Index
Derivatives - S&P 500 Stock
Stock Market Investing &
Trading
System
Apart
from purchasing the individual stocks in the S&P 500, investors may also
purchase shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) which represents
ownership in a portfolio of the equity securities that comprise the
Standard & Poor's 500 Index. One of these ETF's is called the Standard &
Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPDRs, pronounced "spiders"), and the ticker
symbol is SPY. Typical volume for the SPDR is over 200 million shares
per day—the highest of any US stock.
There is also the iShares S&P 500 (Symbol:IVV),
which is similar to the SPDRs, but is structured differently.
Rydex also offers
an ETF, Rydex S&P Equal Weight (Symbol:RSP), which provides equal exposure to
all the companies in the S&P 500.
Several mutual fund managers also
provide index funds that track the S&P 500, the first of which was The Vanguard
Group's (fund: VFINX) .
Many index funds and exchange-traded
funds track the performance of the S&P 500 by holding the same stocks as the
index, in the same proportions, and thus attempting to match its performance
(before fees and expenses). Partly because of this, a company which has its
stock added to the list may see a boost in its stock price as the managers of
the mutual funds must purchase that company's stock in order to match the funds'
composition to that of the S&P 500 index.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) & iShares, Options & Futures
Trading / Futures Contracts
|
Securities |
Issuer |
Type |
Symbol / Root |
|
S&P 500 Index Fund |
AMEX |
ETF |
IVV |
|
S&P 500/BARRA Growth Index Fund |
AMEX |
ETF |
IVW |
|
S&P 500/BARRA Value Index Fund |
AMEX |
ETF |
IVE |
|
SPDRS (Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts) |
AMEX |
ETF |
SPY |
| S&P 500 Index Linked Notes |
Bank of America |
ETF |
BOA.A |
|
S&P 500 "MITTS" |
Merrill Lynch |
ETF |
FML |
|
S&P 500 "MITTS" |
Merrill Lynch |
ETF |
MLF |
|
S&P 500 "MITTS" |
Merrill Lynch |
ETF |
MPF |
| S&P 500 Callable Notes |
Morgan Stanley |
ETF |
JMS.A |
|
S&P 500 Index "TIERS" |
Salomon Smith Barney |
ETF |
RSB |
|
S&P 500 Principal Protected Notes |
Salomon Smith Barney |
ETF |
ASB |
| S&P 500 Index "TIERS" |
Structured Products Corp. |
ETF |
HSB |
| S&P 500 Index "TIERS" |
Structured Products Corp. |
ETF |
SRB |
| BULS linked to the S&P 500 Index |
UBS AG |
ETF |
BUL.D |
| BULS linked to the S&P 500 Index |
UBS AG |
ETF |
BUL.E |
|
S&P 500 Index Options |
CBOE |
Options |
SPX |
|
(Reduced-value) LEAPS |
CBOE |
Options |
SPX |
|
S&P Long-Dated Options |
CBOE |
Options |
SPL |
|
E-mini S&P 500 |
CME |
Options on Futures |
ES |
|
S&P 500 |
CME |
Options on Futures |
SP |
|
S&P 500 Barra/Growth Index |
CME |
Options on Futures |
SG |
|
S&P 500 Barra/Value Index |
CME |
Options on Futures |
SU |
|
E-mini S&P 500 |
CME |
Futures |
ES |
|
S&P 500 |
CME |
Futures |
SP |
|
S&P 500 Barra/Growth Index |
CME |
Futures |
SG |
|
S&P 500 Index: Trading Options Contracts
Investors have used options on
the S&P 500 (SPX) index for a variety of purposes over the past 18 years,
including investing, hedging, asset allocation, and the management of
risk.
Investors appreciate many
features of the SPX options, including:
-
the fact that the options are
tied to the world's leading benchmark for institutional investors;
-
SPX options are powerful,
flexible tools that allow investors to synthetically adjust their
positions to a 500-stock portfolio;
-
these listed options minimize
counterparty risk - they are guaranteed by The Options Clearing
Corporation, a triple-A rated clearinghouse.
-
there is price discovery in
competitive, SEC-regulated auction markets.
S&P 500 Index Exchange Traded
Funds & Index Funds
With
ETFs based on broad-market,
sector and international indexes, you have a wide range of investment
opportunities. You have the ability to establish long-term investments in
the market performance of the leading companies in the leading industries
in the United States, or you can custom tailor asset allocations using a
range of ETFs to fit your particular investment needs or goals. You can
hold ETFs based on a broad-market index as a core investment, for example,
then use additional ETFs to increase your exposure in sector and/or
international index performance.
The
SPDR Trust Series I is a
pooled investment designed to provide investment results that generally
correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses,
of the S&P 500® Index. iShares S&P 500 Index Fund seeks investment results
that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees
and expenses, of the S&P 500 Index . There is no assurance that the
performance of the S&P 500 Index can be fully matched.
S&P 500 index futures trading contracts are traded
through an auction-like process, with all bids and offers on each contract
made public. Through this, a prevailing market price is reached for each
contract, based primarily on the laws of supply and demand. This forum is
a useful - and essential - element in a free market economy. You might be
surprised to know that the futures markets are rarely used to actually buy
or sell the physical commodity or financial instrument being traded;
they're used for price estimation, risk management, and for some people,
investment and profit.
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