Do you plan to start financial markets? ETF (“Exchange Traded Fund”) are surely made for you. These financial instruments, also called “trackers”, offer several advantages to beginner investors, including reduced costs, and a diversified investment, so as not to “put all one’s eggs in one basket”. However, if you are an apprentice stock market, you may be able to hesitate in the face of the colossal ETF offer available (more than 3,500 in Europe). Here are the three main types of “trackers” you can invest in.
ETF invested in equity, to follow the performance on the stock market of companies
The most popular ETFs are those that allow you to invest in corporate actions. According to the BlackRock asset management giant, this category has indeed concentrated 80% of savings invested in ETF In Europe in 2024. In this area, the simplest trackers to apprehend are those that reply the performance of large stock market indices, such as CAC 40 in France, S&P 500 or NASDAQ in the United States, or the German Dax. Investing in an ETF CAC 40, for example, is like subscribing to a fund which buys the titles of the 40 large French companies that make up this index itself. Thus, when the CAC 40 increased by 10%, or decreases 5%, your investment does the same.
In addition to the replication of stock market indices, there are also ETFs invested in a basket of shares grouped by a common point: a sector (for example, new technologies), a geographic area (example: emerging countries), or even the size of companies. An ETF of type “MSCI World” will for example allow to be exposed to the 1,500 largest world groups, all sectors and countries combined. Note that the composition of the ETF vary according to the issuers who “make them” (the main players being Blackrock, Vanguard and Amundi), and that it is possible to verify what the main actions are made of an ETF.
Bond ETF: Invest in the debt of states and companies
“Just as ETF shares give investors access to stock baskets, bond ETFs do the same with the bond market”summarizes Arnaud Gihan, head of distribution France, Belgium and Luxembourg at Blackrock. As a reminder, investing in obligation consists in lending money to a state or a company, which, in exchange, pays you regular deadlines of interest (the “coupon”), then reimburses you at the due date the loan. An bond ETF is thus a fund which invests in a basket of several obligations of states and/or companies, and whose return depends on the interest distributed by these obligations.
In detail, there are two types of bond ETF: “In general, they have no maturity date, and they still invest in new obligations as the old ones mature. But there are also bond ETFs with fixed maturity which offer a defined due date: investors know when they can expect to be reimbursed, with interest ”explains Arnaud Gihan. These fixed matters can therefore offer more visibility. As a rule, bond ETFs also have a lower risk note than ETF shares, as they can be less volatile: “Bond ETFs fluctuate and are very impacted by interest rates. But they can be particularly useful for diversifying investments, as they are considered to be a low correlation with actions and help reduce the volatility of the portfolio ”specifies Céline Haddad, expert in personal finances at Plum.
Etc to follow the course of raw materials
Finally, a subcategory among the ETF allows you to follow the course of raw materials, the etc (“Exchange traded commodity”). These products are fairly popular: according to the Trade Republic application, the ETHER PHYSICAL GOLD D’AMUNI (indexed to the price of gold) is the second tracker in which recurring savers invest the most. In addition to precious metals like gold, it is also possible to be exposed to variations in the price of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal), industrial metals (nickel, zinc) or even products from agriculture (sugar, corn, soy, etc.).
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