In a sign that many investors see this dip in equity markets as temporary, a highly leveraged ETF is seeing massive capital inflows.
Despite making up just 0.2% of total ETF assets, the ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) grabbed 13% of the week’s net flows, making it thus far one of the week’s big winners. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, noted that, despite making up just 0.2% of total ETF assets, TQQQ grabbed 13% of the week’s net flows.
“No ETF has taken in more cash in the past week than $TQQQ,” Balchunas tweeted, adding that investors are using the fund to buy “out of the dip.”
Per the data Balchunas posted, of the $17.9 billion in inflows that ETFs brought in for the five days as of January 12, TQQQ brought in nearly $2.26 billion in inflows. By comparison, the second big winner for the week was the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF), which brought in $1.35 billion.
“Dip buying has worked for the better part of a decade,” said Balchunas in a follow-up phone interview. “People feel if you buy the dip you’ll win, and it’s worked for most of the time.”
Designed for investors with a bullish short-term outlook for nonfinancial equities, TQQQ is a leveraged ETF that seeks a 3X return on the daily performance of the Nasdaq 100 Index, before fees and taxes.
“They’re betting on the markets bouncing back,” Balchunas said, adding that investors in the ETF are typically trading this and not holding. “It’s an easy way to get some bang for your buck for a dip buy.”
But since the exposure resets daily and does not provide a simple 3X multiplier on the return of the underlying index, Balchunas warns that this is still a risky buy. “One of these times it may not work,” he said.
As a leveraged fund, TQQQ carries greater risks than non-leveraged benchmarked funds.
If the fund is held over a period of time longer than a single day and the underlying Nasdaq-100 index remains trendless, oscillating without establishing a clear upward or downward trend, TQQQ can lose money.
However, in times of a clear upward trend, TQQQ can outperform the index due to compounding.
TQQQ has an expense ratio of 0.95%.
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Nasdaq Investment Intelligence Channel.