Filtering Exchange Symbol Universes to Exclude ETFs
Summary
The document addresses a universe-construction problem: a strategy draws symbols from NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX, but its author wants to exclude ETFs and other funds. The accepted response points to an exchange-published downloadable symbol list identifying ETFs. A second response recommends an ETF database with screening and downloadable results, including filters for fund type and attributes such as leveraged or inverse exposure.
These resources offer a practical way to classify candidate symbols before assembling a trading universe. The discussion does not describe a classification algorithm, explain how to handle symbols that change type over time, or assess coverage and accuracy across exchanges. The listed sources and links reflect the time of the discussion, so their current availability and formats are not established here. A researcher using this approach would need to validate the classification data and refresh it as listings change.
Key ideas
- Exchange ETF symbol lists can help remove funds from an equity strategy universe.
- ETF databases may provide screening filters and downloadable symbol results.
- Fund attributes such as leveraged or inverse exposure can support more selective universe construction.
- Symbol classifications and data sources may change, so the list needs validation and updates.
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Full text
# Stock Symbols: ETFs vs Real Companies # Stock Symbols: ETFs vs Real Companies I built a trading strategy that is based on a pool of all the symbols available on NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX. I don't like the idea of trading symbols that are ETFs. For example, the symbol TVIX, which is some velocity shares 2x leveraged bull****, is not something that I want to trade. Is there a list maintained somewhere of the symbols on these exchanges, and which ones represent ETFs or other funds? I've looked all over the place and can't seem to find anything that differentiates symbols in this way. ## Answer by JackB (score 2, accepted) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/22710 I found what I was looking for at Nasdaq.com. This information wasn't available months ago when I initially built my trading strategy. Basically Nasdaq.com provides a CSV file of all symbols that are ETFs. And its free. http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/etfs/etf-finder-results.aspx?download=Yes ## Answer by jimmeh (score 0) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/22691 I use http://etfdb.com/etfs/ the ETF Database. It gives a large amount of data including: - a rating of the ETF, - Alternatives, - Holdings, Expenses & Fees, - Performance, - Charts, - Valuation, - Dividend, - Technicals, - Fact Sheet, - Read Next, and more. You can go through ETFs on this website by category. Also after initial worked of creating a "master list" that you want to follow, you should be able create software for getting data from this site... You can also download a file the screening results on the website -- see "use our ETF sceener". There it also allows you to pick 1) types of ETFs of interest (e.g. bonds, commodities, equities, etc) 2) Size and type of companies can be specified. 3) specify the "attributes " (e.g. commission free, leveraged, inverse, etc). You just have sign up to download a .csv file the results of your screening and that is free!
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