While ETFs are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as investment companies - either as an open-end fund or a unit investment trust - they differ from traditional mutual funds both in how their shares are issued and redeemed and in how their shares or units are traded. Unlike traditional mutual funds or unit investment trusts, ETF shares are created by an institutional investor depositing a specified block of securities.

Hedge funds are similar to mutual funds in that they both are pooled investment vehicles that accept investors' money and generally invest it on a collective basis. Hedge funds differ significantly from mutual funds, however, because hedge funds are not required to register under the Investment Company Act of 1940. They are not required to register because they generally only accept financially accredited investors and do not publicly offer their securities.

Though close-ended mutual funds are listed on the exchange they have a limited number of shares and trade at substantial premiums or more often at discounts to the actual NAV of the scheme. Also, they lack the transparency, as one does not know the constitution and value of the underlying portfolio on a daily basis. The number of shares issued are not limited and can be created / redeemed throughout the day.

Exchange traded funds are a basket of securities, that are very similar to mutual funds except they trade like a stock on the major stock exchanges. There are no minimum holding periods or early redemption fees. ETFs are priced throughout the day as opposed to only daily like mutual funds. ETFs incur no year end phantom capital gains or dividend distributions. Since ETFs trade just like a stock, they can be sold short.

Sure, but you will have to manually enter a complete EOD quote (OHLCV). Some people think this is sort of a redundant effort, since many fund managers use technical analysis on the underlying stocks, anyway. Lots of others do it, though. Each could involve a number of different data formats, depending upon just what is available, or usable: complete/partial exchanges, portfolios, intra-day and/or EOD quotes, indices, histories, etc., are all possible.

A mutual fund refers to a collective investment scheme under which professional fund managers pool money from individual investors and manage it according to pre-set investment objectives. The investment objectives can range from maximizing capital gains to maintaining a stable stream of income, and from beating inflation to preserving capital.

Ideally, your fund roster should have more players than a basketball team but no more than a baseball team. For your starting five, a diversified lineup would be funds representing these types of stocks: large, fast-growing companies; smaller fast-growing companies; large companies selling at bargain prices; smaller companies selling as bargains; and foreign companies.

ETFs allow investors to take benefit of intra-day movements in the market, which is not possible with open-ended funds. With ETFs one pays lower management fees. As ETFs are listed on the exchange, distribution and other operational expenses are significantly lower, making it cost-effective. These savings in cost are passed on to the investor. Due to its unique structure, the long-term investors are insulated from short term trading in the fund.

Your investment horizon can be broadened because there are different types of funds that can provide a convenient and cost effective way to capitalize on both local and overseas investment opportunities. Diversification may take different forms, e.g. along geographic or industry lines, or amongst different securities or issuers.

Annual management fees are usually allocated from the fund on a daily basis and will not constitute an out-of-pocket expense for investors. They vary among different types of funds.

Settlement requirements for mutual funds vary. Some funds such as money market funds may require cleared fund whereas the others require three to five business days for settlement. Please contact our Investment Service Centres 8:00 a.m. Monday through 4:00 p.m. Saturday at (852) 2902 3888 in Hong Kong or (65) 6327 2288 in Singapore for more information.

The drawbacks with mutual funds are that you have no control on the investments of the fund; and, more importantly, the downside of diversification is that a fund can hold so many stocks that a tremendously great performance by a stock will make very little difference to a fund's overall performance.

Mutual funds have many benefits. They offer an easy and inexpensive way for an individual to get returns from stocks and bonds without: incurring the risks involved in buying them directly; needing the capital to buy quality stocks; or having the expert knowledge to make the right buy/sell decisions.

All Asset Management Companies (AMCs) are regulated by SEBI and/or the RBI (in case the AMC is promoted by a bank). In addition, every Mutual Fund has a board of directors that represents the unit holders' interests in the Mutual Fund.

Although past performance is no guarantee for the future, it is a useful way of assessing how well or badly a fund has performed in comparison to its stated objectives and peer group. A good way to do this would be to identify the five best performing funds (within your selected investment objectives) over various periods, say 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years.

Release of the discovery is so new I don't believe others have had much opportunity to incorporate it into their trading strategies. Eventually I can conceive of an environment where The Taylor Effect will become a required tool for the financially informed. Accurate market trend forecasts were not available until now. Today, investment advisors and individual investors will have an incredible advantage they never had before.

In a nutshell, professional management, diversification, safety, liquidity, and service. If you were to manage your own portfolio of stocks, you'd have to research, select, and monitor thousands of securities to construct a diversified portfolio of stocks. There's an easier way. Mutual funds offer numerous advantages to individual investors, including toll-free switching, checking privileges, automatic dividend and capital gains reinvestment, and trained customer service reps.

Yes. Currently our branches in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia are licensed to do so. Branch locations for those provinces can be found here: http://www.cwbank.com/branches.

You avail of the services of experienced and skilled professionals who are backed by a dedicated investment research team. Investing in a Mutual Fund reduces paperwork and helps you avoid many problems such as bad deliveries, delayed payments and unnecessary follow up. Over a medium to long-term, Mutual Funds have the potential to provide a higher return as they invest in a diversified basket of selected securities.

Click on the link "Buy Now" in the MF Trading section. You will be asked to select from the various mutual fund houses. Select the fund house. You will now see all the schemes of the fund house. Select the mutual fund scheme that you wish to invest in. After that choose the amount that you wish to invest in and make an online payment through your Indian bank account or your US bank account through ACH pay mode of remit2india.