Although markets have bounced back decently today, with the Dow up as much as 10% before paring back gains to closer to 7.5% as of 2:30PM EST, the 30-stock benchmark average erased all of the gains it made since President Trump won the 2016 election as of last Friday.
Using the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA as the guide, the blue-chip index entered Monday 35.14% below its 52-week high, and continued to sell off to Brexit low levels before bouncing today.
While all of this bearishness is upsetting for bullish investors, who have been used to buying blindly and making a profit for the past decade, traders who have been utilizing or are considering bearish and inverse leveraged exchange traded funds on the Dow could find success in an otherwise traditionally challenging environment.
For investors looking for some downside plays on the Dow, the ProShares Short Dow30 (DOG) is an opportunity for risk-averse investors that are targeting short-term hedges or to capture some of the broader market’s downside. DOG is an inverse fund but is not a leveraged fund, meaning it should deliver a gain of 1% on a day in which the Dow loses 1%, whereas the leveraged funds can deliver multiples but carry significantly more risk.
“Due to the compounding of daily returns, holding periods of greater than one day can result in returns that are significantly different than the target return and ProShares’ returns over periods other than one day will likely differ in amount and possibly direction from the target return for the same period,” according to ProShares.
The ProShares UltraPro Short Dow 30 (SDOW) is another ETF to capture some of the downside of the market without a margin account, and seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to three times the inverse (-3x) of the daily performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. So it is both a leveraged and inverse exchange-traded product, carry more risk but also potentially more reward.
For investors looking to trade the S&P 500, which has also collapsed under the devastation of the coronavirus, the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 1X (SPDN) is an option to consider.
The benefit of using inverse ETFs is that they offer the ability to trade short without a margin account, something that is traditionally needed for selling the market. Inverse ETFs can also act as a hedge against a more bullishly tilted portfolio.
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.
