Tag: ETF Investing 2021

A Few New ETFs That You Need To Know About

Posted on by Matt Thalman

New ETFs are constantly popping up; 32 new ETFs hit the markets in May 2021 alone. But, of course, not all months are quite that busy, and most of the news ETFs in the month didn't really represent "new" opportunities for investors since most of the new ETFs were similar to what is already available to investors, just by a new issuer.

However, a few ETFs introduced in May are a little different from the run-of-the-mill option and may be worth considering for your own portfolio. So let's take a look and see if any of them interest you.

The first one is something we all suffer from, from time to time, FOMO ETF (FOMO). This ETF is an actively managed fund that seeks long-term capital appreciation by holding all size equities, SPAC's, fixed income, volatility, and inverse volatility ETFs and ETNs. The fund managers will decide what to own based on the "fear of missing out" concept of buying what is currently "in favor" with retail, individual, and institutional investors. As a result, the fund managers have a wide range of where and how they can invest and complete control over investment timeframes. This fund will likely have high churn and potentially be rather volatile, but time will tell. FOMO has an expense ratio of 0.90%.

Next, we have the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ). This ETF invests in a modified market-cap-weighted index of global companies that support the crypto-asset-enabled decentralized economy. This fund is passively managed but still has an expense ratio of 0.85%. The ETF does not hold cryptocurrency itself, just a group of 30 companies worldwide that operate in that crypto industry in one form or fashion. Many would consider this ETF a back-door investment into the land of crypto-currency investing because it's likely that if crypto's rise in value, these companies will also see an increase in their share price. Continue reading "A Few New ETFs That You Need To Know About" →

The Ever-Growing Number Of ETFs and Their Power Over The Markets

Posted on by Matt Thalman

ETFs, like Mutual Funds and Index Funds, are often praised for their ability to offer exposure to ‘risky’ equities while offering portfolio protection and reducing single stock exposure issues.

The basic idea is that instead of trying to ‘cherry-pick’ a specific winner or loser in a particular industry or sector, you can just buy a sector-based exchange traded fund and reduce your risk that you chose the wrong company to be the dominant player in that industry. Furthermore, as long as the industry itself performs well, your industry-focused ETF should follow suit, and your investment will benefit.

As the demand for ETFs increases, the vast array of offerings has also been increasing. As an investor, you are no longer constrained to just buying industry or sector-focused funds. You can now buy funds that focus on pretty much any correlating data point imaginable. Those are the ones that have strict investment guidelines, unlike some ETFs that are actively managed and give the fund managers complete control and leeway to invest wherever and however they want.

Currently, there are over 2,500 actively traded Exchange Traded Funds in the US alone. There were 32 new ETFs offered to investors in May 2021 alone. Let’s think about that for a moment. Outside of the OTC or Over the counter equities available to investors with about 11,500 stocks in 2020, roughly around 6,000 companies’ investors can buy and sell stock in which are traded on the major US exchanges, the NYSE and the NASDAQ. Yes, that is correct, 6,000 US stocks and nearly half that in US ETFs. Continue reading "The Ever-Growing Number Of ETFs and Their Power Over The Markets" →

COVID Has Changed The World Forever

Posted on by Matt Thalman

In 20, 50, 100 years from now, historians will be writing books and articles talking about how the Covid-19 pandemic was a major turning point globally. While it is hard to say which direction the pandemic has turned the world, there is no doubt that it has changed the world. The same way World War II, the fall of the Soviet Union, the invention of the internet, the automobile, the Great Depression, the attacks on 9/11, the financial and housing crisis in 07-08 all changed the world in some way, this pandemic will do the same.

As an investor, this is very important to understand because it means that the way you should invest if you want to maximize returns and/or reduce risk could also change as you read this. You have to remember; we have been experiencing this pandemic for more than a year now, and most behavioral scientists will tell you that it takes about 6 months for habits to form fully. Whatever new habits people have picked up, or bad habits that were dropped during the past year, are probably here to stay.

For many, working from home is one of those “new” habits. It's going to be difficult for many Americans to work in a formal office setting 5 days a week in the future, since for more than 1 year now, they have been strictly working from home. The rise of at-home workouts provided by companies such as Pelton (PTON) has become a daily habit and shows signs that it is here to stay. More social media use more online shopping, fewer small retail stores that were shut down during the pandemic or just couldn’t survive and compete with the larger retail chains. People moving out of cities for more space or moving further south for warmer temperatures year-round. Continue reading "COVID Has Changed The World Forever" →

Ethereum ETFs Go Live In Canada

Posted on by Matt Thalman

While US regulators still have not yet approved a single Bitcoin (the largest and most popular cryptocurrency) Exchange Traded Fund, the Canadian regulators have now begun to move past Bitcoin and are approving ETFs that focus on other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum.

On April 20th, not one but three new cryptocurrencies’ ETFs began trading in Canada. The CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF (ETHX.U), the Purpose Ether ETF (ETHH.U), and the Ether ETF (ETHR.U) are all now available for purchase by anyone in Canada and any investor who has access to international investments.

Canada already has three Bitcoin ETFs, the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCX.U), the Purpose Bitcoin ETF (BTCC.U), and Evolve’s Bitcoin ETF (EBIT.U). When those ETFs were approved in Canada, it was big news, the same as now with the Ethereum ETFs trading hands.

Bitcoin is and was the first cryptocurrency that got this whole new world of money and technology started. So, it makes sense when it was the first crypto ETF. However, many industry experts believe Ethereum actually has more real-world applications and will improve people's lives to a great extent than Bitcoin will ever be able to achieve. The reason being is because Bitcoin was created to be a form of money using blockchain technology. However, Ethereum was created to help people decentralize certain tasks and allow users to perform tasks on a decentralized platform with more speed, accuracy, and less oversight but more security. Continue reading "Ethereum ETFs Go Live In Canada" →

How To Fight Inflation With ETFs

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Many market participants, including the Federal Reserve Board members, believe that inflation is coming. The questions at this point we would love to have answers to are, how bad will it be, will the Fed be able to control it, and how long will we experience a period of high inflation.

For years, the Federal Reserve has told us they wanted to see 2% or higher inflation, and for years we were below their benchmark goal. The Covid-19 Pandemic stimulus packages, combined with very low-interest rates and the low supply of material and goods due to Covid-19 shutdowns and the belief that demand would be weak following the shutdowns, we see prices from homes to cars to toys to obviously wood and other commodities sky-rocket.

So, it's easy to see that inflation is finally here, after years of the Fed trying to get it to move higher. But, now that it is here and it's clear the Fed had very little to do with it moving higher does anyone really have control of it? If no one does, then it could go much higher than most economists would like it to go, and it could stay that way for longer than most people would want it to? Continue reading "How To Fight Inflation With ETFs" →