Im going to explain the basics of what an ETF or exchange traded fund is.

1) An exchange traded fund is an investment base traded on major exchanges very much like stocks or bonds.

2) An ETF represents a base or pool of assets such as stocks, bonds or futures.

3) Institutional investors are allowed to redeem shares of the exchange traded fund for shares of the underlying asset or alternately exchange shares of the underlying asset for shares of the ETF.

4) Most ETF's tracks indexes such as the Dow Jones or S&P 500.

5) Respectable companies such as Barclays Global Investors, State Street Global and the Vanguard Group all offers a selection of fixed income ETF's.