ETF stands for Exchange-Traded fund.

Exchange-Traded means you can buy and sell ETFs on public stock exchanges like the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

In this context, a fund is a bundle of assets (usually stocks, bonds and/or cash). These bundles usually track an index, or group of securities with something in common.

The phrase ‘ETFs trade like Stocks’, means that you can buy and sell ETFs in a similar way to stocks. For example, ETFs are bought and sold through a broker on exchanges and can be traded throughout the day.