A Forgotten ETF For Gold's Rebound

When it comes to gold ETFs, it seems like all the opinions, comments and buy and sell calls revolve around the usual suspects. ETFs such as the SPDR Gold Shares

or another comparable fund backed by physical gold or the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF

and its small-cap cousin, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF

command most of the headlines. Quiet as it may be kept, there are leveraged ways to play the gold miners, both from the long side and the short side and they come courtesy of who else but Direxion. With gold getting a boost thanks to Middle East tensions, let's have a look at the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 2x Shares

. Credit to Direxion for a cute ticker, but NUGT really may be a hidden nugget when it comes to gold ETFs. To make things simple, consider NUGT the double leveraged cousin of GDX as both track the NYSE Arca GoldMiners Index. Just 2.5 months old, NUGT has stuggled on the volume and due to a sell-off in gold to start 2011, but gold's bull market of 2010 illustrated the power of mining ETFs, so why don't double up occassionally for a short-term trade with NUGT? NUGT's volume has started to increase a bit and the fund has done exactly what is supposed to do over short-term holding periods, returning GDX by almost 2x over the last five days. NUGT's inverse equivalent is the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 2x Shares

in case you're feeling bearish on the miners.