Visual Guide to ETFs

Understanding the ETF Data

There are some standard steps that a diligent researcher might follow to decipher what is happening in particular funds. Let’s take this example a little further and see if you might have been able to determine what had happened in the ETF on a standout high-volume day, given other pieces of data. You will see how the shares outstanding number becomes the key to the puzzle.

KEY POINT:

When I worked on the trading desk at a large bank, it was common practice for our largest commission-paying clients to ask for information on fund flows and trading activity on the various desks. Their commission dollars were essentially purchasing information on where we were buyers and where we were sellers, and in what asset classes ...