Consequently, investors have increasingly turned to VIX-related and inverse stock ETFs as tactical, short-term trades to hedge the market risks.
For instance, over the past week, the REX VolMAXX Long VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (BATS: VMAX) surged 24.0%, iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN (NYSEArca: VXX) jumped 23.5% and ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (NYSEArca: VIXY) increased 23.3%, with the VIX now hovering around 20.9, its highest level since February.
Related: VIX ETFs Surge as Fear Grips Market
More aggressive traders have turned to the leveraged ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures (NYSEArca: UVXY), which has gained 49.5% over the past week. UVXY has also been among the highest volume securities on the NYSE over the past week, according to ProShares.
Related: Inverse ETFs Step into the Limelight
For those who were wary of a pullback in the S&P 500 index, there are a number of bearish or inverse ETF options with varying levels of leveraged exposure to capitalize off a weakening S&P 500 as well. The ProShares Short S&P500 (NYSEArca: SH) takes a simple inverse or -100% daily performance of the S&P 500 index. Alternatively, for the more aggressive trader, leveraged options include the ProShares UltraShort S&P500 ETF (NYSEArca: SDS), which tries to reflect the -2x or -200% daily performance of the S&P 500, the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3x Shares (NYSEArca: SPXS), which takes the -3x or -300% daily performance of the S&P 500, and ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPXU), which also takes the -300% daily performance of the S&P 500. Over the past week, SH was up 2.2%, SDS was 4.4% higher, SPXS gained 6.7% and SPXU rose 6.7%.
For more information on the markets, visit our current affairs category.