This article has been written by an expert contributor Marcus Padley from Marcus Today
Here is a list of some of the main, obvious, mostly passive ETFs. I have tried to avoid the active ones which are the same but different. Active ETFs are more dangerous and expensive, and if you lump them in with the passive ones you are mixing wolves with sheep. They can be hard to spot sometimes.
The golden rule with ETFs is to always check their websites and factsheets. What they do, what the ETF matches, is all highly visible and the wolves stand out. It’s pretty obvious – if a fund manager is involved and making judgement calls, it’s an active ETF.
These are the biggest ETFs listed in Australia
Most of these represent an index. The main ones for us are:
- VAS – ASX 300 exposure.
- STW – ASX 200 exposure.
- IOZ – ASX 200 exposure.
- A200 – ASX 200 exposure.
- ILC – ASX 20 exposure.
Then there are the International market ETFs
- US market ETFs – IVV and SPY (S&P 500), IHVV (S&P 500 hedged), VTS (Total US market), NDQ, HNDQ (Hedged NASDAQ 100 – goes up more if the A$ goes up).
- European market – ESTX (STOXX 50), HEUR, IEU, VEQ.
- Global equities – IOO, VGS, MGOC (Magellan Global)
Some of these ETFs can be used as low volatility, low cost, low stress exposures to the market and at this moment (a bit of a bottom) you can use some of them to ‘bet on the bounce’.
Then there are the ETFs that are deliberately geared to the markets, which means they are designed to follow the market but their gearing exaggerates the rises and falls. Most traders that want to bet on a market bounce or sell-off will use geared ETFs. It seems aggressive but this is gearing to a low volatility index which doesn’t generally move a lot, so gearing to it is fairly low risk in a traders book. You get a bit more bang for your buck in geared ETFs but it cuts both ways.
Geared to the markets going up
- LNAS
- GGUS
- GEAR
Geared to the markets going down
- BBUS
- BBOZ
- SNAS
Then there are the rest. They include:
- Resources – OZR, QRE, MVR
- Small Companies – ISO, SSO, SMLL, VSO, MVS
- Technology – HACK, CLDD, TECH, ATEC (our ALL TECH sector)
- Banks – MVB (Banks sector in Australia)
- Gold – Can’t see a reason to buy but there are some gold related ETFs that have done terribly – GOLD, PMGOLD, MNRS, QAU, ETPMPM, GDX
- Currencies – YANK and USD (US$), EEU (Euro), AUDS (Aussie Dollar), POU (British Pound)
- China – CETF, IZZ.
For all the ETFs see our excellent ETF spreadsheet.
More about the author – Marcus Padley is a highly recognised stockbroker and business media personality. He founded Marcus Today Stock Market Newsletter in 1998. The business has built a community of like-minded investors who want to survive and thrive in the stock market. We achieve that through a combination of daily stock market education, ideas and activities. You can sign up for a free trial here.
First published on Jun 15, 2022 on the Marcus Today website.