As gold and silver tumbled last year, investors opted to play that trend via inverse and leveraged ETFs. At the end of 2013 S&L investors had a $6 million net short position in gold for the first time since S&L gold ETCs became available in February 2008, said boost.
Popular inverse commodities ETFs trading in the U.S. include the ProShares UltraShort Silver (NYSEArca: ZSL) and the ProShares UltraShort Gold (NYSEArca: GLL).
The 15 largest equity-based leveraged ETFs listed in the U.S. include the ProShares Ultra S&P500 (NYSEArca: SSO), the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: FAS) and the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: NUGT), according to Boost data.
Global Growth of S&L ETFs/ETPs
Chart Courtesy: Boost ETP