Let k be a field and denote by mathcal {SH}(k) the motivic stable homotopy category. Recall its full subcategory mathcal {SH}(k)^{{text {eff}}heartsuit } (Bachmann in J Topol 10(4):1124–1144. arXiv:1610.01346, 2017). Write mathrm {NAlg}(mathcal {SH}(k)) for the category of {mathrm {S}mathrm {m}}-normed spectra (Bachmann-Hoyois in arXiv:1711.03061, 2017); recall that there is a forgetful functor U: mathrm {NAlg}(mathcal {SH}(k)) rightarrow mathcal {SH}(k). Let mathrm {NAlg}(mathcal {SH}(k)^{{text {eff}}heartsuit }) subset mathrm {NAlg}(mathcal {SH}(k)) denote the full subcategory on normed spectra E such that UE in mathcal {SH}(k)^{{text {eff}}heartsuit }. In this article we provide an explicit description of mathrm {NAlg}(mathcal {SH}(k)^{{text {eff}}heartsuit }) as the category of effective homotopy modules with étale norms, at least if char(k) = 0. A weaker statement is available if k is perfect of characteristic > 2.