Exchange Traded Funds ?

[neil]

Has anyone tried these for medium term trades ( Short or Long)?

Exchange Traded Funds ( ETF's):

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/etfs/


I would be interested in the experienced traders' view.

 

[techMark]

Funny you should mention ETFs, because I've recently been taking a look at them. The Ishares IFTSE100 in particular (ticker ISF). This is the FTSE tracker, of course.

Trouble is, it daily trading volume @ between 400K and 6 million is pretty low - too low to be a better bet than futures.

What it might be good for though is longer term position trades and I might dip my toe in for that reason. I have a self select ISA which I lost interest in when I started seriously trading US indices and its been at 100% cash for yonks. So perhaps I will switch to 100% ISF next time the market hits a major bottom and return to cash again at the peak (nice dream!).

Some of these sharp bear market rallys give 15 to 25% and is tax free in an ISA of course.

I'm also keen to hear from anyone who is using ETFs.

 

[neil]

Single Stock Futures

Techmark....

Maybe you should look at the above as well (SSF's) since they can be shorted without an uptick.

For example; Microsoft (narrow spread). You need to be aware that spreads on many shares preclude intraday dealing but maybe stocks like MSFT could make intraday trading of SSF's worthwhile.


http://www.onechicago.com/030000_products/oc_030100.html

 

[jls483]

I use the ISF in my PEP, ISA and SIPP. In fact it is the only stock that I hold.

I can recommend using comdirect to do this as their annual fees are fixed £50 and £25 for PEPs and ISAs and you can buy any ETF for free. To sell is £12.50 (If that interests you drop my a PM and I will introduce you and we will both get £50).

The ISF tracks the FTSE much better than a tracker fund and you can buy and sell it throughout the day. It pays quarterly dividends swhich should add up to almost the yield of the FTSE-100.

I also come in and out of cash a lot, but you have to be careful. If you leave too much cash in a stocks and shares isa for too long. The inland revenue can take the money out of the ISA and give it back to you (apparently).

If you have any more questions - just ask.

 

[Dr Mike]

I also come in and out of cash a lot, but you have to be careful. If you leave too much cash in a stocks and shares isa for too long. The inland revenue can take the money out of the ISA and give it back to you (apparently).

The Inland Revenue require your stockbroker to advise you that ISA's are not meant to contain cash for long periods and it may be returned, but I know of no instances where this has been done.

In fact the IR have recently issued a statement to the effect that they will not be enforcing this - which is not to say that they won't change their minds.

The interest paid on the cash is usually very low so it's worth considering putting the cash in preference shares/bonds etc.

If you're currently in this position consider RBSA shares for an almost certain 10% return by the end of the year.

 

[bigba]

new gsci etf

Also looking at my ISA account with TD Waterhouse. I have a load of cash in there (Inland Revenue hasnt taken it out yet, but I get taxed on interest of cash balance).

I have seen that there is a new ETF on Xetra called EasyETF GSCI (code is IM2E on Deutsche Boerse website). This tracks the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index, and looks like a good punt for a trader in his ISA. Only trouble is I cant find a broker (TD Waterhouse said as its listed in Luxembourg they wont trade it).

So, anyone recommend a UK broker covering Xetra who wont charge an arm and a leg to trade in and out of this ETF? Would be even better if there were some warrants on this!

 

[breadman]

Does anyone know if their is a ETF for the DAX,CAC and the ASX Australian Stock Exchange and what their ticker code is.

thanks,

breadman

 

[roguetrader]

Does anyone know if their is a ETF for the DAX,CAC and the ASX Australian Stock Exchange and what their ticker code is.

thanks,

breadman

I'm not familiar with what is avilable for trading on UK markets, but on the US markets
Germany is EWG France is EWQ and Australia is EWA. The reason I have avoided using the DAX and CAC description is that I haven't traded any of these and as such I have not looked into what exactly they follow index wise. It is not uncommon for the issuers of these products to make their own synthetic index to track, so it is always worth checking the fund holdings and comparing them to any particular index you are trying to track.

This for example is EWG
http://www.ishares.com/fund_info/detail.jhtml?symbol=EWG&qt=EWG
you can compare it's holdings to that of the DAX to see how close it is likely to follow it.

 

[breadman]

thanks roguetrader.

Do you know if their are any bear market etf's which can be traded in the uk within a SIPP.
I have found Proshare Trust's bear market etf's Short s&p500 (SH) Short qqq (PSQ) their are others aswell,these are new. Their is also the prudentbear fund (bearx) I think.

thanks,

breadman