Most Liquid Stocks And ETFs
In August, 2010, it only took 112 stocks to account for half of all daily volume, and the top 10 accounted for 21% of all daily trading volume.
Source: Abel/Noser
These are highly liquid stocks that the high-frequency trading computers love to trade. But because of that, these are also stocks and ETFs that have the smallest spreads:
Most Liquid Stocks And ETFs For August 2010
Symbol |
Principal Per Day |
% of Daily Volume |
Avg Shares Per Trade |
Avg Trades Per Minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | $19,457,771,520 | 10.7% | 397 | 630 |
| AAPL | $3,470,167,552 | 1.9% | 172 | 143 |
| IWM | $3,331,887,360 | 1.8% | 392 | 247 |
| QQQ | $2,823,571,968 | 1.5% | 611 | 177 |
| EEM | $2,171,438,848 | 1.2% | 509 | 218 |
| BAC | $1,533,855,360 | 0.8% | 748 | 256 |
| HPQ | $1,427,675,520 | 0.8% | 247 | 250 |
| INTC | $1,378,568,192 | 0.8% | 457 | 290 |
| CSCO | $1,365,347,456 | 0.7% | 433 | 275 |
| POT | $1,336,333,696 | 0.7% | 171 | 115 |
If you're curious, the next 10 symbols on the list (in liquidity order, most to least) are:
MSFT, C, XOM, JPM, GLD, GOOG, SDS, EWZ, EFA, and XLF.
Because these stocks and ETFs are so liquid (each security trades over $1B per day), they have an active options market, too. That results in smaller spreads on their options, which is good if you ever need to adjust a covered call position.
Volume should not be the only criteria you use when choosing investments. However, more liquidity never hurts and it can be used as one factor of many that you consider.
Mike Scanlin is the founder of Born To Sell and has been writing covered calls for a long time.