Editing Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (section)

== About Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) ==
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of pooled investment security that will typically track a particular index, sector, commodity, or other assets, depending on the structure of the ETF. ETFs can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange in the same way a regular stock can, their share prices fluctuate as the ETF is bought and sold.
Key advantages of ETFs include low expense ratios and fewer broker commissions than buying individual stocks. ETFs also hold multiple underlying assets, rather than only one like a stock does, making ETFs an excellent way of diversifying an investment portfolio. Due to these benefits, ETFs are becoming an increasingly popular investment security, as seen in figure 1.
[[File:ETF Popularity Growth.png|center|thumb|902x902px|''Figure 1. The dollar amount, in trillions, invested in exchange-traded funds worldwide. Source: Reuters, via Refinitiv Lipper, and Statista'']]
Various types of ETFs are available to investors. ETFs are generally characterised as either passive or actively managed. Passive ETFs aim to replicate the performance of a broader index, such as the S&P 500 or a more targeted sector. Active managed ETFs do not target an index of securities but rather have portfolio managers making decisions about which securities to include in the portfolio. These funds tend to be more expensive to investors, and include bond ETFs which provide regular income to investors, stock ETFs and industry/sector ETFs.

Due to their growing popularity, investing in ETFs has become simple and easy. ETFs are now commonly available on most online investing platforms, retirement account provider sites and investing app. Many of these platforms offer commission-free trading, meaning that you do not have to pay fees to the platform providers to buy or sell ETFs.