Investing

[johnp]

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Probably because ETF's are traded all day long during open market hours. There's a spread, where they make their 'juice'. .....

That's same as for ordinary stocks though, and they charge comish for stocks.

 

[Gary]

That's same as for ordinary stocks though, and they charge comish for stocks.

Well - it all depends on who "THEY" are in your other post.
If it's Horizon for example - they adjust ETF's monthly and steal money. (that's why it's recommended not to be very long if you're playing with ETF's - get in - get out quick. i.e. every one / two weeks.
If you're wondering about brokers, or online brokers, you pay the exact same 'comish' for buying / selling ETF's as you do when you buy / sell stock. (at least I do with iTrade / Scotia).

 

[Brian P]

With my discount brokerage account (I use TD) there is no distinction between an ETF and stocks, either. Same fee schedule, same way of placing an order.

Short/inverse ETFs and "double" or "triple" ETFs are biased towards being losers in the long term because of the way they have to periodically re-balance themselves. They can move quickly, which is why they are trading instruments, but that also means it's very easy to get burned if things don't go your way, and they should certainly not be held for long periods of time. I avoid these like the plague. Not saying that someone can't make money using these, but not this puppy.

P.S. I'm out of Blackberry, the last of what I had got called away in August option expiration. No plans to go back in. The future of that company is too uncertain. I have a couple other things in which I own the stock but I'm short call options written against them that are now near the money and could go either way. May end up with a big cash position ... not that that's a bad thing right now.

 

[Brian P]

ETF needs a minimum amount of money to start, right? like $100k?

I've put some money in the US equity Mutual fund and haven't seen much growth in the past 3 months.

I used to be a mutual fund investor. I got disillusioned with them a few years ago, opened an account with an online brokerage, and have been phasing out the mutual funds (basically, I transferred each year's RRSP contribution limit out of the mutual fund account into the RRSP account and contributed "new money" only to the brokerage account, until eventually - last year - the mutual fund account was all gone.) Haven't looked back.

Overall, I could have done better than the mutual funds did, by simply buying shares of a few large dividend-paying corporations and letting them sit earning dividends, no trading, not even looking at them. For example, pick a telecom, a bank, an oil company, a miner, and a retailer - or something of that sort - as long as they pay dividends. I have a portion of my account in which I did just that. No management fees - no MER - and as long as you don't trade, no fees at all.

BTW I haven't used ETF's because in my opinion, ETFs for any given segment include all the bad along with the good, and I'd rather pick the good (in my opinion) and avoid the bad. Yes, I can and have been wrong. But on the overall ... can't complain.

 

[johnp]

Well - it all depends on who "THEY" are in your other post.
.......
If you're wondering about brokers, or online brokers, you pay the exact same 'comish' for buying / selling ETF's as you do when you buy / sell stock. (at least I do with iTrade / Scotia).

Some ebrokers don't charge comish for ETF trades, but do for stock trades.

For example Questrade charges comish to sell ETFs, but not to buy ETFs.

I wonder why ETFs are so special.

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