ProShares Expands Hedged ETFs

ProShares filed with the SEC to launch 25 new exchange traded funds (ETFs) to expand its ETF lineup. These are not the garden variety funds; they are leveraged, inverse and inverse-leveraged ETFs.

This marks the first time international and fixed-income ETFs will be available with leveraged and short options, Matt Hougan for Seeking Alpha reports. The "ultra," or leveraged, ETFs provide twice the performance (two beta) of the benchmark index’s daily movement; the "short," or inverse, ETFs offer the opposite; and the "ultrashort," or inverse-leveraged, ETFs give double the opposite (negative two beta). The most anticipated are the international funds, which cover high-profile markets and have enjoyed superior growth compared to domestic markets in the past three years.