Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) now cover almost every possible market sector - from industrial sectors to country and regional sectors. Such breadth of choice allows for the creation of ETF rotation strategies that should allow an investor to get greater return by moving to the "hot" sectors no matter what the current market conditions are.
Index ETFs that Cover Large Market Sectors
The first ETFs that were introduced in the early 1990s track major market indexes such as the Dow Jones Industrial Index and the S&P 500. Other examples exist, such as QQQQ, which attempts to match the performance of the NASDAQ 100 Index. The NASDAQ 100 index is particularly volatile for a broad index because if includes a high portion of technology stocks.
Sector ETFs
Other ETFs represent more narrow market sectors. These ETFs have proliferated in recent years, allowing a sector rotation strategy to be developed that looks to very narrow market segments to determine where to invest. Such ETFs as OIL (oil), GLD (gold) and SHY (short term bonds), allow a system to be developed that seeks to find which narrow market segment is likely to outperform in the near term and to move the assets in the system into such narrow segment until a better candidate is found. These ETFs provide some of the benefits of diversification that ETFs generally enjoy, while allowing some of the volatility that investing in narrow segments can enjoy also.
ETF rotation strategies must be nimble to move into the correct sector at the right time.
Country or Region ETFs
The last type of ETF that is useful for creating sector rotation strategies are the country or region specific ETFs. These country specific ETFs allow the investor to devise a rotation strategy that moves into the "hot" region and then out again when another region is poised to outperform.
Opportunities exist to profit from ETF trading - the nimble trader can get great returns and minimize risks.
Exchange Traded Funds exist that cover almost every part of the world's markets - aggressive traders and investors have a whole world of opportunities (literally) to profit from.
