10 Most-Heavily Traded ETFs of Fourth-Quarter 2022
After a solid start to the fourth quarter, the U.S. stock market lost momentum heading into Christmas. Wall Street registered the first back-to-back monthly gains since 2021 in the first two months of the quarter, driven by signs of cooling consumer prices and hopes of a less-hawkish Fed. Additionally, the holiday season started with a big bang that bolstered further optimism in the stock market at November-end.
However, the rally fizzled out in December when the Fed hiked interest rates by 50 bps and revealed a hawkish view for next year. Against this backdrop, the ETF industry is seeing explosive growth, piling up huge assets amid the stock market turmoil. This has resulted in enough liquidity in the ETF world, with most of the ETFs trading at extremely higher volumes.
Volume can be determined by the number of shares traded in a particular period. A higher number of shares provides easy access to move in and out of a product, keeping the bid/ask spreads tight.
In fact, greater volume ensures easy creation and redemption of shares in the fund basket, which is a regular and vital mechanism in ETFs. This is especially true as authorized participants have the ability to create new baskets of ETF shares for underlying securities or redeem them when required. This phenomenon allows ETFs to trade in line with their net asset value.
That said, we have highlighted 10 ETFs that have seen higher average volumes over the past three months and are thus the top 10 funds by trading volume, per etfdb.com (see: all the Category ETFs here).
ProShares UltraPro QQQ TQQQ – Average Daily Volume: 233.4 million shares
ProShares UltraPro QQQ seeks to deliver three times the return of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index, charging investors 0.98% in expense ratio. The index measures the performance of the 100 largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. ProShares UltraPro QQQ is the most-popular and liquid ETF in the leveraged space, with AUM of $12 billion.
ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ SQQQ – Average Daily Volume: 135.5 million shares
ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ provides three times inverse exposure to the daily performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index, charging 95 bps in annual fees. The index measures the performance of the 100 largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ has AUM of $4 billion.
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares SOXL – Average Daily Volume: 124 million shares
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares targets the semiconductor corner of the technology sector with three times leveraged exposure to the ICE Semiconductor Index. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares has amassed about $4.1 billion in its asset base while charging 89 bps in fees per year.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY – Average Daily Volume: 91.8 million shares
SPDR S&P 500 ETF tracks the S&P 500 Index and holds 504 stocks in its basket, with information technology, healthcare, financials and consumer discretionary accounting for a double-digit allocation each. SPDR S&P 500 ETF charges investors 9 bps in annual fees and has AUM of $360.8 billion. It has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 (Hold) with a Medium risk outlook (read: S&P 500 & Value ETFs That Hogged Attention Last Week).
Direxion Daily S&P Biotech Bull 3x Shares LABU – Average Daily Volume: 61.7 million shares
Direxion Daily S&P Biotech Bull 3x Shares creates three times leveraged long position on the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index. It charges an annual fee of 0.95% and has AUM of $950.5 million.
Invesco QQQ QQQ – Average Daily Volume: 60.8 million shares
Invesco QQQ provides exposure to the 101 largest domestic and international companies, excluding financial stocks, by tracking the Nasdaq-100 Index. It has AUM of $150 billion and charges 20 bps in annual fees. Information technology takes the largest share at 50%, while communication services and consumer discretionary round off the next two spots. Invesco QQQ has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 with a Medium risk outlook.
ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF UVXY – Average Daily Volume: 46 million shares
ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF offers exposure to one and one-half times (1.5X) the daily performance of the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index. It seeks to profit from increases in the expected volatility of the S&P 500, as measured by the prices of VIX futures contracts.
ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF has accumulated $674.9 million and charges 95 bps in annual fees.
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF EEM – Average Daily Volume: 45.3 million shares
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF offers exposure to large and mid-sized companies in emerging markets. It follows the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and holds 1,235 securities. Among the emerging countries, China takes the top spot at 32%, while India and Taiwan round off the next two spots with a double-digit exposure each (read: Top-Performing Broad Foreign ETFs of 2022).
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has AUM of $22.8 billion and charges 68 bps in annual fees. It has a Zacks ETF Rank #4 (Sell) with a Medium risk outlook.
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF – Average Daily Volume: 44.8 million shares
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund seeks to provide exposure to 67 companies in the diversified financial services, insurance, banks, capital markets, mortgage real estate investment trusts, consumer finance, and thrifts and mortgage finance industries.
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund is the ultra-popular financial ETF with AUM of $31 billion. It charges 10 bps in annual fees and has a Zacks ETF Rank #1 (Strong Buy) with a Medium risk outlook.
iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI – Average Daily Volume: 42.7 million shares
iShares China Large-Cap ETF offers exposure to large companies in China by tracking the FTSE China 50 Index. It holds 50 stocks in its basket with a slight tilt toward the top three firms. iShares China Large-Cap ETF has key holdings in the consumer discretionary sector with 35.3% share, while financials (26.5%) and communication (18.1%) round off the next two spots (read: Bet on China ETFs on a Solid Turnaround).
iShares China Large-Cap ETF has AUM of $5.1 billion and an expense ratio of 0.74%. It has a Zacks ETF Rank #5 (Strong Sell) with a Medium risk outlook.
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF HYG – Average Daily Volume: 39.3 million shares
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF is the largest and most-liquid fund in the high-yield bond space, with AUM of $17.7 billion and an expense ratio of 0.48%. It offers exposure to a broad range of U.S. high yield corporate bonds.
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF tracks the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid High Yield Index and holds 1,209 securities in the basket. It has a Zacks ETF Rank #4 with a High risk outlook.
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Invesco QQQ (QQQ): ETF Research Reports
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports
iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG): ETF Research Reports
Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF): ETF Research Reports
ProShares Ultra VIX ShortTerm Futures ETF (UVXY): ETF Research Reports
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM): ETF Research Reports
iShares China LargeCap ETF (FXI): ETF Research Reports
ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ): ETF Research Reports
Direxion Daily S&P Biotech Bull 3X Shares (LABU): ETF Research Reports
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL): ETF Research Reports
ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (SQQQ): ETF Research Reports
