Technically, all the Nvidia stock (and virtually all stocks in the US) are owned by Cede and Co. So Nvidia has only one investor.[0] There's several layers of indirection between your Robinhood portfolio and the actual Nvidia shares, even if Robinhood mentions NVDA as a position in your portfolio.
You will find that the connection between ETFs and the underlying assets in the index is much more like the connection between your Robinhood portfolio and Nvidia, than the connection between butterflies and thunderstorms.
[0] At least for its stocks. Its bonds are probably held in different but equally weird ways.
> Technically, all the Nvidia stock (and virtually all stocks in the US) are owned by Cede and Co.
Technically, but they extend ownership. An ETF is a different type of abstraction. Which you already know because you spoke about that abstraction in your original comment, so why play stupid now?
The ETF is just one more layer of indirection. You might like to read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange-traded_fund#Arbitrage... to see how ETFs are connected to the underlying assets.
You will find that the connection between ETFs and the underlying assets in the index is much more like the connection between your Robinhood portfolio and Nvidia, than the connection between butterflies and thunderstorms.
[0] At least for its stocks. Its bonds are probably held in different but equally weird ways.