Although the S&P 500 gained just 1.4% last month, some investors wanted more and embraced leveraged exchange funds as avenues for generating additional returns.
“Two of March’s four top ETFs by money inflows were leveraged bets on a rising stock market,” reports Brendan Conway for Barron’s.
Those ETFs are the ProShares Ultra Russell2000 (NYSEArca: UWM), a double leveraged bet on the Russell 2000, and the ProShares Ultra S&P500 ETF (NYSEArca: SSO), which attempts to deliver twice the daily returns of the S&P 500. Combined, UWM and SSO brought in $3.3 billion last month, according to Barron’s.
That is another sign investors continue to embrace leveraged ETFs. Assets under management for global inverse and leveraged ETPs jumped to $61.3 billion at the end of February, a 3.7% increase from January and a 6% rise on a year-to-date basis, according to Boost ETP. Boost is a boutique provider of Europe-listed inverse and leveraged ETFs and the first European ETF provider to focus exclusively on inverse and leveraged products. [Inverse, Leveraged ETFs Hit Another Asset Record]
The crisis in Ukraine stoked increased activity in triple-leveraged Russia ETFs as the Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3x Shares (NYSEArca: RUSS) and the Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (NYSEArca: RUSL) repeatedly saw higher volume and increased creation activity during March.[White House is a Bad Place for ETF Advice]