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I have some shares of an ETF, and I'm curious whether the ETF's holdings overlap with any of the individual stocks that I own.

Since it varies so frequently, I don't think this is information that companies update in their prospectus. Is there a (public facing) database that these funds must report their holdings to?

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You can check the website for the company that manages the fund. For example, take the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB). iShares publishes the complete list of the fund's holdings on their website. This information isn't always easy to find or available, but it's a place to start.

For some index funds, you should just be able to look up the index the fund is trying to match. This won't be perfect (take Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF (VOO); the fund holds 503 stocks, while the S&P 500 index is comprised of exactly 500), but once again, it's a place to start.

A few more points to keep in mind. Remember that many ETF's, including equity ETF's, will hold a small portion of their assets in cash or cash-equivalent instruments to assist with rebalancing. For index funds, this may not be reflected in the index itself, and it may not show up in the list of holdings. VOO is an example of this. However, that information is usually available in the fund's prospectus or the fund's site.

Also, I doubt that many stock ETF's, at least index funds, change their asset allocations all that frequently. The amounts may change slightly, but depending on the size of their holdings in a given stock, it's unlikely that the fund's manager would drop it entirely.

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  • Thanks! I was able to find it that way (I needed a dose of common sense, hehe), but I'd still be curious as to whether this type of info is consolidated anywhere. – jonsca Oct 4 '13 at 19:47
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    The only reason that VOO holds more than 500 stocks is they, for example, hold Berkshire Hathaway Class A and Berkshire Hathaway Class B. So it's actually very close to perfect. – dcaswell Oct 4 '13 at 19:51
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    @dcaswell No, I totally realize that. I just gave that as a general example of an index fund where the number of holdings is slightly different, because to a new investor, seeing a different number of stocks in the ETF vs the index may give them some pause. VOO actually tracks the index extremely well. – John Bensin Oct 4 '13 at 19:55
  • Especially ETFs based on an index. The components of the S&P or the individual spiders isn't going to change too often, especially not the top holdings. – JTP - Apologise to Monica♦ Oct 4 '13 at 21:32
  • Is there a service where you can enter a ETF ticker like VOO and get a list of their holdings with percentage? I am guessing the answer is No based on this discussion. – RBZ Jun 9 '14 at 17:44

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