How to get the best price with ETFs

One key advantage of exchange-traded funds is that they can be traded throughout the day. But there are a few tricks that you should know to get the best deal when trading one.

One key advantage of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is that they can be traded throughout the day. However, there are a few tricks that every smaller investor should know to get the best deal when trading one. After all, it makes no sense to save on costs with low fees only to give this up by losing too much in other ways.

First, remember that the liquidity of ETFs varies with the liquidity of the underlying market they track. So if you're buying an ETF tracking US shares, it makes sense to place your trade after the New York stock exchange opens (at 2.30 pm UK time), rather than outside US trading hours when you won't get such a good price. Other markets' opening times vary, particularly in commodities, so check before placing a trade.

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Paul Amery

Paul is a multi-award-winning journalist, currently an editor at New Money Review. He has contributed an array of money titles such as MoneyWeek, Financial Times, Financial News, The Times, Investment and Thomson Reuters. Paul is certified in investment management by CFA UK and he can speak more than five languages including English, French, Russian and Ukrainian. On MoneyWeek, Paul writes about funds such as ETFs and the stock market.