Deutsche Bank and Invesco PowerShares on Tuesday listed a pair of leveraged exchange traded notes that let investors go long or short on the dollar versus a basket of currencies.
The ETNs are designed to provide 300% long and 300% short exposure to futures contracts on the US Dollar Index. They are PowerShares DB 3x Long US Dollar Index Futures ETN (NYSEArca: UUPT) and PowerShares DB 3x Short US Dollar Index Futures ETN (NYSEArca: UDNT).
The new products are structured as ETNs, which are different from exchange traded funds (ETFs). The leveraged dollar ETNs are set up as debt obligations so they carry issuer credit risk. The ETNs are the first exchange traded products to provide investors with leveraged exposure to the US Dollar. Leveraged ETNs and ETFs are geared more to active traders who monitor their portfolios during the day.
The new ETNs are basically leveraged versions of two existing ETFs: PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: UUP) and PowerShares DB US Dollar Bearish Fund (NYSEArca: UDN).