See Exchange Traded Fund.

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The stock exchange on which the company is listed. The core function of a stock exchange is to ensure fair and orderly trading, as well as efficient dissemination of price information. Exchanges such as: NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), AMEX (American Stock Exchange), NNM (NASDAQ National Market), and NASQ (NASDAQ Small Cap) give companies, governments and other groups a platform to sell securities to the investing public.

A marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund. Unlike mutual funds (see Mutual Fund), an ETF trades like a common stock on a stock exchange. ETFs experience price changes throughout the day as they are bought and sold.

A measure of what it costs an investment company to operate a mutual fund. An expense ratio is determined through an annual calculation, where a fund's operating expenses are divided by the average dollar value of its assets under management. Operating expenses may include money spent on administration and management of the fund, advertising, etc. An expense ratio of 1 percent per annum means that each year 1 percent of the fund's total assets will be used to cover expenses.