ETF Securities

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 4 August 2009

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ETF securities are the instruments that prove ownership or represent an agreement. These securities can be evaluated and traded. Every ETF has underlying assets that are deposited with a trust to get security certificates. These certificates are then traded as shares on different exchanges. Every certificate carries a certain cost and buys a certain amount of the underlying assets.

Depositing different underlying assets as securities has given rise to different kinds of ETFs like gold ETFs, financial ETFs, and carbon ETFs.  

One of the leading companies, ETF Securities, introduced the world’s first exchange traded commodity (ETC) in conjunction with the World Gold Council. ETF Securities is a London based finance company. The company specializes in managing exchange traded funds and exchange traded commodities.

 

ETF Securities: Exchange Traded Commodity

 

ETC or exchange traded commodities are ETFs that invest in commodities like gold or futures. Commodity funds are generally index funds and they track non-securities indexes. ETCs are not regulated as investment companies. However, they can be subject to the regulations by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

History of ETF Securities Ltd

 

ETF Securities has a long list of introducing innovative ETFs and ETCs. The main highlights of their accomplishments are as follows:

  • In 2005, they launched the ETFS Brent Oil. This was the world’s first oil ETC.

  • In 2006, ETF Securities launched a long series of their innovative ETCs.

  • In 2007, they launched the world’s first Forward ETC platform, enabling the investors to trade ETCs with forward mechanism.

  • In 2008, they were in the thick of action:

    • ETF Securities launched the world’s first Shariah complaint ETC. This was listed on 5 European exchanges.

    • Introduced the world’s first Carbon ETC.

    • They launched a comprehensive platform of 13 commodity themed ETFs.

 

Advantages of ETF Securities

 

As securities contain different underlying assets in them, they have many advantages like:

  • A trader does not have to own the underlying assets. He simply trades them on paper.

  • A trader earns interest for investing in precious metal ETFs.

 

Disadvantages of ETF Securities
 

As ETF securities are traded like stocks, they have some disadvantages as well:

  • Brokerage and other trading commissions decrease the profits.

  • Securities with precious underlying assets attract taxes.

Securities are the basis of ETFs. Without them, the ETFs cannot be created or marketed.


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