ETF

What Does ETF Mean?

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ETF means "Exchange Traded Fund." It is a marketable security that tracks an index, commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets and trades on stock exchanges like a stock. In January 2024, ETFs made headlines as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first US-listed Bitcoin ETFs, marking a significant shift towards integrating cryptocurrencies into traditional financial markets. This milestone, a decade in the making, was seen as a breakthrough for Bitcoin, potentially attracting $50 billion to $100 billion in the first year alone and signaling a more accepting regulatory stance towards cryptocurrency investments.

Check out our glossary of cryptocurrency terms.

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When I write ETF, I mean this:

In January 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first Bitcoin ETFs.

Summary of Key Points

"Exchange Traded Fund" is, by far, the most common meaning for ETF when it is used in a text. (Bear in mind that it could have another meaning if used in a different context.)

ETF
Definition:	Exchange Traded Fund
Type:	Abbreviation
Guessability:	4: Difficult to guess
Typical Users:	Specialists

An Academic Look at ETF

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ETF is an initialism abbreviation, as it is pronounced one letter at a time. Other examples of initialisms are AI ("Artificial Intelligence") and EW ("Electronic Warfare"). Initialisms are different to acronyms, which are abbreviations spoken as words (e.g., GOAT ("Greatest Of All Time"), NATO ("North Atlantic Treaty Organization").