Market Fund, Index Fund, Market Index
- Market Fund: a mutual fund or etf that follows a certain stock market index, often called an Index Fund
- Index Fund: a collective investment scheme (usually a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund) that aims to replicate the movements of an index of a specific financial market, or a set of rules of ownership that are held constant, regardless of market conditions.
- Market Index (stock market index): a method of measuring a section of the stock market. Many indices are cited by news or financial services firms and are used to benchmark the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds.
A market fund or index fund is an easy way for an investor to make investments that follow a certain market index. Every major stock exchange has its own market index. Examples are the Nasdaq, NYSE, AEX, Hang Seng Index. Many providers of mutual funds and ETF's have a market fund or index fund for these major market indices.
Another type of market index are those that follow a certain segment of the market or that follow a certain sub-set of the stock market which is considered a good indicator for the overall market. A market fund or index fund could follow for example the Dow Jones or the S&P 500.
The essential question for investors who want to buy a market fund or index fund to follow a certain market index is not only which fund to buy but especially when to buy and sell these funds. This website covers a number of main stock market indices around the world to provide a simple overview of what the trends are in these different markets. The BuyorSellFunds methodology provides indicators when to buy or sell a market fund or index fund that follows a certain market index. Check out the description of this methodology and our latest stock market charts.
