ETF Australia 2021

What is Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)?

Many people enter the stock market with the intention of making money. However, the fact is that making money in the stock market is difficult. Exchange traded funds are growing increasingly popular, particularly among younger generations. They diversify your assets over a wide range of asset types.

ETFs are designed to mimic the performance of an index or assets like currencies or commodities. Most ETFs are passively managed, which means the fund manager’s sole responsibility is to guarantee that the ETF matches the set index. Actively managed funds, on the other hand, are those in which the management tries to exceed a benchmark.

The major segments of the Australian ETF market include Australian, International, Commodity, Fixed income, Currency and Cash. There are 177 diverse types of ‘exchange traded products’ available in Australia.

Types of ETF

There are two types of ETF, namely physical and synthetic. They present different risk levels to investors.

Standard ETFs, often known as “physical ETFs,” purchase the underlying investments (such as stocks and other assets) on the reference index that the ETF aims to mimic. You will not directly own the underlying investments if you invest in an ETF; instead, you will possess units or shares in the ETF. The performance of the underlying shares or other assets is your primary investment risk.

Synthetic exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have a significant exposure to derivatives as well as the underlying assets they attempt to follow. Synthetic ETFs hold extra risks, such as the credit risk associated with the derivative counterparty, in addition to the advantages and hazards of physical ETFs.

Benefits

ETFs can generate income through capital gains and/or dividends. Investors might benefit from franking credits to boost their after-tax earnings. They are more appealing to certain investors over time because they have fewer operating costs, management fees, and expenditures than other investments in the same area of the market.

ETFs are meant to trade as closely as possible to their underlying value. This gives the investor confidence that the on-market price will accurately represent the value of the fund’s underlying assets. The portfolio has a low turnover rate, with the composition of stock ETFs changing only when the portfolio is rebalanced.

ETFs provide diversification by allowing you to trade a diverse portfolio of assets in a single transaction. You may also have access to a broader choice of markets or assets. In some cases, it gives you exposure to a commodity. They were quite cheap. Some funds you might be charged 1%, some of them are down to 0.1% per annum. Actively managed funds are generally more expensive than ETFs.

Transparency: The ETF’s issuer publishes daily information about the ETF, including the ETF’s NAV. ETFs can be traded on the ASX during regular trading hours.

ETFs are open-ended with ‘synthetic liquidity’ meaning units can be cancelled or created in response to market demand by the ‘market maker’ This enables the ETF to consistently trade at, or close to, Net Asset Value (NTA) You do not treat ETFs like shares when it comes to trading. They do not respond in the same way to ‘demand’ as you would a share.

Risk

1.Market risk

The main investment risk is the performance of the underlying shares or other assets. Political concerns in the home nation of the foreign market or benchmark may have an impact on the portfolio’s value.

There is a chance that the market the ETF tracks may lose value, which will cause the ETF to lose value as well. Whether profits or losses in synthetic exchange traded funds (ETFs) are realized by holding the assets that make up the index or benchmark or through derivative exposure.

2.Currency risk

The ETF will be vulnerable to currency fluctuations if it invests in overseas assets.

3. Liquidity risk:

Certain ETFs invest in non-liquid assets (for example, developing market debt), making it difficult for the ETF issuer to generate or redeem shares. It may be difficult to purchase or sell ETFs due to market circumstances (for example, a lack of liquidity).

4. Errors in tracking:

The ETF’s NAV or the asset it is supposed to follow may vary. This might be due to illiquidity of the underlying assets or costs. The portfolio’s performance may differ from the return on the index or benchmark being watched.

How to invest in ETF?

Because ETFs are traded in ASX, you can buy and sell them during ASX’s trading hours. An ETF may be bought and sold much like a stock, with a three-day settlement time.

You will find there are some ETFs that track equity indices. One of them is the Vanguard Australian shares index ETF that tracks the ASX300, the other popular one is STW which tracks the ASX 200. If you guy STW, you will get exposure to the whole ASX 200 index. What STW doing is replicating the ASX 200. STW tracks the ASX 200 index perfectly.

If you trust the stock market, you hold them for 20 years, 35 years, whatever your time frame you are comfortable with. Why do you want to trade individual stocks when you can just trade the whole equity market?

In terms of investment decisions, nobody can predict the future. You need to do your homework and make purchase decisions based on your own strategies. All ETF data is available to you on the ASX website. The ASX do a very good job of tracking all exchange traded products.

You need to stay away from the fad ETF. They’re created to fill a fad and make money, not to make you money. What you’re looking for are the passive ones and easy to understand. So just try and keep it simple and stick with the indices ETF if you are conservative.

Another popular way to invest in ETF is called thematic ETF investing. Thematic investing is a method of investing in firms based on certain industry patterns or themes, with the expectation that the sector would succeed over a specific term. The key distinction here is whether you are simply following a current trend at the time or investing in an industrial area that will revolutionize our world over the next decade. With that said, it is critical to evaluate your investing timeline while using themed ETFs, as it is not a passive investment approach. They might be mor volatile than traditional index based ETF.

Top 100 ETF in ASX

The following list is based on market capitalisation and subject to change.