Exchange-traded funds are index funds that, unlike mutual funds, can be traded through the day as stocks, bonds or commodities are traded. Learn more.
--ETF education: ETFGuide.com provides some history and basic ideas behind exchange-traded funds. Articles here trace the history to 1992 and explain differences among ETFs and individual stocks, mutual funds, and other sorts of investments. The glossary has an unusually large list of investing terms, including "contrarian" (the investor who does the opposite of what everyone else does). http://go.philly.com/ETFs1
--ETF center: Yahoo Finance subdivides the hundreds of ETFs into categories that make them easier to get acquainted with. You can look at them by size, by performance, by trading volume, by fund "family." The news and commentary section draws from Associated Press, Reuters, and Web sources such as Seeking Alpha, the Motley Fool and Morningstar. http://finance.yahoo.com/etf
--Take the course: Speaking of Morningstar, its site for information on mutual fund investing now includes lots of information about exchange-traded funds. This page is the start of a short introductory "course" on ETFs that explains them for the average investor and discusses pros and cons of choosing ETFs instead of mutual funds. For example, ETF investors usually pay the same sort of commissions that brokers charge for individual stock purchases. http://go.philly.com/ETFs2
--Caps to currencies: This Peaceful Gains link goes to a list of about 1,500 ETFs, organized by fund company. It is helpful in that it shows ticker symbols and you get a sense of the breadth of the investment possibilities, which include funds dedicated to coffee; lead; platinum; aerospace; pharmaceuticals; Canada; Malaysia; small-, mid- and large-cap companies; California bonds; real estate and currencies. http://go.philly.com/ETFs3
