The Top ETFs for a Harried October

Four ETFs not on the September roster climbed aboard the ETF top 20 list in October. The foreign-focused iShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ Quote) jumped seven spots to 19th place; the internationally broad-based iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA Quote) moved up six positions to 17th on the list; and the iShares FTSE/Xinua China 25 (FXI Quote) advanced from 22nd most popular ETF in September to 18th place in October.

September favorites that dropped off the October list include the ProShares Ultra Short Real Estate (SRS Quote), which tumbled from 20th in September to 30th place in October. As the price of crude oil tumbled, the United States Oil Fund (USO Quote) skidded from 15th most popular ETF to 26th place. The ProShares Ultra Short Oil & Gas (DUG Quote), which moved opposite an index of energy stocks such as Chevron (CVX Quote), Anadarko Petroleum (APC Quote) and Schlumberger (SLB Quote), fell from 19th most widely traded ETF in September to 23rd place in October.

And as shoppers began to take the recession seriously, HOLDRS Retail (RTH Quote) became less popular, falling from 18th place in September to the 25th position in October.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY Quote) easily retained title of most popular ETF. It changed hands in October at a daily average pace of $53.4 billion. Its top holdings include blue chips Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote), General Electric (GE Quote), AT&T (T Quote) and Microsoft (MSFT Quote).

SPY tumbled 16.52% in October and now carries a year-to-date loss of 32.74%.

The second most popular ETF in September and October was the PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ Quote), whose top holdings, in addition to Mircrosoft, include Apple (AAPL Quote), Qualcom (QCOM Quote) and Google (GOOG Quote).

Most Popular ETFs in October 2008
October 2008 Rank	Prior Month Rank	Name (Ticker), TheStreet.com Ratings Grade	October Avg. Daily Dollar Volume ($Mln)	October Total Return (%)	Year-to-Date Total Retrun (%)
1	1	SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), B	53,388.0	-16.52	-32.74
2	2	PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ), C	11,231.4	-15.47	-35.65
3	3	iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), B-	8,425.2	-20.96	-28.67
4	8	ProShares Ultra Short S&P 500 (SDS), B-	4,784.8	19.76	65.49
5	6	DIAMONDS Trust (DIA), A-	4,306.0	-13.56	-28.05
6	4	Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF), C-	4,059.1	-21.92	-44.97
7	7	Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE), B	3,262.5	-18.80	-34.67
8	9	ProShares Ultra Short QQQ (QID), C+	3,187.3	18.20	72.32
9	5	ProShares Ultra Short Financials (SKF), C	3,138.6	23.16	25.11
10	16	ProShares Ultra S&P 500 (SSO), D	3,130.0	-34.93	-60.99
11	14	iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM), C	2,621.4	-25.58	-48.67
12	12	ProShares Ultra QQQ (QLD), E+	2,251.5	-33.60	-64.93
13	17	streetTRACKS Gold Trust ETF (GLD), A-	1,962.6	-16.14	-13.49
14	10	ProShares Ultra Financials (UYG), E+	1,667.0	-43.33	-75.77
15	11	HOLDRS Oil Services (OIH), C+	1,584.9	-32.67	-46.88
16	13	SPDR Mid Cap 400 (MDY), C+	1,403.7	-21.55	-32.76
17	23	iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA), B-	1,055.9	-20.84	-42.16
18	22	iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI), C	989.9	-27.01	-55.16
19	26	iShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ), C+	986.3	-33.12	-53.01
20	25	iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate (IYR), C+	957.2	-31.32	-33.01
Data as of 10/31/2008. Source: TheStreet.com Ratings & Bloomberg For more information, check out an explanation of our ratings.

For the previous month's list of the 20 most popular ETFs, check out Investors Swarm 'Short,' Leveraged ETFs.