When it comes to the popularity contest among leveraged exchange traded funds, few can compete with the likes of the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: TNA) or the ProShares Ultra S&P500 ETF (NYSEArca: SSO) either in terms of assets under management or average daily volume.
But as is the case with plain vanilla ETFs, there are some leveraged funds that toil in obscurity when they deserve much more consideration from active, risk-tolerant traders. Some of these anonymous leveraged ETFs are more focused, tactical plays than broad market funds such as SSO and TNA. And some are just right for the current market environment.
That is what was recently pointed out about the unheralded ProShares Ultra KBW Regional Banking (NYSEArca: KRU), which we recently highlighted as a credible play on regional banks benefiting from rising Treasury yields. [Remember This Leveraged ETF as Rates Rise]
Speaking of good timing for a leveraged ETF, checkout the ProShares Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (NasdaqGS: BIB). BIB seeks investment results that correspond to twice (200%) the return of the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. That is the underlying index for the popular iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (NasdaqGS: IBB).
Not only is IBB the largest biotech ETF with over $4.7 billion in assets under management, it was last year’s top-performing non-leveraged health care ETF and has ranked among the top-10 non-leveraged sector ETFs three years running. [Duel to be 2013’s Best Health Care ETF]
Due to the mostly positive notoriety surrounding the biotech sector for several years now, BIB is not particularly small among leveraged ETFs. The fund had $170 million in AUM as of the end of August 2013, according to ProShares data.