fees, or inactivity penalties, so this can be done entirely online.
Who should invest in an ETF?
Consider the risk as well as the potential return when determining whether to invest in stocks or an ETF. When there is a broad dispersion of returns from the mean, stock-picking has an advantage over ETFs. And, with stock-picking, you can use your understanding of the industry or the stock to gain an advantage.
In two cases, ETFs have an edge over stocks. First, an ETF may be the best option when the return from equities in the sector has a tight dispersion around the mean. Second, if you can’t obtain an advantage through company knowledge, an ETF is the greatest option.
To grasp the core investment fundamentals, whether you’re picking equities or an ETF, you need to stay current on the sector or the stock. You don’t want all of your hard work to be undone as time goes on. While it’s critical to conduct research before selecting a stock or ETF, it’s equally critical to conduct research and select the broker that best matches your needs.
How do you buy and sell ETFs?
An ETF, like a stock, is a collection of securities that are exchanged on a stock exchange. As a result, ETFs are traded on a regulated stock market. During trading hours, their units can be purchased and sold immediately on the exchange through a stockbroker. Closed-ended and open-ended ETFs are both available.
Is Warren Buffett an ETF investor?
Some investors have attempted to emulate Buffett by buying Berkshire Hathaway stock or equities in individual firms that Berkshire Hathaway owns or invests in. However, as ETFs have grown in popularity as an investment vehicle, some investors are attempting to use them to implement Buffett’s investing philosophies. There isn’t a single Warren Buffett ETF, but there are a few that seek to invest like Buffett.
Buffett created the term “moat” in the context of investing to characterize any firm having a competitive edge inside an industry that provides it with moat-like protection.
Is it possible to buy ETFs directly?
ETFs, like any other stock on the exchange, can be purchased and sold at any time during market hours. Typically, the trading price is close to the fund’s real net asset value (NAV). Investors in ETFs, on the other hand, must have stock trading and demat accounts. 2.
Can I sell ETF whenever I want?
ETFs are popular among financial advisors, but they are not suitable for all situations.
ETFs, like mutual funds, aggregate investor assets and acquire stocks or bonds based on a fundamental strategy defined at the time the ETF is established. ETFs, on the other hand, trade like stocks and can be bought or sold at any moment during the trading day. Mutual funds are bought and sold at the end of the day at the price, or net asset value (NAV), determined by the closing prices of the fund’s stocks and bonds.
ETFs can be sold short since they trade like stocks, allowing investors to benefit if the price of the ETF falls rather than rises. Many ETFs also contain linked options contracts, which allow investors to control a large number of shares for a lower cost than if they held them outright. Mutual funds do not allow short selling or option trading.
Because of this distinction, ETFs are preferable for day traders who wager on short-term price fluctuations in entire market sectors. These characteristics are unimportant to long-term investors.
The majority of ETFs, like index mutual funds, are index-style investments. That is, the ETF merely buys and holds stocks or bonds in a market index such as the S&P 500 stock index or the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As a result, investors know exactly which securities their fund owns, and they get returns that are comparable to the underlying index. If the S&P 500 rises 10%, your SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY) will rise 10%, less a modest fee. Many investors like index funds because they are not reliant on the skills of a fund manager who may lose his or her touch, retire, or quit at any time.
While the vast majority of ETFs are index investments, mutual funds, both indexed and actively managed, employ analysts and managers to look for stocks or bonds that will yield alpha—returns that are higher than the market average.
So investors must decide between two options: actively managed funds or indexed funds. Are ETFs better than mutual funds if they prefer indexed ones?
Many studies have demonstrated that most active managers fail to outperform their comparable index funds and ETFs over time, owing to the difficulty of selecting market-beating stocks. In order to pay for all of the work, managed funds must charge higher fees, or “expense ratios.” Annual charges on many managed funds range from 1.3 percent to 1.5 percent of the fund’s assets. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX), on the other hand, costs only 0.17 percent. The SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF, on the other hand, has a yield of just 0.09 percent.
“Taking costs and taxes into account, active management does not beat indexed products over the long term,” said Russell D. Francis, an advisor with Portland Fixed Income Specialists in Beaverton, Ore.
Only if the returns (after costs) outperform comparable index products is active management worth paying for. And the investor must believe the active management won due to competence rather than luck.
“Looking at the track record of the managers is an easy method to address this question,” said Matthew Reiner, a financial advisor at Capital Investment Advisors of Atlanta. “Have they been able to consistently exceed the index? Not only for a year, but for three, five, or ten?”
When looking at that track record, make sure the long-term average isn’t distorted by just one or two exceptional years, as surges are frequently attributable to pure chance, said Stephen Craffen, a partner at Stonegate Wealth Management in Fair Lawn, NJ.
In fringe markets, where there is little trade and a scarcity of experts and investors, some financial advisors feel that active management can outperform indexing.
“I believe that active management may be useful in some sections of the market,” Reiner added, citing international bonds as an example. For high-yield bonds, overseas stocks, and small-company stocks, others prefer active management.
Active management can be especially beneficial with bond funds, according to Christopher J. Cordaro, an advisor at RegentAtlantic in Morristown, N.J.
“Active bond managers can avoid overheated sectors of the bond market,” he said. “They can lessen interest rate risk by shortening maturities.” This is the risk that older bonds with low yields will lose value if newer bonds offer higher returns, which is a common concern nowadays.
Because so much is known about stocks and bonds that are heavily scrutinized, such as those in the S&P 500 or Dow, active managers have a considerably harder time finding bargains.
Because the foundation of a small investor’s portfolio is often invested in frequently traded, well-known securities, many experts recommend index investments as the core.
Because indexed products are buy-and-hold, they don’t sell many of their money-making holdings, they’re especially good in taxable accounts. This keeps annual “capital gains distributions,” which are payments made to investors at the end of the year, to a bare minimum. Actively managed funds can have substantial payments, which generate annual capital gains taxes, because they sell a lot in order to find the “latest, greatest” stock holdings.
ETFs have gone into some extremely narrowly defined markets in recent years, such as very small equities, international stocks, and foreign bonds. While proponents believe that bargains can be found in obscure markets, ETFs in thinly traded markets can suffer from “tracking error,” which occurs when the ETF price does not accurately reflect the value of the assets it owns, according to George Kiraly of LodeStar Advisory Group in Short Hills, N.J.
“Tracking major, liquid indices like the S&P 500 is relatively easy, and tracking error for those ETFs is basically negligible,” he noted.
As a result, if you see significant differences in an ETF’s net asset value and price, you might want to consider a comparable index mutual fund. This information is available on Morningstar’s ETF pages.)
The broker’s commission you pay with every purchase and sale is the major problem in the ETF vs. traditional mutual fund debate. Loads, or upfront sales commissions, are common in actively managed mutual funds, and can range from 3% to 5% of the investment. With a 5% load, the fund would have to make a considerable profit before the investor could break even.
When employed with specific investing techniques, ETFs, on the other hand, can build up costs. Even if the costs were only $8 or $10 each at a deep-discount online brokerage, if you were using a dollar-cost averaging approach to lessen the risk of investing during a huge market swing—say, investing $200 a month—those commissions would mount up. When you withdraw money in retirement, you’ll also have to pay commissions, though you can reduce this by withdrawing more money on fewer times.
“ETFs don’t function well for a dollar-cost averaging scheme because of transaction fees,” Kiraly added.
ETF costs are generally lower. Moreover, whereas index mutual funds pay small yearly distributions and have low taxes, equivalent ETFs pay even smaller payouts.
As a result, if you want to invest a substantial sum of money in one go, an ETF may be the better option. The index mutual fund may be a preferable alternative for monthly investing in small amounts.
What are the risks associated with ETFs?
They are, without a doubt, less expensive than mutual funds. They are, without a doubt, more tax efficient than mutual funds. Sure, they’re transparent, well-structured, and well-designed in general.
But what about the dangers? There are dozens of them. But, for the sake of this post, let’s focus on the big ten.
1) The Risk of the Market
Market risk is the single most significant risk with ETFs. The stock market is rising (hurray!). They’re also on their way down (boo!). ETFs are nothing more than a wrapper for the investments they hold. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 drops 50%, no amount of cheapness, tax efficiency, or transparency will help you.
The “judge a book by its cover” risk is the second most common danger we observe in ETFs. With over 1,800 ETFs on the market today, investors have a lot of options in whichever sector they want to invest in. For example, in previous years, the difference between the best-performing “biotech” ETF and the worst-performing “biotech” ETF was over 18%.
Why? One ETF invests in next-generation genomics businesses that aim to cure cancer, while the other invests in tool companies that support the life sciences industry. Are they both biotech? Yes. However, they have diverse meanings for different people.
3) The Risk of Exotic Exposure
ETFs have done an incredible job of opening up new markets, from traditional equities and bonds to commodities, currencies, options techniques, and more. Is it, however, a good idea to have ready access to these complex strategies? Not if you haven’t completed your assignment.
Do you want an example? Is the U.S. Oil ETF (USO | A-100) a crude oil price tracker? No, not quite. Over the course of a year, does the ProShares Ultra QQQ ETF (QLD), a 2X leveraged ETF, deliver 200 percent of the return of its benchmark index? No, it doesn’t work that way.
4) Tax Liability
On the tax front, the “exotic” risk is present. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD | A-100) invests in gold bars and closely tracks the price of gold. Will you pay the long-term capital gains tax rate on GLD if you buy it and hold it for a year?
If it were a stock, you would. Even though you can buy and sell GLD like a stock, you’re taxed on the gold bars it holds. Gold bars are also considered a “collectible” by the Internal Revenue Service. That implies you’ll be taxed at a rate of 28% no matter how long you keep them.
5) The Risk of a Counterparty
For the most part, ETFs are free of counterparty risk. Although fearmongers like to instill worry of securities-lending activities within ETFs, this is mainly unfounded: securities-lending schemes are typically over-collateralized and exceedingly secure.
When it comes to ETNs, counterparty risk is extremely important. “What Is An ETN?” explains what an ETN is. ETNs are basically debt notes that are backed by a bank. You’re out of luck if the bank goes out of business.
6) The Threat of a Shutdown
There are a lot of popular ETFs out there, but there are also a lot of unloved ETFs. Approximately 100 of these unpopular ETFs are delisted each year.
The failure of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) is not the end of the world. The fund is liquidated, and stockholders receive cash payments. But it’s not enjoyable. During the liquidation process, the ETF will frequently realize capital gains, which it will distribute to the owners of record. There will also be transaction charges, inconsistencies in tracking, and a variety of other issues. One fund company even had the audacity to charge shareholders for the legal fees associated with the fund’s closure (this is rare, but it did happen).
7) The Risk of a Hot-New-Thing
Are ETFs suitable for novice investors?
Because of their many advantages, such as low expense ratios, ample liquidity, a wide range of investment options, diversification, and a low investment threshold, exchange traded funds (ETFs) are perfect for new investors. ETFs are also ideal vehicles for a variety of trading and investment strategies employed by beginner traders and investors because of these characteristics. The seven finest ETF trading methods for novices, in no particular order, are listed below.
What are some of the drawbacks of ETFs?
An ETF can deviate from its target index in a variety of ways. Investors may incur a cost as a result of the tracking inaccuracy. Because indexes do not store cash, while ETFs do, some tracking error is to be expected. Fund managers typically save some cash in their portfolios to cover administrative costs and management fees.
How do corporations profit from ETFs?
An ETF can invest in stocks, bonds, or commodities like gold or silver, or it can try to replicate the performance of a benchmark index like the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500.
Warren Buffet frequently advises investors to invest in an index because of its long-term performance and consistency in the face of market volatility. If you purchase a stock ETF that focuses on an underlying index, returns can come through a combination of capital gains—an increase in the price of the stocks your ETF owns—and dividends paid out by those same stocks.
Bond fund ETFs are made up of Treasury or high-performing corporate bond assets. These funds can be used to diversify a portfolio’s risk by including investments that have historically produced returns when the stock market has reversed.