Due to its many advantages, such as low expense ratios, high liquidity, a wide selection of investment options, diversification, a low investment threshold, and others, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are the best choice for novice investors. ETFs are ideal vehicles for a variety of trading and investment strategies employed by novice traders and investors.
What Is ETFs?
Investors in the United States can now gain exposure to the ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) market without having to worry about acquiring the underlying securities. The ETFs are easy to buy and sell, and the investors can track their portfolio without having to worry about settlement issues. The average American can buy an ETF portfolio, but not invest directly in the stocks of the companies in the markets in which they want to invest.
Is ETFs Trading Safe?
ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, trade like stocks, but they are actually mutual funds with shares that are bought and sold throughout the day. These funds, which can track indexes, sectors or individual company performance, are extremely popular with investors because they trade like stocks but are required to follow the same investment restrictions as mutual funds. Because of these advantages, ETFs are not only a safe way to invest, they are also one of the most effective trading vehicles available to all investors.
Advantages
For beginners, periodic investment has two main benefits. The first is that it gives the savings process discipline. It makes perfect sense to pay yourself first, as many financial advisors advise, and this is what you do by consistently saving money.
The basic idea behind dollar-cost averaging is that by investing the same fixed dollar amount into an ETF each month, you would accrue more when the ETF price is low and fewer units when the ETF price is high. Thus average out the cost of your holdings. This is the second benefit. As long as one maintains the discipline, this strategy can eventually yield rewards.
Say, for instance, that from September 2012 to August 2015, you put $500 into the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 Index.
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Thus, if you had invested $500 every month when the SPY units were trading at $136.16 in September 2012, you would have received 3.67 units however, if you had invested $500 every month three years later, when the units were trading close to $200, you would have received 2.53 units.
You would have bought 103.79 SPY units altogether over the course of the three years (based on closing prices adjusted for dividends and splits). These units would have been worth $21,735 at the closing price of $209.42 on August 14, 2015, for an average annual return of about 13%.
Asset Allocation
Asset allocation, which refers to distributing a portion of a portfolio among several asset classes for diversification purposes, including stocks, bonds, commodities, and cash, is a potent tool for investors. Depending on their investment time horizon and risk tolerance, beginners can easily apply a basic asset allocation strategy thanks to the low investment required for the majority of ETFs.
For instance, due to their extended investing time horizons and high risk tolerance, young investors may be fully engaged in equities ETFs when they are in their 20s. However, as individuals enter their 30s and begin to experience significant lifecycle transitions like raising a family and purchasing a home, they may switch to a less aggressive investing mix like 60% in equity ETFs and 40% in bond ETFs.
Is Asset Allocation Safe?
Asset Allocation is a strategic investment technique used to spread risk across different assets. It is simply a mixture of different assets that includes stocks, bonds, and cash. The portfolio allocation is dependent on the investor’s risk tolerance, time frame, and expected rate of return. It is important to realize that asset allocation is not a guarantee of safety. The basic risk of investments, no matter what the mixture, is that you could lose all of your money.
Swing Trading
Swing traders aim to profit on significant fluctuations in stocks or other financial assets like currencies or commodities. As a result, they can take days or weeks to complete, in contrast to day trades. Which are rarely kept open overnight.
ETFs can be used for swing trading because of their tight bid/ask spreads and diversification. Additionally, a newbie might select to trade an ETF. Which is based on a sector or asset class where they have some particular experience or understanding. This is because of ETFs are accessible for a variety of investment classes and industries.
For instance, someone with experience in technology may benefit from trading an ETF that tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, such as the Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ).
One of the numerous commodities ETFs available, such as the Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund. May be preferred to trade by a beginner trader who closely monitors the commodity markets (DBC).
ETFs may not experience the same level of price growth as a single stock in a bull market because they are often baskets of equities or other assets. However, their diversification also makes them less vulnerable to a significant decline than single stocks. This offers some defence against capital erosion, which is crucial for newcomers to take into account.
What Do You Mean By Swing Trading?
Swing trading is a popular trading strategy that involves holding position for at least one week. You buy and hold your preferred stocks for a long period of time, preferably a week or two. Swing trading can be very profitable because of the long holding period. If a stock is rising in value, you can see gains for days, weeks or even months. But, you have to be extremely careful with swing trading because one week is a long time in the market.
Small trades made by other investors may cause significant price changes during the week. Therefore, swing trading requires a great deal of commitment and discipline. Great swing traders are able to quickly recognize and take advantage of price swings. They do not waste time holding positions if they become too risky.
Sector Rotation
ETFs also make it relatively simple for novices to implement sector rotation depending on different economic cycle stages. Assume, for instance, that a shareholder has invested through the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF in the biotechnology sector (IBB).
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund is one option for an investor who wants to exit this ETF and move into a more defensive sector (XLP).
Short Selling
Most novice investors shouldn’t consider short selling, which is the sale of a borrowed security or financial instrument. As it is typically a highly risky undertaking. The lesser danger of a short sale is a trading scenario in which a security or commodity. It have been heavily shorted shoots upward. As well as, the substantially cheaper cost of borrowing makes shorting ETFs preferable to shorting individual equities (compared with the cost incurred in trying to short a stock with high short interest). For newcomers, risk-mitigation measures are crucial.
Exchange-traded funds are excellent investments for new investors and traders due to their many characteristics. Dollar-cost averaging, asset allocation, swing trading, sector rotation, short selling, seasonal patterns, and hedging are some ETF trading methods that are particularly ideal for beginners. There are broker which helps you to invest in ETFs like easymarkets.
