Definitions for "ETFs"
Keywords:  lse, stockmarket, sector, qubes, cutesy
They are collective investment vehicles which track indices - they can allow low cost exposure to the performance of an index as quickly and efficiently as the most liquid UK stocks.
Exchange Traded Funds are shares on different sectors within the stockmarket. A spread betting client can either trade a spread bet on the ETF share or a sector bet. Sector bets are generally viewed as the trading vehicle in the UK market because UK ETFs of the LSE have little or no liquidity. For further information see Sector Bets - Click Here
ETFs are a relatively new invention, but they have caught on quickly thanks to being backed and sponsored by many of the top names in the investment industry such as Dow Jones, Merrill Lynch, Standard and Poors, and Barclays. The cutesy names appointed to ETFs, including "Spiders", "Qubes", "Diamonds", “Webs, and "Holders", do nothing to belie their power. In their simplest form, ETFs are baskets of stocks, which are designed closely track an index, sector, country, or investment style. For a while, index-oriented ETFs dominated the entire ETF realm. Now, as ETFs have become more popular, the ETF landscape has evolved to include new investment types.