Using ETFs to read the market
ETFs are a quick way to see where money is moving. Sort sector funds such as XLK, XLE or XLF by 1-month or 3-month performance to see which parts of the market lead, compare bonds (TLT) with stocks (SPY), or check commodities like gold (GLD) and silver (SLV).
- 1M / 3M / 1Y %: change over 21, 63 and 252 trading days.
- vs MA 200: distance from the 200-day average, a simple long-term trend gauge.
- $ volume: average daily dollar volume; higher usually means tighter spreads.
Frequently asked questions
Does it show expense ratios or holdings?
No. It’s built only from price and volume data. Check the fund provider’s website for fees and holdings.
Why do I need an Alpaca key?
US stock prices are licensed data, so they can’t be handed out for free by a website. Alpaca gives anyone a free market-data key that allows 200 requests a minute and returns many stocks per request, which is enough to scan the whole list. Your key is saved only in your browser and is sent only to Alpaca. See how to get a free Alpaca key.
Which stocks does it scan?
About 600 US stocks and ETFs: roughly the S&P 500, popular growth and momentum names, and around 75 of the most traded ETFs. The largest 135 load first; the rest follow automatically a few seconds later.
Is the data real-time?
Alpaca’s free data is 15 minutes behind the market. Daily figures update through the trading day, and the latest candle is the current (unfinished) day while the market is open.