Investing in ETFs

Los ETPs (Exchange traded products) son productos de inversión que cotizan en bolsa, similares a las acciones, que permiten invertir de forma sencilla en distintos activos como acciones, materias primas o índices. Dentro de la familia “ETP” se engloban los ETF (Exchange traded funds), los ETC (Exchange traded commodities), y los ETN (Exchange traded notes).

One of the advantages of ETFs is that they are traded just like stocks and, just like with stocks, you need a current account to trade them and a securities account in which to deposit the securities.
There are many ETFs and you can select the one that best suits your interests by reading the prospectuses.  These contain all the necessary information: quotes, classification, liquidity, composition of the investment, returns, volatility, technical analysis, etc.

Just like traditional investment funds, ETFs have a management fee implicit in their value. However, one of their advantages is that this fee is usually significantly lower.

As these are assets traded on stock exchanges, the following fees apply:

• Trading fee.
• Stock exchange fee, only for ETFs listed in the Spanish market as in international markets it's included in our trading fee.
• Custody fee, proportional to the number of days the ETF has been in our portfolio.

The gains (selling price less purchase price) and losses generated when trading Spanish or foreign ETFs are included in the savings tax base as capital gains, with a progressive rate applied ranging from 19% to 26%, regardless of the holding period.

Shares in any ETF, whether listed on the Spanish market or a foreign market, basically receive the same tax treatment as shares: all dividends received from ETFs will be taxed as investment income, with the relevant tax withholding where applicable. Gains and losses are recorded separately in the tax return.

The gains will be added to all the other capital gains that make up the taxable savings base. Likewise, the losses will be added to all other losses make up this savings tax base.

Just as with investment funds, losses may be compensated by the gains obtained.

Los ETPs tienen costes de compraventa (comisiones del bróker y spread), comisión de custodia, y costes de gestión (TER) del emisor que se descuentan de forma implícita en el valor del producto. Suelen ser productos con costes muy competitivos en comparación con otros productos.