One of the defining attributes of exchange traded funds (ETFs) is their high liquidity, but which of them are among the most liquid of all?

Investors have a cornucopia of ETFs to choose from with 843 exchange-traded products currently available, writes Ron Rowland for Seeking Alpha. There are some oddballs that have trading sessions with zero volume and high bid/ask spreads. But there is also a select group known as the “ETF Billion Dollar Club” that has risen above the crowd in providing more than $1 billion per day in trades.

The average daily value traded (ADVT) is a good indicator for liquidity. It is the volume multiplied by price, and is sometimes referred to as $ Volume. Higher liquidity means there will most likely be someone out there willing to take the other side of a trade.

There are 17 members in this exclusive club as of February, 2009:

1. SPDR S&P 500 (SPY): ADVT of $30,767,683,584
2. PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ): $5,251,502,080
3. ProShares UltraShort Financials (SKF): $4,627,046,400
4. ProShares UltraShort S&P500 (SDS): $4,580,779,008
5. iShares Russell 2000 (IWM): $3,093,236,480
6. DIAMONDS Trust (DIA): $2,625,997,824
7. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD): $2,470,299,648
8. SPDR Select Sector Financial (XLF): $2,082,540,544
9. ProShares Ultra S&P 500 (SSO): $1,905,811,200
10. SPDR Select Sector Energy (XLE): $1,795,240,832
11. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM): $1,746,615,296
12. ProShares UltraShort Real Estate (SRS): $1,577,850,496
13. ProShares UltraShort QQQ (QID): $1,458,607,744
14. iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate (IYR): $1,244,349,184
15. iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA): $1,222,589,568
16. Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ): $1,221,666,944
17. United States Oil Fund (USO): $1,034,414,528

Tags: DIA, Dow Jones Industrial Average, EEM, EFA, Emerging Markets, Energy, FAZ, Financial, GLD, Global ETFs, Gold, IWM, IYR, Large-Cap, Long-Short ETFs, Oil, Precious Metals, QID, QQQQ, Real Estate, S&P 500, SDS, Sector ETFs, SKF, Small-Cap, SPY, SRS, SSO, USO, XLE, XLF