The 6 Advantages of ETFs

ETFs, or Exchange Traded Funds, have increased in popularity over the last few years, and for a number of reasons. Today, Price Headley of BigTrends.com, is going to give us the low-down on everything we need to know about this increasingly utilized financial product.

We hope you'll enjoy today's guest blog post and perhaps consider adding ETFs or ETF options to your portfolio in the near future. As always, we're interested in hearing what you have to say about this post or your experiences trading ETFS in our comments section.

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In recent years the popularity of ETF Options has exploded.  At BigTrends.com we have focused on ETFs for quite some time now.

The issue with ETFs and ETF Options has always been liquidity, but things have changed in that regard.  Due to the advantageous architecture of ETFs, more investors are hedging their portfolios with ETF options.  To understand the reason these vehicles are changing the options environment, let's take a look at the underlying securities and their benefits.

1. ETFs Trade Like a Stock - Unlike mutual funds or hedge funds which can only be entered or exited at the market close each trading day, ETFs can be bought and sold intraday.  They can even be day-traded just like stocks.  This advantage allows investors to make speculative bets on the direction of an index while still having the ability to exit the trade at any time of the day.  ETFs also allow short selling, as well as often being optionable. Continue reading "The 6 Advantages of ETFs"