20 Most Popular ETFs of November

International exchange-traded funds gained some favor with investors in November. And in another surprising trend, trading activity in a real estate ETF also made a large leap.

In TheStreet.com Ratings' latest monthly tabulation of the 20 ETFs with the highest average daily dollar volume of trading activity, the iShares Emerging Markets (EEM Quote) and the iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA Quote) each climbed four positions in the rankings. They were joined by the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate (IRY Quote), which moved from a position of 20th most active a month ago to the 16th position in terms of dollar volume activity.

November's list of the most active 20 ETFs (as represented in the accompanying table) remained more constant than in previous months. Only one fund -- the ProShares Ultra Short Russell 2000 (TWM Quote) -- appears on the November tally, but not on the prior month's. It retreated 16.26% in November but remains ahead by 57.30% for the year to date.

The iShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ Quote), which ranked 19th in October, dropped to 23rd most active in November, thereby removing it from the top-20 list. EWZ eased 6.65% in value in November and is down 56.13% for the year to date.

(To check out the previous month's list of the 20 most popular ETFs, check out the The Top ETFs for a Harried October.)

Twelve of the most popular ETFs suffered double-digit percentage setbacks in November, and 15 are down by more than 10% for the year to date. Seven of the group had their values cut in half during the first 11 months of 2008.

Each of November's 20 most popular ETFs achieved average daily turnover of at least $1 billion, whereas only 17 funds turned that level of trading in October. The increase in November came despite a decline in the daily average volume of all ETFs from $135.1 billion in October to $114.8 billion in November.