What percentage of stocks are owned by ETFs?
ETFs represent 12.7% of equity assets in the U.S., 8.5% in Europe, and 4.4% in Asia-Pacific. Market share is smaller in fixed income, where ETFs account for 2.6% of fixed income assets in the U.S., 1.8% in Europe, and 0.4% in Asia-Pacific (Figures 1, 2, and 3).
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) remain a fraction of the total global financial market in both equities and fixed income, ranging from 4.6%-13% of equities and 0.4%-2.8% of fixed income assets by region.
Exchange-traded funds work like this: The fund provider owns the underlying assets, designs a fund to track their performance and then sells shares in that fund to investors. Shareholders own a portion of an ETF, but they don't own the underlying assets in the fund.
ETFs do not involve actual ownership of securities. Mutual funds own the securities in their basket. Stocks involve physical ownership of the security. ETFs diversify risk by creating a portfolio that can span multiple asset classes, sectors, industries, and security instruments.
ETFs offer advantages over stocks in two situations. First, when the return from stocks in the sector has a narrow dispersion around the mean, an ETF might be the best choice. Second, if you are unable to gain an advantage through knowledge of the company, an ETF is your best choice.
ETFs' market share relative to mutual funds — a chief rival among retail investors — has swelled to almost 30%, up from 13% a decade ago, according to Morningstar. More than 16 million U.S. households — about 12% of them — held ETFs in 2022, according to Investment Company Institute estimates.
While individual stocks were the most commonly owned investment product, held by 43% of households in 2022, 18% of households invested in ETFs in the same year, up by 2 percentage points from 2020, research firm Hearts & Wallets found.
ETFs make a great pick for many investors who are starting out as well as for those who simply don't want to do all the legwork required to own individual stocks. Though it's possible to find the big winners among individual stocks, you have strong odds of doing well consistently with ETFs.
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
ETFs are less risky than individual stocks because they are diversified funds. Their investors also benefit from very low fees. Still, there are unique risks to some ETFs, including a lack of diversification and tax exposure.
Is it better to hold mutual funds or ETFs?
The choice comes down to what you value most. If you prefer the flexibility of trading intraday and favor lower expense ratios in most instances, go with ETFs. If you worry about the impact of commissions and spreads, go with mutual funds.
However, it's rare for broad-market ETFs to go to zero unless the entire market or sector it tracks collapses entirely. The sharpest decline the last few decades has been in 2007, when some total stock market ETFs like IWDA lost 37% in one year.
Investing in an ETF that tracks a financial services index gives you ownership in a basket of financial stocks versus a single financial company. As the old cliché goes, you do not want to put all your eggs into one basket. An ETF can guard against volatility (up to a point) if some stocks within the ETF fall.
| Exchange-traded fund (ticker) | Assets under management | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard 500 Index ETF (VOO) | $406.2 billion | 1.4% |
| Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) | $75.6 billion | 1.9% |
| Vanguard U.S. Quality Factor ETF (VFQY) | $298.0 million | 1.4% |
| SPDR Gold MiniShares (GLDM) | $6.1 billion | 0.0% |
ETFs may close due to lack of investor interest or poor returns. For investors, the easiest way to exit an ETF investment is to sell it on the open market.
ETFs are considered to be low-risk investments because they are low-cost and hold a basket of stocks or other securities, increasing diversification. For most individual investors, ETFs represent an ideal type of asset with which to build a diversified portfolio.
Buffett's favorite ETF
There are only two ETFs in Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK. A) (NYSE: BRK.B) portfolio: the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT: SPY) and the Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO). Both are index ETFs that track the S&P 500.
Although more Americans own stock, that ownership is concentrated among the wealthy and white. March 15, 2021, at 10:58 a.m. White, non-Hispanic families are more likely to own stocks than Black and Hispanic families, according to Federal Reserve data.
White Americans own 89% of stocks, worth $31.87 trillion. U.S. families held a median value of $52,000 in stocks as of 2022, far below the peak of more than $58,592 in 2001. This figure includes directly held stocks and mutual funds.
If you had invested in Netflix ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today. According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2014 would be worth $9,138.15, or a gain of 813.81%, as of February 12, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
What is the most traded ETF in the US?
| Symbol | Vol * Price | Rel Volume |
|---|---|---|
| QQQ D | 21.357B USD | 1.17 |
| IWM D | 5.705B USD | 0.65 |
| TQQQ D | 4.279B USD | 1.11 |
| TLT D | 3.356B USD | 0.96 |
- SPY – SPDR S&P 500 ETF.
- VOO – Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
- QQQ – PowerShares QQQ ETF.
- GLD – SPDR Gold Shares ETF.
- EEM – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.
- IEMG – iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.
- VTI – Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF.
- IVV – iShares Core S&P 500 ETF.
At any given time, the spread on an ETF may be high, and the market price of shares may not correspond to the intraday value of the underlying securities. Those are not good times to transact business. Make sure you know what an ETF's current intraday value is as well as the market price of the shares before you buy.
It might actually lead to unwanted losses. Investors that only invest in the S&P 500 leave themselves exposed to numerous pitfalls: Investing only in the S&P 500 does not provide the broad diversification that minimizes risk. Economic downturns and bear markets can still deliver large losses.
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk.
