ProShares Plans 16 3x Leveraged ETFs
ProShares, which currently issues about 38 leveraged and 53 inverse ETFs, is planning its first big foray into the world of triple leveraged ETFs with the introduction of eight bullish and eight bearish ETFs. The move by ProShares appears to be an effort to encroach uppen Direxion's territory as Direxion is the dominant issuer of triple leveraged ETFs.
To this point, ProShares has offered traditional ETFs and some double leveraged products alongs with a 130/30 ETF, but just one 300% leveraged ETF, according to its Web site. Despite the controversey surrounding leveraged ETFs, they gained $10 billion in new investments last year, according to industry data.
The new ProShares products include Nasdaq-focused ETFs (the UltraPro QQQ and the UltraPro Short QQQ), a pair of Dow 300% ETFs (UltraPro Dow and the UltraPro Short Dow), plays on mid-cap stocks (the UltraPro MidCap 400 and the UltraPro Short MidCap 400), a pair of small-cap plays (the UltraPro Russell 2000 and the UltraPro Short Russell 2000) and an emerging markets pair (the UltraPro MSCI Emerging Markets and UltraPro Short MSCI Emerging Markets).
The remaining four leveraged ETFs from ProShares will include a bullish and bearish play on 7-10 year Treasuries and a bullish and bearish play on Treasuries with maturity dates of 20 years or longer.
