A Practical Map of ETF Categories and Asset Classes
Article Quant Q&A · Author: xyy
Summary
The document responds to a beginner’s difficulty identifying widely traded ETF symbols by outlining how funds can be grouped into asset classes and investment styles. One answer points to a commercial fund-classification service and gives an example of how a fund may be categorized using characteristics such as market capitalization, valuation, benchmark exposure, and regression fit. It also cautions that commercial fund taxonomies can explain how strategies are packaged without necessarily teaching how to build or trade them.
A second answer offers a broad, personally maintained catalog of ETFs spanning global stocks, U.S. styles and sectors, international equities, government and corporate bonds, real estate, infrastructure, preferred shares, commodities, currencies, and option- or volatility-linked products. The catalog illustrates the breadth of instruments and gives examples of what some tickers track. It is explicitly selective: it omits leveraged funds, many country-specific funds, and smart-beta products, and the author acknowledges possible errors or missing entries. Fund lineups and classifications can change, so the list serves as orientation rather than a definitive or current reference.
Key ideas
- ETF categories can be organized by asset class, geography, investment style, and sector.
- Fund classification systems may use characteristics such as capitalization, valuation, and benchmark exposure.
- A personal ETF catalog can help traders track instruments relevant to their own strategies.
- The listed products cover equities, bonds, real assets, currencies, and volatility-linked exposures.
- The catalog is selective and may contain omissions or outdated fund information.
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Full text
# Major categories of tradable securities and the ETF's that track them? # Major categories of tradable securities and the ETF's that track them? I'm just starting to learn about quantitative finance and I'm overwhelmed by the amount of tradable securities out there. I'm seeing all these things like VXX, TLT, TMF, SPY, SPXL, HYG, VWEHX and so on and have no clue what they are (have to google them each time). I'm hoping to compile a list (or be pointed to a list) of all major categories of tradable securities and the ETF's that track them, and how they are calculated, so that I know what's out there and start to understand other people's trading strategies. Is there a good place to start? What's the best way to learn about all of these indexes/securities? Does such a list exist? Sorry if this is off-topic, I'm just hoping to get some pointers from experienced quants on getting started. Thanks all. ## Answer by Justin (score 1) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/34876 A good place to find a list of categories would be Morningstar.com, as they were early creators and promoters of assigning securities to the asset class categories most quoted today. Even signing up for the free access option should give one the ability to group funds by asset class categories and then rank them by some some metric. Here is a link to a page displaying their broad mutual fund categories: http://news.morningstar.com/fund-category-returns/ If a fund contains equities with high valuations which are among the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market, and if regressing this fund against a benchmark (say the Russell 1000 index) produces an `R^2` above some threshold, the fund may be categorized as Large Cap Growth. If one looks around the Morningstar site, they should find "some" documentation of their methodology. While I think this answers your question and then some, most commercial sites will probably help one better understanding how quantitative finance strategies are packaged and consumed, rather than containing pointers on getting started in actually doing the work. Good luck hope that helps, Justin ## Answer by Alex C (score 1) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/34957 This question is very broad and subjective. There are many ways to look at ETFs (for short term trading, for long term holding, ...). What is useful to one person is ridiculous to another. Many people who work with ETF's keep (and update) their own list of ETFs that are relevant to them. You may want to do the same. Here is one person's list, emphasizing broad coverage of major asset classes. It excludes 2x and 3x funds, individual country funds (of which there are dozens) and smart beta funds. Apologies for any mistakes or omissions. ``` ETFs for Major Asset Classes Broad categories of world stocks VTI ITOT US Stocks (US Tot Stk Mkt Index) VEA Developed non-US mkts (FTSE dev ex-northAm) VWO SCHE EEM Emerging Mkt Stocks FM FRN Frontier Mkts Stock styles within US RSP Guggenheim S&P 500 EW RPV Guggenheim S&P500 Pure Value IWB VONE iShares Russell 1000 IWF iShares Russell 1000 Growth IWD iShares Russell 1000 Value SCHV Schwab Large Cap Value IUSV iShares Core S&P Value VTV V CRSP Large Cap Value EQAL Russell 1000 EW IWM VTWO iShares Russell 2000 IWO iShares Russell 2000 Growth IWN iShares Russell 2000 Value SPLV Sp500 Low Volatility USMV iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility LGLV Russell 1000 Low Volatility USLB Russell 1000 Low Beta EW VBR Small Cap Value (CRSP US sm cap val) VBK Small Cap Growth (CRSP US sm cap gr) VB Small Cap (CRSP US sm cap) MDY S&P Midcap 400 VOE CRSP Mid Cap Value IJR S&P Smallcap 600 EWSC S&P Smallcap 600 EW SLYV S&P Smallcap 600 value SLYG S&P Smallcap 600 growth EES Wisdomtree Small Cap Earn VYM High Dividend Yield Industry sectors within US XLF VFH Financial Sector XLK VGT Technology Sector XLV VHT Health Care Sector XLP VDC Consumer Staples Sector XLY VCR Consumer Discretionary Sector XLE VDE Energy Sector XLB VAW Materials Sector XLI VIS Industrial Sector XLU VPU Utiltites Sector RWR VNQ REITs Specific industries within US XME Metals and Mining XBI Biotech XPH Pharmaceutical XAR Aerospace and defense XTL Telecom XHB Homebuiders XRT Retail KIE Insurance Stock styles international (outside US) EFA iShares MSCI EAFE EFG iShares MSCI EAFE Growth EFV iShares MSCI EAFE Value SCHF Schwab FTSE dev ex US VSS V FTSE AW ex US Small Cap SCZ iShares MSCI EAFE Small Cap GWX SPDR International Small Cap Bonds (1) US Treasuries by Maturity BIL SPDR Bbg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill SHY VGSH USTR Sh Term bd (1-3 years) IEI VGIT US 3-7 year treasury IEF US 7-10 year treasury TLH US 10-20 year treasury TLT US 20+ year treasury EDV US Extended Duration (24 yr) VTIP SCHP TIP Treas Inflation Prot Securities (2) Bond portfolios including some non-USTR bonds BND AGG SCHZ Total Bond Mkt (Aggr bnd index, us inv grade) BLV Lg Term bond (global) BSV Sh Term bond (global) BNDX IAGG V International Bond (Aggr exUS, hedged) CSJ VCSH 1-3 year credit (us inv grade) LQD VCIT US inv grade corp CLY VCLT 10+ yr credit (us inv grade) JNK HYG High yield bond BWX Intl treas ex US HYXU Dev Mkts ex US high yield PCY Em Mkts Sovereign USD Debt VWOB EMB Em Mkts Govt Bond CEMB Em Mkts Corp Bond EMLB Em Mkts lcl currency Bond EMLC Em Mkts lcl currency Bond VTEB US Municipal Bond BKLN Senior Loan (lev loan) Real Estate Investment Trusts VNQ SCHH US REITs VNQI REITs ex US REM Mortgage REITs Global Infrastructure IGF iShares Global Infrastructure Preferred Stock/Convertibles PFF PSK Preferred Stock CWB SPDR Bbg Convertible ICVT iShares Conv Bond Commodities & Resources GLD Gold RING Gold Mining Stocks USO Crude Oil COMB BCI BBG Commod index BCD BBG Commod index 4-6 mo. COMG GSCI Commod Index SLV Silver PPLT Platinum PALL Palladium CPER Copper WOOD Ishares Global Timber & Forest FIW First Trust Water Master Limited Partnerships AMLP AMJ Alerian MLP index TPYP Tortoise NA Pipeline MLP Foreign Exchange UUP US dollar (bullish Usd vs 6 major currencies) UDN US dollar (bearish Usd vs 6 major crrencies) FXE Long the Euro FXY Japanese Yen CYB Chinese Yuan DBV DB G10 Carry Trade Option Based, Volatility Based PUTW Wisdomtree CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite (PUT) PBP PowerShares S&P 500 BuyWriteCall (BXM) VXX Volatility XIV Volatility Inverse ```
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