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Invest With An Edge

The Vital Few

A few months ago I wrote an article about how the 80-20 rule does not apply to ETFs. When it comes to ETF trading, 92% of the activity is confined to just 8% of the actively listed ETFs. I dubbed it the ETF 92-8 Rule. I received several requests to publish a list of the “vital few”, those 8% of the ETF universe that dominate all trading.

Back in April, I divided all the listed ETFs into Liquidity Tiers, based on their average daily value traded (ADVT). Each higher tier represents an order of magnitude improvement in ADVT. I continue to use this method because it results in a bell-shaped distribution, and the use of ADVT overcomes one of the weaknesses of a volume-only approach.

The top two tiers (tiers 8 and 9) are members of the ETF Billion Dollar Club, those ETFs that trade more than $1 billion per day on average. As it turns out, the next lower tier, which trade more than $100 million per day, are very close to matching the top 8%.

When I first computed the 92-8 rule, 8% resulted in 72 funds. To make sure this was not a one-month statistical fluke, I continued to monitor trading over the following months and the 92-8 ratio held strong. It holds once again this month, but growth in the total number of actively listed funds has pushed the quantity to 73.

Here are the Vital Few for November, the 8% of actively listed ETFs that accounted for 92% of all ETF trading activity last month.

Rank Ticker Name ADVT
1 SPY SPDR S&P; 500 $21,697,312,768
2 QQQQ PowerShares QQQ $4,396,277,248
3 EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets $3,361,327,360
4 IWM iShares Russell 2000 $3,297,930,240
5 FAS Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares $2,653,633,024
6 SDS ProShares UltraShort S&P500; $1,791,905,408
7 FAZ Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x Shares $1,745,907,328
8 GLD SPDR Gold Trust $1,668,300,928
9 EWZ iShares MSCI Brazil $1,593,717,248
10 XLF SPDR Select Sector Financial $1,560,165,760
11 XLE SPDR Select Sector Energy $1,258,926,208
12 DIA Dow Diamonds $1,203,879,936
13 EFA iShares MSCI EAFE $1,026,983,296
14 OIH HOLDRS Oil Services $1,023,444,224
15 SSO ProShares Ultra S&P500; $1,010,408,896
16 IYR iShares DJ US Real Estate $1,010,136,256
17 FXI iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 $921,325,376
18 USO United States Oil Fund $566,885,632
19 SKF ProShares UltraShort Financials $564,006,336
20 GDX Market Vectors Gold Miners $553,867,648
21 QLD ProShares Ultra QQQ $538,114,304
22 XRT SPDR S&P; Retail $521,541,312
23 QID ProShares UltraShort QQQ $485,127,040
24 SMH HOLDRS Semiconductor $458,298,560
25 TNA Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3x Shares $455,875,264
26 MDY SPDR S&P; Midcap $440,189,984
27 IVV iShares S&P; 500 $405,866,304
28 VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF $403,113,568
29 TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury $397,501,248
30 BGU Direxion Daily Large Cap Bull 3x Shares $385,813,632
31 SRS ProShares UltraShort Real Estate $359,159,584
32 TZA Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3x Shares $334,269,920
33 XLI SPDR Select Sector Industrial $324,523,648
34 XLB SPDR Select Sector Materials $320,953,248
35 UNG United States Natural Gas Fund LP $319,692,160
36 TBT ProShares UltraShort 20+ Yr Treasury $277,829,696
37 IYF iShares DJ US Financial $249,896,448
38 RTH HOLDRS Retail $248,660,224
39 EWJ iShares MSCI Japan $248,037,216
40 DXD ProShares UltraShort Dow 30 $235,221,520
41 BGZ Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3x Shares $234,851,696
42 XLU SPDR Select Sector Utilities $222,871,856
43 XLK SPDR Select Sector Technology $186,283,536
44 SH ProShares Short S&P500; $184,199,152
45 XLV SPDR Select Sector Health Care $181,440,368
46 EWY iShares MSCI South Korea $181,414,800
47 DIG ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas $178,982,896
48 UYG ProShares Ultra Financials $177,912,272
49 EWT iShares MSCI Taiwan $174,299,536
50 SLV iShares Silver Trust $171,714,496
51 XLP SPDR Select Sector Consumer Staples $167,262,864
52 XLY SPDR Select Sector Consumer Discretionary $166,765,888
53 EWW iShares MSCI Mexico $163,225,280
54 URE ProShares Ultra Real Estate $163,112,416
55 IWB iShares Russell 1000 $161,910,848
56 XME SPDR S&P; Metals & Mining $160,943,120
57 UPRO ProShares UltraPro S&P; 500 $157,108,448
58 TWM ProShares UltraShort Russell 2000 $155,546,944
59 KBE SPDR KBW Bank ETF $154,169,392
60 VNQ Vanguard REIT ETF $140,859,232
61 EWA iShares MSCI Australia $137,823,680
62 DDM ProShares Ultra Dow 30 $137,229,520
63 ERX Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3x Shares $135,327,920
64 TIP iShares Barclays TIPS Fund $125,304,240
65 LQD iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corp Bd $123,006,112
66 XHB SPDR S&P; Homebuilders $122,937,880
67 RSX Market Vectors Russia ETF $121,374,488
68 IWF iShares Russell 1000 Growth $121,355,384
69 SPXU ProShares UltraPro Short S&P; 500 $118,897,224
70 IWO iShares Russell 2000 Growth $118,649,672
71 KRE SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF $117,048,472
72 ILF iShares S&P; Latin America 40 $110,457,576
73 EDC Direxion Daily Emerging Markets Bull 3x $107,974,200

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