Trading Low Volume Exchange Traded Products   

Many of the 1600+ Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) on the market are low volume, low asset offerings that either implement failed strategies or have bigger, higher volume competitors.  However, some low volume ETPs offer unique opportunities you won’t want to wait for. I’ve organized the special handling required for low volume funds into these categories: Alternatives Before you buy When you buy While you’re holding …

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Evaluating Liquidity of Low Volume Exchange Traded Funds 

It’s disconcerting when the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) you’re interested in has low trading volumes.  Days can go by with no volume at all.  If it was a small cap stock you wouldn’t consider buying it.  But low volume in itself shouldn’t prevent you from considering an ETF—some have the liquidity of a large-cap stock. ETF Liquidity Unlike stocks, ETFs have two levels of liquidity. …

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Six Things to Consider with Exchange Traded Funds

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) look a lot like stocks because they trade during the day, can be sold short, and have options and they look a lot like mutual funds because they aren’t tied to a single company.  The items are important things to know. There’s more to ETF cost than the annual fee If you aren’t planning to just buy and hold your ETF investment …

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Trading ETFs Without Getting Fleeced

There are over 2800 ETFs right now, with more in registration. This explosion of alternatives is great for driving down fees and giving investors choices.  However once we figure out what we want to buy, we often discover the fund we chose is lightly traded—perhaps only hundreds of shares are traded on any given day. With a lightly traded fund, the bid/ask spread is usually …

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