Focus is important. Hey look, a squirrel! OK, I’m sorry, what was I saying? Well in any event, one thing I constantly tell people is that there has never been a better time to be a trader. For one thing, the advent of ETFs has opened up a world of opportunity for investors and traders across a wide variety of investment categories. In addition, options on ETFs allows traders to implement many strategies – and take advantage of numerous opportunities – at a fraction of the cost involved in trading ETF shares themselves.
Ironically, the good news and the bad news for traders are one and the same. The good news is that there are so MANY OPPORTUNITIES available now. The bad news is that there are SO MANY opportunities available now.
Every day it seems like new ETF’s are coming out covering some even more arcane, previously not covered investment area. You will know its peaked when they come out with the “Alphabet ETF Series”. Can’t you see it coming? For example:
*iProWisdomShareSPDRexion “A Name Fund” which trades every stock whose company name starts with the letter “A”.
*iProWisdomShareSPDRexion “A Ticker Fund” which trades every stock whose ticker name starts with the letter “A”.
(OK, in the interest of full disclosure I am sort of looking forward to owning a few shares of the “J” Fund)
So on and so forth until they get through “Z”. Then come the leveraged, inverse and sector funds (Energy A, EnergyB, etc)……..The marketing people are staying up late my friends.
OK back to focusing:
To aid in the effort of helping traders to focus, please see the table in Figure 1 below. There is really nothing earth shattering or ground breaking about this list, but it does provide a handy list of the ETFs in a variety of categories that have the most option trading volume.
If you narrow it down even more to just those tickers that are bolded, chances are you will find more opportunities than you can use. The bottom line – if you can’t find some option trading opportunities here, you probably should not trade options.
| Category | ETF Name | Ticker | Ave. Option Volume |
| US Stock Index | SPDR SP 500 | SPY | 1,448,449 |
| US Stock Index | POWERSHARES QQQ | QQQ | 319,211 |
| US Stock Index | ISHARES RUSSELL 2000 INDEX | IWM | 284,749 |
| US Stock Index | SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVER | DIA | 70,403 |
| US Stock Index | WisdomTree Japan Hedged | DXJ | 39,030 |
| US Stock Index | DIREXION DAILY SMALL CAP BULL | TNA | 16,407 |
| US Stock Index | DIREXION DAILY SMALL CAP BEAR | TZA | 13,466 |
| US Stock Index | PROSHARES ULTRASHORT SP500 | SDS | 12,111 |
| US Stock Index | PROSHARES ULTRA SP500 | SSO | 7,771 |
| Int’l Stock Index | ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS | EEM | 246,173 |
| Int’l Stock Index | ISHARES FTSE CHINA 25 INDEX FU | FXI | 121,235 |
| Int’l Stock Index | ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX | EWZ | 44,995 |
| Int’l Stock Index | ISHARES MSCI EAFE INDEX | EFA | 44,297 |
| Int’l Stock Index | ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX | EWJ | 10,524 |
| Int’l Stock Index | ISHARES MSCI MEXICO INVESTABLE | EWW | 7,819 |
| Int’l Stock Index | SPDR EURO STOXX 50 | FEZ | 6,698 |
| Currencies | CURRENCYSHARES JAPANESE YEN TR | FXY | 7,591 |
| Currencies | CURRENCYSHARES EURO TRUST | FXE | 6,304 |
| Currencies | POWERSHARES DB US DOLLAR INDEX | UUP | 4,089 |
| Sectors | MARKET VECTORS GOLD MINERS ETF | GDX | 92,632 |
| Sectors | CONSUMER STAPLES SELECT SECTOR | XLP | 81,675 |
| Sectors | FINANCIAL SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLF | 80,477 |
| Sectors | ENERGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLE | 25,503 |
| Sectors | ISHARES DOW JONES US REAL ESTA | IYR | 25,320 |
| Sectors | UNITED STATES NATURAL GAS | UNG | 25,101 |
| Sectors | DIREXION DAILY FINANCIAL BULL | FAS | 22,501 |
| Sectors | SPDR SP HOMEBUILDERS | XHB | 18,717 |
| Sectors | HEALTH CARE SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLV | 17,088 |
| Sectors | SPDR SP OIL GAS EXPLORATION | XOP | 16,123 |
| Sectors | MATERIALS SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLB | 14,505 |
| Sectors | COMMONWEALTH REIT | CWH | 12,525 |
| Sectors | UTILITIES SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLU | 8,937 |
| Sectors | NORTHSTAR REALTY FINANCE | NRF | 8,428 |
| Sectors | TECHNOLOGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLK | 8,266 |
| Sectors | ANNALY CAPITAL | NLY | 8,213 |
| Sectors | SPDR SP RETAIL | XRT | 6,054 |
| Sectors | DIREXION DAILY FINANCIAL BEAR | FAZ | 5,180 |
| Sectors | INDUSTRIAL SELECT SECTOR SPDR | XLI | 3,940 |
| Sectors | SPDR SP METALS MINING | XME | 3,625 |
| Sectors | ISHARES NASDAQ BIOTECHNOLOGY | IBB | 3,430 |
| Commodity | SPDR GOLD SHARES | GLD | 99,983 |
| Commodity | ISHARES SILVER TRUST | SLV | 56,076 |
| Commodity | PROSHARES ULTRA SILVER | AGQ | 5,560 |
| Bond | ISHARES BARCLAYS 20+ YEAR TREA | TLT | 44,048 |
| Bond | ISHARES IBOXX $ HIGH YIELD COR | HYG | 24,855 |
| Bond | PROSHARES ULTRASHORT 20+ YEAR | TBT | 22,436 |
| Bond | ISHARES BARCLAYS 7-10 YEAR TRE | IEF | 5,988 |
Figure 1 – ETFs with active option trading volume
Remember, there are likely more opportunities available on this list than you can possibly use.
So let’s focus, people!
Jay Kaeppel
You make a point about how having so many options can be a good thing and a bad thing. The market can get watered down if you aren’t careful. I really think you should know what you are doing before trying to trade this way.