Websites For Traders  |  MAR 2007

Websites For Traders: ETFConnect.com by David Penn

Stocks & Commodities V. 25:3 (74-75, 86): Websites For Traders: ETFConnect.com by David Penn For a while, market observers were convinced that exchange traded funds (ETFs) would demolish the market for mutual funds. It was only a few years ago that mainstream financial publications and websites featured columnist after columnist touting the benefits of exchange traded funds. “All the diversification of a mutual fund without the fees or complicated trading restrictions!” went the cry. You want exposure to biotech, but can’t figure out which stocks to buy? Try a biotechnology ETF. Like the appreciation of bonds, but not interested in committing large sums of capital to a bond mutual fund? You’re in luck, there are more than a few fixed-income ETFs you can buy and trade “just like a stock.” Actually, the absence of an uptick rule — which makes shorting individual stocks that much trickier — means that in some ways, exchange traded funds are even better than stocks. Individual stocks will still be able to provide the kind of direct exposure to good companies that investors and traders will always crave, and mutual funds remain the primary way that average investors — through IRAs and 401(k) plans — invest, especially for the long term. But the underwriters and supporters of exchange traded funds continue to press what many still see as their unique advantages over both. And with websites like ETFConnect.com, those interested in trading and investing in exchange traded funds can press along with them.

by David Penn