Who runs ETFs?
Most ETFs are professionally managed by SEC-registered investment advisers.
ETFs are regulated by governmental bodies (such as the SEC and the CFTC in the United States) and are subject to securities laws (such as the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in the United States).
ETFs are passively managed. The purpose of an ETF is to match a particular market index, leading to a fund management style known as passive management. Passive management is the chief distinguishing feature of ETFs, and it brings a number of advantages for investors in index funds.
An ETF sponsor is a financial firm that issues, manages, and markets an exchange-traded fund. ETF sponsors handle the creation and redemptions of ETF shares, known as units. The ETF sponsor does not usually enter into trades directly with other market participants on the open market.
While they can be actively or passively managed by fund managers, most ETFs are passive investments pegged to the performance of a particular index. Mutual funds come in both active and indexed varieties, but most are actively managed. Active mutual funds are managed by fund managers.
State Street Global Advisors manages the fund's portfolio and maintains its strategy. The fund's portfolio consists of a basket of stocks that are designed to replicate the performance of the S&P 500® Index.
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.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF is the world's largest ETF and tracks the performance of the S&P 500 stock market index. Initially known only as the Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts, it was launched in 1993 by State Street Global Advisors, an asset management company based in Boston, Massachusetts.
- iShares (BlackRock): $2.59 trillion.
- Vanguard: $2.36 trillion.
- SPDR (State Street): $1.22 trillion.
- Invesco: $454.78 billion.
- Charles Schwab: $320.21 billion3.
What are the top three ETFs?
| Fund (ticker) | YTD performance | Expense ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) | 10.4 percent | 0.03 percent |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) | 10.4 percent | 0.095 percent |
| iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) | 10.4 percent | 0.03 percent |
| Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) | 8.6 percent | 0.20 percent |
You place an order with your broker or online to buy, say, 100 shares of a certain ETF. Your order goes to the stock exchange, and you get the best available price. Limit order: More exact than a market order, you place an order to buy, say, 100 shares of an ETF at $23 a share. That is the maximum price you will pay.
Market risk
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.
There are many ways an ETF can stray from its intended index. That tracking error can be a cost to investors. Indexes do not hold cash but ETFs do, so a certain amount of tracking error in an ETF is expected. Fund managers generally hold some cash in a fund to pay administrative expenses and management fees.
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.
ETFs and mutual funds are managed by experts. Those experts choose and monitor the stocks or bonds the funds invest in, saving you time and effort. Although most ETFs—and many mutual funds—are index funds, the portfolio managers are still there to make sure the funds don't stray from their target indexes.
ETFs can be safe investments if used correctly, offering diversification and flexibility. Indexed ETFs, tracking specific indexes like the S&P 500, are generally safe and tend to gain value over time. Leveraged ETFs can be used to amplify returns, but they can be riskier due to increased volatility.
ETFs are less risky than individual stocks because they are diversified funds. Their investors also benefit from very low fees.
A single ETF can contain dozens or hundreds of different stocks, or bonds or almost anything else considered an investable asset. Since ETFs are more diversified, they tend to have a lower risk level than stocks.
Vanguard isn't owned by shareholders. It's owned by the people who invest in our funds. Our owners have access to personalized financial advice, high-quality investments, retirement tools, and relevant market insights that help them build a future for those they love.
Who owns BlackRock and Vanguard?
Who Owns BlackRock? BlackRock is publicly owned, with its shares held by various shareholders, including institutional investors like Vanguard Group and State Street Corporation and individual shareholders. The specifics of these shareholders can change over time.
Vanguard is the world's second-largest investment company or brokerage firm, offering a range of active and passive options, as well as a competitive fee structure and other attractive selling points. BlackRock, Inc. is the world's largest investment firm and asset manager.
Triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (QqQ), a mass spectrometer comprising three consecutive quadrupoles. QQQ is the ticker symbol for Invesco QQQ, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the Nasdaq-100 Index created by Invesco PowerShares.
This fund is the largest and oldest ETF in the USA. SPDR is a trademark of Standard and Poor's Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of S&P Global. The ETF's CUSIP is 78462F103 and its ISIN is US78462F1030. The trustee of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust is State Street Bank and Trust Company.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, VOO is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market.
