No surprise, then, that regulatory antennae are twitching at the rapid growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), investment pools that are listed on stockmarkets.
Because in inflation the dollar is devalued, I am a proponent of owning bullion and avoiding gold ETFs, but I do believe gold and gold-miner stocks will provide great returns over the next few years.
If markets tumble, these ETFs should rise in value.
Investors ought to be told that the market for ETFs may not always be as liquid as they would like.
Another bearish sign: the shorter-term, 50-day moving average of all three ETFs crossed below the 200-day at the start of this month.
Unlike units in a conventional mutual fund, ETFs can be traded all day long.
In addition, ETFs can provide daily pricing and liquidity, allowing investors to exit quickly and change their market position without incurring heavy discounts on selling the product.
這種金融工具現在很受歡迎：不到10年的時間，黃金ETFs由白手起家發展到現在已經坐擁2200噸黃金——接近全球一年黃金的產量。
Dicker is particularly contemptuous of oil ETFs of the kind that many small investors have used as vehicles to diversify their holdings.
Some blame the rapid growth of gold ETFs for pushing the bullion price to record peaks in late 2009.
For example, exchange traded funds (' ETFs') alone account for half of the activities in oil future market.
Fund managers' fees have always eaten into investors returns; ETFs were a splendid way of letting investors keep more of their money.
Among the reasons so many markets are surging to sky-high levels before tumbling to painful depths: Investors are able to chase almost any kind of trade today, thanks to new products, such as ETFs.
Mr Major said risk appetite was looking increasingly fragile and fund managers who reached their benchmark return might well be inclined to “park” some capital in precious metal ETFs.
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