What are some ticker symbols a trader must know for monitoring the market like VIX, TLT, SPX etc?

I use the flowing ETFs, more or less; some I don’t pay attention to on a daily basis):

SPY (S&P index)

DIA (DJIA index)

(QQQ) (NASDA 100)’

IWM (Russell Small Caps)

Though you could just do SPY and be close to market trends, I also do the QQQ because of its tech weighting)

AGG (Agreegate Bond Market)

GLD (Gold)

HYG (Hi-Risk bond market,mostly incorporates)

QLD (Corporate Investment Grade Bonds)

RXE (Real Estate)

TLT Treasury Bond).

Even on most day’s that too many. Pick what you want to specialize (6 maybe) in and follow those more closely. I have two stock lists. The overall markets, and 6 or 7 stocks (or an ETF or Mutual Fund) I’m really interesting right now.

I’m not a professional trader, so I don’t get paid to track these markets. In fact, most professional traders focus on one or two asset classes. They must know something.

And do yourself a favor. If your watch list is larger than 20, pare it down. Humans tend to handle categories and process information in 7-bit chunks. (Remember where and my my degree is from and for. My master thesis was in information processing.)

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(Full Disclosure) I dot not necessarily endorse or carry assets in any of these EFTs, though I have a couple.)